siLLy puPPy PIKE 164 - GHOUL is the 63rd album released by BUCKETHEAD in 2015. Yet another PIKE and its all instrumental with BUCKETHEAD playing all the instruments once again. And you guessed it, it hovers near the half hour mark at 27:44. This one only has two long tracks both titled “Ghoul” and look at that freaky face on the cover!

“Ghoul 1” clocks in at 17:07 and is the longest of the two. It begins as a mid-paced alternative rocker with highly distorted guitar riffs and arpeggios with bass and drums following suit. It sets a melodic development and then the riffage picks up intensity but not too much speed. Five minutes in still waiting for some new developments but it seems to be one of those repetitive jams that has a riff then some power chords and a little bit of guitar play mixed up with an odd time sig here and there but this type of BH track isn’t very exciting not to mention it’s been done a million times at this point. About 13 minutes in it does change a little by adding a slow lead guitar to replace the riffs for a while but then goes back to the same riff. This just goes on and on and on and i find it pretty meh and more than overstays its welcome.

“Ghoul 2” clocks in at 10:37 begins more aggressively with choppy riffs that are rather thrashy without being thrash but then it reverts back to the alternative metal then back to the harder riffs that are more like a progressive metal band only on speed. This one has more interesting riffs, time sig changes and developments and keeps up a frenetic pace. It has little breaks here and there for a slow arpeggio then jumps right back into the heavy guitar riffs that trades off with short lead sections. The bass and drums are powerful and everything plays together quite well. This is like a million times more interesting than the last track. Although the themes recur they are mixed up better and by keeping this a shorter time it doesn’t begin to self-destruct.

I really don’t like “Ghoul 1” but “Ghoul 2” is actually pretty damn good but only 1/3 of the album so i can’t really give this release more than a 2.5 rating.