Post by jaerockets on Jan 15, 2021 14:49:12 GMT -5
Pike 25 - Pancake Heater - Released 2013 by Buckethead
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Track 1 - Pancake Heater starts off with a crunchy little funk-metal section that progressively gets more aggressive and harsh sounding. After about a minute this goes into a more dreary progression, which trades off between itself and the more thumpy, choppy sound used previously. It's a nice take on alt metal that livens things up a bit. Nice little outro to close things off and we've got a fun track to kick things off!
Track 2 - Spires of Space Mountain is actually, fittingly, a little reminiscent of Space Mountain. With more choppy, rough around the edges sounding power chords trading off with singular notes of the same pattern, it evokes the feeling of speeding along a roller coaster, with some parts having different feels and speeds. Towards the end, the main riff is modulated up a little bit, which helps prevent it from getting too repetitive, along with a couple sections that completely break up the main idea of the song, devolving into chicken pickin' This is definitely one that gets your head thumping.
Track 4 - Topspin is basically the same as track 3, just with a different riff. Fun to listen to, but nothing new here.
Track 5 - Trough Feeder follows pretty much the same pattern, with a few small difference. The overall sound of the track is a lot more weighty and in your face. There's also some contrasting harmonies over the main riff that make it a bit more interesting, and nice little bit of panning at the start. There's also a little bit of a crescendo at the end, which is fun. Probably the most creative track so far, but not by much. The main problem with this album starts to show itself here, as you can pretty much tell all of the songs are just going to be different variations of the same concept. It's a fun concept, and executed well, I'll give it that. But at the end of the day, it would be nice to do something more with the 30 minutes we've got here.
Track 7 - Sprinkled starts the same as track 6, with a little bass + snare combo, before going back to the same formula used for the rest of the album. This one is a bit more staccato than the others for the most part, but other than that nothing's really different.
Track 8 - Beak to Scoop changes it up a bit, opting for a more classic metal approach. It's a welcome change, and as expected played well. Truth be told it's not all that different from the rest of the album, but it is the most unique sounding, opting for more hammer on/pull off riffing than just the same 3 or 4 power chords - and the riffing is pretty good.
This one's alright if you like repetitive alt metal chug riffing [which I do], but it doesn't really bring much to the table. The cover art's cool at least ^_^
★★ 1/2
The 25th rendition of Buckethead's Pikes, this one opts for essentially 9 creatively named tracks of recycled alt metal power chord riffing ideas.
Track 1 - Pancake Heater starts off with a crunchy little funk-metal section that progressively gets more aggressive and harsh sounding. After about a minute this goes into a more dreary progression, which trades off between itself and the more thumpy, choppy sound used previously. It's a nice take on alt metal that livens things up a bit. Nice little outro to close things off and we've got a fun track to kick things off!
Track 2 - Spires of Space Mountain is actually, fittingly, a little reminiscent of Space Mountain. With more choppy, rough around the edges sounding power chords trading off with singular notes of the same pattern, it evokes the feeling of speeding along a roller coaster, with some parts having different feels and speeds. Towards the end, the main riff is modulated up a little bit, which helps prevent it from getting too repetitive, along with a couple sections that completely break up the main idea of the song, devolving into chicken pickin' This is definitely one that gets your head thumping.
Track 3 - Crumbled or Pelleted has a little bit more of a mellow feel to start off, before going into the same alt metal choppy power chords used in the previous two tracks, just with a different chord progression. It also utilizes the same trick used in track 2, breaking off into a much less aggressive sound for a few moments before returning to the main idea. This one is short and sweet. Doesn't blow me away but it's pretty cool.
Track 4 - Topspin is basically the same as track 3, just with a different riff. Fun to listen to, but nothing new here.
Track 5 - Trough Feeder follows pretty much the same pattern, with a few small difference. The overall sound of the track is a lot more weighty and in your face. There's also some contrasting harmonies over the main riff that make it a bit more interesting, and nice little bit of panning at the start. There's also a little bit of a crescendo at the end, which is fun. Probably the most creative track so far, but not by much. The main problem with this album starts to show itself here, as you can pretty much tell all of the songs are just going to be different variations of the same concept. It's a fun concept, and executed well, I'll give it that. But at the end of the day, it would be nice to do something more with the 30 minutes we've got here.
Track 6 - Omni Mover Assistance starts off with a simple bassline + drum combo, which leads into more of the same alt metal chord riffing we've heard for the rest of the album. It's got a couple fun little sections that revert to chicken pickin' twangy renditions of the main riff, but nothing too exciting.
Track 7 - Sprinkled starts the same as track 6, with a little bass + snare combo, before going back to the same formula used for the rest of the album. This one is a bit more staccato than the others for the most part, but other than that nothing's really different.
Track 8 - Beak to Scoop changes it up a bit, opting for a more classic metal approach. It's a welcome change, and as expected played well. Truth be told it's not all that different from the rest of the album, but it is the most unique sounding, opting for more hammer on/pull off riffing than just the same 3 or 4 power chords - and the riffing is pretty good.
Track 9 - Storing Feed returns mostly to the same formula. There's a bit more of a boomy feel to this one, thanks to lots of drum reverb and added effects. There's even what sounds like some sort of thunder effect that I *think* is a kick drum with a shit ton of reverb and other effects. This one is nice because, although the guitar is pretty much the same as in all the other tracks, there's some interesting idea that help to spice up the monotony. Usually the drums are the least interesting part in these albums, as they're all digitally programmed, but they're actually pretty interesting here. Bravo Frankenseuss I guess |-(-0_0-)-|
This one's alright if you like repetitive alt metal chug riffing [which I do], but it doesn't really bring much to the table. The cover art's cool at least ^_^
