Buckethead’s “Pikes” series is quite voluminous, with many entries being released in a single year. It’s baffling how someone is able to put out so much material in such a small span of time. It really speaks to the man’s work ethic in the field of music. You’re probably wondering, are
all the Pikes made up of quality material? Well, the first two Pikes,
It’s Alive and
Empty Space, were both very enjoyable releases. Buckethead’s third Pike,
3 Foot Clearance, is a mixed bag to say the least. Some of the tracks here are amongst the best “Pikes” cuts so far, and others are so unmemorable that they make a potentially great third Pike into a mediocre one.
Sonically, the album falls somewhere between the first two Pikes. The bulk of it seems to be a bit more traditional heavy Buckethead akin to
It’s Alive, while still retaining scattered bits of
Empty Space’s shredding and general weirdness. While this seems like a winning formula, some of the songs are just too weak to even lift off. The motifs Buckethead presents to the listener seem to just plod on and on sometimes, tacking on guitar solos to them at a certain point. While the leads are impressive from a technical standpoint, just seem thoughtless half the time.
3 Foot Clearance starts off on a pretty stale note. “Griffin’s Spike” plays like a b-side from
It’s Alive. It contains a few nice chunky riffs that would make anyone bob their head, but eventually divulges into a wank festival that seems like it was completely improvised. Second track “Ramellzee: Hero of the Abyss” feels unfinished, with Buckethead playing a bunch of seemingly slapped-together rhythm parts and another unsatisfying and brief guitar solo near the end, coming together to make one of the album’s most sterile cuts. “Floating Graveyard” is a fortunately a bit of a pick-up in quality, sporting a dark atmosphere and a more attention-grabbing song structure, but doesn’t come anywhere close to the first two Pikes in terms of quality.
Furthermore, there are some ending album cuts that show Buckethead’s more experimental colours that will have the listeners simply scratching their head, wondering what he even saw in some of these songs. “Critical Leg Assignment”, while being incredibly bizarre and dissonant, just comes off as lazy. It mostly sounds like him just messing around in the studio. Album closer “X-Ray” is probably the worst offender of the bunch, simply being a strange display of unsettling chord shapes that sound like a bunch of demented (and pointless) noise.
However, thankfully some of the material here is worth coming back to. “Droid Hunt” is my personal favourite track off this Pike (and maybe even off all three Pikes so far). The song flows brilliantly, near-seamlessly showcasing his heavy, mellow, and bizarre sides in equal doses. It even has a guitar solo that was written with a beginning, middle, and end, instead of just coming off as an improvised exercise. Eighth track “Handprint Ornament” is a nice softer break on the record, with Bucket’s playing accompanied by a great synth track that creates a brooding atmosphere, amplifying the performance and drawing the listener in. “Three Headed Guardian” has the best riffs on the record. Jazzy chords, and syncopated metal runs that play off the percussion flawlessly. Even “Siamese Butterfly” is a fun little track, despite being a bit on the sillier side. I’d describe it as an acoustic version of “Arc of the Pendulum” off his older album
Cuckoo Clocks of Hell.
3 Foot Clearance is a Pike that sees Buckethead trying some new things in the Pikes series half the time, and being very stagnant and lazy the other half. If that fat were trimmed off this album, it would probably be the best Pike so far. With the sheer volume of material this man releases, it’s not hard to see why some of these records come out like this. While this third Pike is not a complete failure, and still worth listening to, it’s sad to think of what a great album it could have been if it had gotten some more attention.
