Buckethead Pike Reviews
A review of Pike 36 'The Pit' by Buckethead, released November 2nd 2013
Good evening everybody, today we're back with another slice of guitar hero Buckethead's Pike album series, with Pike 36 'The Pit'. So, let's begin. Woo!!
Released the same day as Pike 35 'Thank You Ohlinger's' on November 2nd 2013, Pike 36 'The Pit' was 1 of 7 albums released that month. With the title no doubt inspired by the Edgar Allen-Poe novel and subsequent movie of the same name.
The album kicks off with 'The Pit Part 1' a slow beat ballad with some excellent understated soloing and fades-ins on-top. The guitar tone is fantastic and the feeling is turned up to 11. Very solid opener, if only the end solo would've continued for another few minutes.
The Pit Part 2 is the albums shortest track at just over 2 minutes, instantly locking you in with a fantastic opening riff that the rest of the track could never compete with. Still, its short, enjoyable, in and out.
The Pit Part 3 leads with a nasty riff that sounds like it's reverbing off the walls of a haunted prison. There's several excellent shifts of pace throughout, and though another short 2.5 minute track, It does what it needs to do. Good stuff.
The Pit Part 4 leads with more heavy riffage and is really helped along by the solid drum track. The pacing for the first half of the song is excellent but then slightly loses it's way in the latter part of the song. Still, another solid track in-line with the previous songs.
The Pit Part 5 delivers more of the same with the song really finding its groove around the 2 minute mark to its conclusion. Like the previous track its definitely not one of the albums standouts, but still an enjoyable enough listen.
The Pit Part 6 continues with the heavy before reverting back to the exact same rhythm track and flow as the opening track to nicely tie up the 6 parts, even if parts 2-5 don't seem to connect in any way at all other than by name. Which is why I haven't rated the 6 parts as one suite later on.
The album closes with it's longest track, the 8 minute 'Pendulum'. Buckethead whips out his semi-acoustic guitar for some glorious nylon string noodling. A slow crawling ballad, It's a nice shift in tone and great way to end the album. Along with 'The Pit Part 1' it's the albums standout track.
Overall Pike 36 is solid and consistent. Good drums, great tone with heavy riffage that's really helped by it's reverb effect. The album starts off strong, slightly dips towards the middle but certainly not by much, and picks right back up to end on a high note. An enjoyable album indeed.
After adding up the rating I gave for each track, It came to a respectable 68%, which I'd categorize as Good. And you can find my individual song ratings and breakdown on our website Natternet.com
So, what's your rating for Pike 36?
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 36 is 35. Then times it by 100.
Pike 36 'The Pit' RATINGS (out of 5)
1. The Pit Part 1 ***3⁄4 (3.75)
2. The Pit Part 2 ***¼ (3.25)
3. The Pit Part 3 ***½ (3.5)
4. The Pit Part 4 *** (3)
5. The Pit Part 5 *** (3)
6. The Pit Part 6 ***¼ (3.25)
7. The Pendulum **** (4)
Album length: 28:31
Total = 23.75 out of 35 (Album = 68%, Good)
1-20 % = Poor
20- 40 % = Below Average
40-60 % = Average
60-80 % = Good
80-100 % = Awesome
Buy the album HERE