As we all know, Buckethead is a phenomonal guitarist. Many people look at him and think he is a joke. But in fact, he is a musical genious and is one of the best guitarists alive. He has many different albums over the past year that have been exploring different styles of playing i.e. shredding(cuckoo clocks of hell), new age inspired jazz(colma), etc. As for this album he has decided to enter a jam/pink floydish style of playing. The outcome- excellent. If you've ever heard buckethead, you know he doesn't miss a note and plays things that can be insane. Travis Dickerson played keyboards and produced this album and did a more than phonomenal job. I just got this album for christmas and could not stop listening to it. So this is my first review...here goes...
BAND-
Buckethead-Lead Guitar,bass
Travis Dickerson- Keyboards, Production, Engineering, Mixing, Mastering
Pinchface- Drums
Tracks-
1.Unrestrained Growth- The albums opener, not the strongest point on the album. A little strange bass line is included in this track, but somehow it seems to fit into place with the song. Buckethead jams along with the amazing keyboards that comes out with a good colabaration. Definately not the stongest track on the album but still good. They could have porbably used a different song to open this cd with, but its still a cool song with a lot of talent and colabaration between travis and bucket. (4/5)
2.Too Many Humans- The most popular song on this album. This is definately in someway inspired by pink floyd. Starts with a little roll on the drums and slowly kicks in with guitar. Kind of a little bit of a jam by bucket and pinchface until about 1:23 when the keys start. You can kind of hear a resemblance this and maybe a pink floyd jam. Too Many Humans isn't seen to me as much of a melodic song but more as a jam session. Buckethead really shines with his guitar in this one and his solos fit in very good with the drums and melody provided by travis. This is a very good song on the album. (4.5/5)
3.Population Override- My favorite song on this album. Starts with a cool little drum intro by pinchface. Followed by excellent keyboards by travis and cool guitar pieces by bucket. Then gets into a piece that in a way has funk mixed into it. Pinchs dumming is really good and he keeps the beat perfectly. Buckets guitar riffs realyl make you shake your head back in forth. Travis is the one who really shines in this track with is perfect melodies and excellent solos that he pulls off. (5/5)
4.Humans Vanish-An intrulude on the cd. Not really anything special just a riff played over and a small picking pattern. So i wont grade this.
5. Cruel Reality of Nature- Ah.. this song in a way..definately reminds you of a the cruel reality of nature. As if a storm just struck and destroyed your home. Starts with a keyboard melody that definately makes you think a tragedy just happened. There isnt any drums in this track but it's still a great piece of music by bucket and travis. I could somehow picture this being in a movie. (4.5/5)
6. A day will come- A little harder edged song. Starts with keyboarding by travis and breaks down into bucket playing some cool little riffs. You can hear a resemblance from his riff to some of his other stuff. Bucket plays some pretty wierd and some pretty strange riffs on here but still are good and fit in with the song. And of course travis has excellent solos on this again. I dont see how anyone could really do a cover of this, i dont think they could get travis's keyboarding solos down. He plays them so fast and perfect. Pinchfaces drumming is also very good in this track (5/5)
7.Earth Heals Herself- EXCELLENT. A perfect word to describe this song. Definatly has a calm, smooth flow to it with excellent guitar and keyboards to set the mood up. The intro is very cool too by buckethead. And he got the bass to a good tone, a watery sound that fits in with the song really good. Buckethead plays really good sounding solos in this song while pinch keeps a good beat. He changes pace in his solos from slow to fast and it results perfectly. (5/5)
8.Clones-Big shift from earth heals herself. The darker song on the album. Buckethead provides a scary and dark riff to start the song with. At about 2:40 the feeling of this changes and it gets more medolic with a lighter riff and an awesome solo with very good fast licks thrown in there. I wish they would do this a little earlier in the song though. Up to 2:40 it is pretty much the same riff played over and over but a really good song none the less (4/5)
9.Super Human-Another big shift, from clones to a very light medolic song. The keys have alot different tone to them, kinda like a little kids piano... That's really the only way i could describe it. Super human is a lot more of a laid back song with really good drumming beats by pinch and really cool guitar work by buckethead. He has two guitars playing in this song, and it sounds espeically cool during the solo, having two guitars playing different solos at once. But of course buckthead still makes it sound great. (5/5)
10.Unknown- album closer. In a way this is an intrulude, just has bucket playing a little jam which has a blues side in it. This song is only 1:34 and its not that great. I think this probably shouldn't have been on here and they should've closed it with super human. Even though it still has pretty cool guitar work in it, i think they should have closed the album a little differently than this. (3/5)
Conclusion
Wow, this album isnt just an ordinary album. It paints a picture. The production job is excellent and this flows through great and slowly. Travis Dickerson is an amazing keyboardist and shows it on this album. The drummer keep the great beats and buckethead provides the amazing guitar which all adds up to this great album. Its different from cuckoo clocks of hell and giant robot, but shows buckethead can make a great album of any kind. Most people who listen to virtuso guitarists acually play guitar. But in my poinion this album is classic and full of excellent musical talent by all three members and can be listenable to anyone and everyone. The production job is excellent also, travis did a great job of producing this album. 5/5! GO BUY IT NOW! But if you are a cockoo clocks of hell fan and only listen to his shredding insane stuff, you might not like this. But if you like any of his stuff, or any guitar work in peticular, you should really enjoy this album.
Positive-
Population Override
Earth heals herself
Cruel reality of nature
The musicanship
Production Job
Negative-
Unknown
I DEFINATLY RECCOMEND THIS!!
