Review Summary: Enter The Chicken is purely a joke with some serious aspect to it. A select few songs are glorious, while others are unbelievably despicable.
To begin with, I'd like to mention that the only reason this album gets a 3.5 is because of Buckethead's sheer excellence when it comes to playing guitar. Every song has Buckethead playing what seems to be impossibly hard solos that are brushed off as kiddy stuff. An absolutely epic job on his part.
However... as far as the actual music goes... let's take an overall look at the album, and what we're dealing with here. Buckethead features several of his "friends" on this album, the lineup includes:
Efrem Shulz
Serj Tankian
Azam Ali
Bad Acid Trip
Donald Conviser
Ejigayehu Shibabaw
Gigi Davis
Maura Davis
Ani Maljian
Maximum Bob
Saul Williams
Shana Halligan
Phew! I think I got them all... as you can imagine, some of those artists play with each other on one song, so you have multiple guests. Beginning with the introduction to the album, let's begin to analyze the song's strong and weak points:
Intro
What? An opera woman singing? The immediate impression is that of a joke -- will this album really turn out to be a joke played by some of the best musicians known to the world of rock?
We Are One
Serj Tankian guest sings in this pseudo-technical piece. Buckethead's guitarwork is, of course, legendary. The guitar is absolutely brilliant in this piece, and right around the one-minute mark, the song abandons the false technicality it begins with. Perhaps Serj was showing off his timing with Buckethead, as they sing/play in sync. Overall a typical Serj piece with some ridiculous parts, which are matched with Buckethead's ridiculous guitar. But there's still that impression that this entire album will be a joke, based on what's going on...
Botnus
Botnus is a on a more serious note than We Are One was. Serj's immaturity just doesn't cut it in the world of real mu-- oh crap, there he is. Whatever, he's drowned out by Buckethead's absolutely stunning guitar after a few moments. Botnus's redeeming quality is the somewhat serious tone the song manages to convey, especially after Buckethead proves that orgasms through the ears are possible. The song is overall a very well done, and a must-listen if you buy the album.
Three Fingers
A fairly short song, just shy of three minutes. In that time frame, Saul Williams talks about Buckethead. Yeah, he talks. It's a really entertaining piece, reccomended for those who won't come into it with a judge's ear. Discard all notions you have of judging this song, and just listen to the lyrics, they're amusing.
So at this point, we probably know this entire album is a joke. When you have this much talent and skill, whether or not you make a joke album doesn't matter, because you can get away with it. Oh well, moving on...
Running From The Light
Ejigayehu Shibabaw, Gigi Davis, and Maura Davis all shine in this song. The song opens up with elegant and soft lyrics, and cascades right into a mellow and soft tune that eventually steps up into a semi-hard rock song. Very easy to listen to, with pleasing female vocals, and some good guitarwork done by Buckethead. Definitely reccomended for those who want something that's easy to listen to, and overall, very well done.
Coma
Excellent! Just like Running From The Light, this piece is soft, easy to listen to, and very appealing. Azam Ali and Serj Tankian (oh no!) are both featured in this song, which opens up with fantasy-like female vocals against a backdrop of a relatively simple but pleasant guitar riffs. This is a seriously spectacular song, Azam Ali does a wonderful job of conveying emotion while Buckethead does his best to comprehend human emotion, and play a soft riff in the background. In fact, this song is so good, Serj Tankian takes it seriously. If you're going to listen to one song on this album, it should be this one; albeit the difference between this song and any other (besides Running From The Light) is immense.
Waiting Here
Yes, the tracklist to your right has it wrong. It's "Waiting Hare", not "Waiting Here". Featuring yet another female vocalist (Shana Halligan), the song opens up with her singing, followed by Serj singing in a rather serious tone. Somewhat like Coma and Running From The Light, the difference being the song gets slightly heavier. Overall a good song, easy to listen to, and Serj does a very good job with his vocals.
Interlude
Hahaha. I won't ruin this one for you.
Funbus
Disgusting vocals, amazing guitar. Skip to the 0:23 mark and you'll be fine, then enjoy Buckethead put on a spectacular show -- maybe he's making up for the horrific vocals?
The Hand
Ani Maljian and Maximum Bob (maybe Bob is really Serj Tankian) are featured in this piece. Right off the bat we know Serj wrote his vocals when he was on shrooms, and the entire song consists of him trying too hard. Overall failure of a song.
Nottingham Lace
Classic Buckethead couldn't be better -- forget the addition of guests, this is pure Buckethead, in the flesh. The entire song screams of his style, and the consistently clean and orgasmic guitars let us know that he wants this song for himself. I'll leave this song as a surprise for those of you who want to experience it.
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All in all, the album is a joke. There's a few serious songs, but for the most part, Buckethead and his "friends" got together and recorded something that showed off their talent while they were fooling around. Of course Serj Tankian was present, his influence was vital in the final rating of 3/5, and for a very good reason: Buckethead is a God with his guitar, but that doesn't change the fact that songs aren't all about him in the background while Serj pisses you off with his senseless screaming and fluctuation of pitch. Had this album been consisted entirely of songs like Nottingham Lace, or Coma, it would've been an instant five, no doubt. But there's too much slack for Buckethead to pick up, regardless of his talent.
