siLLy puPPy BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 86 - OUR SELVES 45th album out of 60 in 2014 and 115th overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This has 4 tracks that clock in at 28:38

“Our Selves” (3:50) starts off with fairly fast upper register guitar riffs that are moderately distorted and then evolves into a more crunchy bassy riff with a familiar melodic development as this type of track is fairly common in the PIKE canon. It basically alternates the treble riffs with the bass ones. OK but nothing too exciting here

“Standing In The Field” (8:41) begins a lot slower with clean guitar and sustained bass notes and then jumps into a more alternative metal grungy type of sound without speeding up the tempo too much. It picks up the pace a bit a few minutes in but often reverts back to the mellower passages. It basically continues the same pattern and never really adds anything interesting. Another one that’s OK but outstays its welcome fairly quickly

“Dew Drops” (8:14) starts out more energetic with thrashy riffs that don’t sound quite like thrash metal. They are more based in alternative metal with that extra zing but also have the higher register “clucking” type licks. It utilize the same type of song structure as the previous track with heavy riffs that construct a melodic delivery with intermittent bridges of thrashy riff breakdowns. This one is more interesting as it seems like it has a bit more variation in dynamics and changing up the riffs

“Looking From Afar” (7:53) is another clean and mellow truck with slow guitars and cymbal action starting things off and then staying slow and mellow with a subdued percussive accompaniment. It slowly picks up and becomes more heavy but never gets past mid paced tempo. It continues a predictable melodic development and milks it out for nearly eight minutes.

This one is fairly boring for me. Just four tracks that use the same formula and don’t create anything of interest. Grungy, mid paced alternative metal tracks that just go on and on don’t appeal to me but it’s a decent album for those who like this aspect of BH. Everything is played well and it does make good background music