Buckethead Pike Reviews
A review of Pike 118 'Elevator' by Buckethead released March 11th 2015.
Good evening everybody, we're back for another trip to Bucketheadland to take a look at Pike 118 'Elevator'. So, let's begin. Woo!!
Released March 11th 2015, Pike 118 was the 1st of 6 Pike albums to be released that month, and the 2nd cover behind Pike 66 to show Buckethead wearing his 2011 spaceman style outfit. Nice.
The elevator ride begins with track 1 '10th Floor'. What starts as, to be honest, a fairly unremarkable riff with some standard shred soloing later added on-top, really kicks into gear around 2.5 minutes with more focused and enjoyable soloing to the tracks conclusion. It's not great but it's a decent start to the album.
For track 2 we reach the '11th floor' for the albums shortest track at just over 2.5 minutes. Like the previous track, the main riff of the song isn't particularly strong or memorable. Unfortunately the 11th floor is probably not a place you'll ever revisit again.
The Elevator doors opens up on the 12th floor with a more enjoyable and accessible riff that has a nice flow, later using the killswitch around the 3.5 minute mark to great effect, though unfortunately not long enough. That being said, so far its the albums best track.
Track 4 we stop at the '13th floor' and from the 2 minute mark Buckethead rips into some mighty soloage with crazy tapping sequences and speed like we've come to expect. Like track 3 it's one of the albums better tracks, although the backing track isn't particularly strong and at times seem to work against Buckethead's soloing rather than complimenting it.
For the 5th and final track we arrive at the Flower and Headcheese festival. At almost 10 minutes it's by far the albums longest track. And like the previous track around the 2 minute mark we reach the solo section of the song. Buckethead's shred guitar skills are on full display and at times reaches some mind blowing speed and ability. And for me, thats what this track is about. It's a song to appreciate the skills on display rather than a song of enjoyment. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall, Pike 118 isn't one of Buckethead's stronger Pikes by a long way. The drum tracks on the album are especially unremarkable and at times are flat to the point of hurting the songs.
Whilst I don't feel that any of the tracks are particularly bad, in fact there's some really good moments, they're just okay but not songs I revisit often.
After adding up the rating I gave for each track, It came to 59%, which I'd categorize as Average, just missing out on a 4 star rating. And that's about right. Pike 118 is okay. You can find my individual song ratings and break down on our website natternet.com
So, what's your rating for Pike 118?
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 118 is 25. Then times it by 100.
So Buckethead's Elevator, Up or Down? What do you think?
Pike 118 'Elevator' RATINGS (out of 5)
1. 10th Floor *** (3)
2. 11th Floor ** (2)
3. 12th Floor ***½ (3.5)
4. 13th Floor ***¼ (3.25)
5. Flower and Headcheese Festival *** (3)
Album length: 29:28
Total = 14.75 out of 25 (Album = 59% Average)
1-20 % = Poor
20- 40 % = Below Average
40-60 % = Average
60-80 % = Good
80-100 % = Awesome!
Buy the album HERE