Review Summary: One of the best 'In Search Of The...' volumes. It may only have five songs, but they all bring something new and great to the table.
Dismantling 'In Search of The...'
Volume VI
'In Search Of The' is a 13-CD boxset, released by Buckethead in 2007. It contains all-new music, none of which has ever been previously released. This is Volume VI (6, for those of you who are Roman Numeral impaired) and is another very good volume. It contains one of the best (and longest) songs across the entire set, and also throws some experimental music at you, a heartfelt rock song, and a nearly 16-minute funk jam. While there are only five songs here, two of them are over 15 minutes. Sound good? Then let's continue...
Eye Of The Storm is the first song, and what a song it is. Imagine Buckethead shredding. Now imagine Buckethead shredding for 10 minutes straight. Now double that. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this song contains Buckethead shredding for almost 20 minutes straight. It starts out with some odd background noises and a drumbeat, before Buckethead comes in with his insanely fast alernate picking and scales. There is 8-finger tapping, there is sweeping; there is every advanced guitar technique you can think of in this monster of a song. The song really sounds good when there is the keyboard line behind it at 7:45. It matches the shredding pefectly and a nice contrast is created between the blindly fast guitar and the melodic keyboard line. This song has to be heard to believed- if you like Buckethead, if you like fast guitar, or if you are a fan of guitar, then you must hear this song.
The next song is
Unhinged Paradox, and is quite a varied song. There is some cool piano around the 24 second mark, and also later on in the song. Throughout the first part of the track there are some odd background noises. A nice drumbeat comes in around 1:13. This song is very weird and experimental, basically being a bunch of varied riffs and noises on top of a drumbeat. One of best parts of this song is the piano playing along with the guitar in the first part of the song; I also love the emotional playing here and there. The organ also creates a cool and haunting atmosphere. A very interesting song overall.
Last Light is considered by many to be the best song on all of 'In Search Of The'. While I might not go that far, this song certainly is great. It is emotionally-driven, with a solid drumbeat and a great backing track. The solos overtop fit perfectly. There is some fast playing at parts, which doesn't just sound random, but matches the backing track well. The ending of this track is amazing though (especially 3:32-the end); the guitar is absolutely fantastic throughout this whole song, however. This is a superb song that really should be heard by all Buckethead fans.
Dig Up From Underneath, the next song, is an interlude track, with a haunting, demented sort of feel at the beginning, especially with the chilling, deep backing track and the guitar overtop playing some interesting lines. The guitar tone on this song is cool, and the backing track is good, but this song feels kind of short overall. I wish that more had been added to this song, if only another 20 or 30 seconds.
Amputee Shuffle, the final song on this volume, is a 15:46 funk jam. Up until this point, this volume was almost entirely devoid of any funk (besides the first two seconds of
Unhinged Paradox), and this song fills that void. The guitar tone here has a nice wah effect on it, and the backing track is great. There is some spectacular playing on this song, although it does seem to go on for quite a long time. The ending of this track is great though- I love how the guitar does some trills and then slides out, along with the drums speeding up. The melodic part at 10:32 is also great. Overall, this song is very good, although it does seem to go on for a long time.
All in all, this is a great volume. With two of the best songs in the entire set, plus two other very good songs and an interesting interlude, this volume is great. While it may only have five songs (and I will admit that I wish there were more songs on this volume), they are all good. I recommend this volume to anyone.
