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Review Summary: The best and worst of the chicken man, minus the noodling. While there have been a multitude of preventable issues plaguing the Pikes series, the biggest flaw has always been the unnecessary padding. It’s obvious that no artist, regardless of how gifted they may be, can keep up a release schedule of such intensity and continue to release fully realized statements. Whether choosing to drag albums out with wearisome motif repetition, purposeless (but blistering) solos for minutes at a time or meandering experimentation, it’s always this pointless padding that weighs down some seriously striking musical ideas. Infinity of the Spheres perfectly and frustratingly embodies the Pikes series; ingenious lead work being chained down by a strange, self-imposed restraint from the chicken man – the album must be pushed to a respectable length.
An odd, yet grave sin was committed in recording this album. Rather than delaying padding to a time when the creative rivers run dry, this album is frontloaded with repetition. The title track fades in with warm guitar lines drenched in delay, with a light insistent tap from the drums giving the song a facade of direction. It’s a pleasant, understated introduction that shows a lot of potential, perfectly drawing the listener in and preparing them for… well, nothing. By the time the song finally progresses, those gleaming eyes have long-since transformed into narrow slits, turning the wondrous introduction into an exercise in mind-numbing repetition and making the aggression at the halfway point more of a relief than a payoff. Having said that, the meaty riff that breaks the silence acts as a nice counterpoint to the sedate first half; no doubt it’s an identity crisis, but one that belies an inexperienced artist. It feels more akin to a blocked gutter, slowly filling with water until it abruptly forces a path through the leaves and hurriedly empties itself. Some water is lost over the edges in this abrupt process, and with proper maintenance there was the potential for so much more, but the result is still better than stagnating where it was. From this point forward however, it’s Buckethead at his best.
Where Infinity of the Spheres succeeds is in the synthesis of Brian Carroll’s various approaches to songwriting. He doesn’t often meld the more contemplative side with his thick-headed riffing and lead work, and even though it’s scratchy at best here, at least he’s branching out. It gives this album a distinct flavour that separates it from other works - there’s a spice in the riffs and a zest in the leads that perfectly match the overarching tone, forging something that stands out amongst his lengthy discography. The magnificent lead that closes out the title track and the entirety of the blues-ridden ‘Liquid Mantis’ may be the strongest stretch of music he’s written in the past 30 releases, and it’s a shame that it’s all weighed down by the drawn out opening. How a man with 151 albums (as of this week) can still create something so enticing and atmospherically unique is well beyond me, but even if Buckethead’s Pikes can be a frustrating addiction, it’s hard to have anything but the utmost respect and admiration for him.
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Album Rating: 3.5
It's been a while since I could talk about a Buckethead release and not talk about "potential" and "what could have been"... But the overall quality and consistency is improving which is nice (:
I'm halfway through several reviews, but none are quite in position for submission so I thought I'd slam out another quick Buckethead review to shake myself up and stave off any writer's block. I had a lot of good and bad things to say about this release, but I really do love it, so I hope the review doesn't read too critically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbuyPgvEJvw
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lol, 19 albums in 3 months ?
Is this legit ?
edit: damn, it is :0
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
He actually hit 20 a few days ago, he should hit at least 21 before the end of march. He's insane
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151 studio releases according to Wiki
damn :0
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
awww you didn't even read the review ): but yeah, I'm right in the middle of being in awe of him and being genuinely worried about his health and slavish dedication to work
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it's like Buckethead releases a new pike whenever he has spare time
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh-lJqNfT1E
lol, creepy as fuck
"slavish dedication to work"
playing the guitar might be his only occupation
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That cover art is the shit tho
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Persuaded me to check this out, great review man.
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Nice review, will check this
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the number of albums he makes scares me
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@rockmetaljunkie, what did you just make me watch...? I'm glad I didn't watch that last night, I'd have had nightmares for sure.
Hope y'all enjoy it when you give it a spin, the opening does drag after a while but it's all gold outside of that.
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what are you a 3-year old ? :P
sometimes I can't tell whether this guy is the ultimate troll or he's just fucked up in the head a little bit
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Great review CTD, I'm torn when it comes to listening to anything from Buckethead, I mean when an artist makes so much music you couldn't hope to absorb it all. He's made more albums than I've rated currently. But he also seems to pump out good quality stuff so I don't know whether to go for it or just leave it :/.
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If you're curious about him, just spin the ones I review, I'm going to be making an effort to give each quality release a writeup (not everything though, skipping anything I'd give less than 3.5 to). If youhaven't checked him out much before, I'd definitely recommend starting with the songs 'Sail On Soothsayer' and 'Soothsayer', then delving further if you like them. Colma and Electric Sea/Tears are my favorite older ones, Loop Up There is my favorite jammer from the pikes and Hold Me Forever is probably his best overall in the series.
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Thanks for the advice man, sounds like a plan.
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Hope you enjoy (:
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Agree to disagree. Where you justifiably hear rage-inducing repetition, I hear hypnotic astral chill-out acoustic waves projecting the pink beam of gnostic lucidity directly from Alpha Centauri. This is Buckethead at his most navel-gazing narcotic, for better (yes, please) or worse (NO, THANKS).
Awesomeness in an astral bucket.
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Title track is pretty cool (great for relaxing and do other stuff to), second song drags a bit more. His more mellow stuff is usually good.
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