Buckethead Pike Reviews
A Review of Buckethead's Pike 11 – Forgotten Library, released April 9th 2013
Good evening everybody, today we're back with another deep dive into Buckethead's extensive Pike album series with Pike 11 'Forgotten Library'. So, let's begin. Woo!!
Released April 9th 2013, Pike 11 Forgotten Library was the first Pike release of 2013 and was the first album in the series to not be released with it's original cover art.
Track 1 'Disintergration' leads you into believing that the album is gonna be one of Buckethead's chill albums until the 45 second mark when the song explodes with a gloriously thunderous riff. An excellent start to the album that goes from chill to heavy and back again.
Track 2 'Corpse be Animated' leads with heavy metal riffage with an excellent underrated solo at just over 1.5 minutes in. Another enjoyable track and so far, a solid start to the album.
Track 3 'Faded from View' is the albums longest track at almost 9 minutes with heavy metal riffs mixed with excellent neo-classical style acoustic noodling, before kicking into a sweet blues jam around the 3 minute mark to finish out the song. Thoroughly entertaining.
Track 4 'Yellowed Pages' is a dark ambient Death Cube K style track and the 2nd shortest song on the album. It's not one you'll listen to again anytime soon and feels more like a transitional piece into track 5.
Track 5 'Beginning Putrification' wastes no time in getting to its solo sections, with the 2nd of the solo's kicking in around 1 minute 50 being particularly good, including the rare occasion of Buckethead utilizing a whammy bar on what is the albums best solo and arguably it's best song.
Track 6 'Decay' dips back into the blues with Buckethead making his guitar scream and squeal. There's another outing for the whammy bar and great use of the wah pedal that a lot of the overusers out there could take a tip from. Good stuff.
The album concludes with it's title track, the neo-classical 'Forgotten Library' and is the shortest song on the album at just under 1.5 minutes. Personally I would've swapped tracks 6 and 7 and ended on a high note rather than this softer, somewhat abrupt ending.
Overall Pike 11 'Forgotten Library' is a solid album, has a great flow and an excellent mix of heavy metal, blues and acoustic guitar. With 'Faded from View' and 'Beginning Putrification' being the albums stand outs.
After adding up the rating I gave for each track, It came to 63%, which I'd categorize as Good. And certainly would've ranked higher if not for the shorter tracks 4 & 7. Despite this, Pike 11 is definitely one of the stronger of the first 11 Pike releases and really doesn't get enough love among it's earlier counterparts.
So, what's your rating for Pike 11?
To work out what percentage you'd give the album, rate each song out of 5 stars, add up your total and divide it by the total score possible, which for Pike 11 is 35. Then times it by 100.
Moral of the story, don't forget Buckethead's Forgotten Library!
Pike 11 'Forgotten Library' RATINGS (out of 5)
1. Disintegration ***¼ (3.25)
2. Corpse be Animated ***½ (3.5)
3. Faded from View **** (4)
4. Yellowed Pages *½ (1.5)
5. Beginning Putrification ****¼ (4.25)
6. Decay ***½ (3.5)
7. Forgotten Library ** (2)
Album length: 31:25
Total = 22 out of 35 (Album = 63%, Good)
FIND OUT WHAT THE FANS VOTED HERE🤘
1-20 % = Poor
1- 40 % = Below Average
40-60 % = Average
60-80 % = Good
80-100 % = Awesome!
Buy the album HERE