![]() At the end we get to hear which parts of a freshly slaughtered carcass are consumed! “The Shape vs Buckethead” (5:40) is yet another oddball. The funky bass has an interesting slight dissonance with the guitars. It starts out with a crazed voice shouting “Save Me The Slunk” and then turns into a weird metal riffage that has squealing guitar solos, funky bass sections and avant-garde soloing that all melds together so well. “Who Me?” (2:08) is a short but sweet unaccompanied acoustic guitar track that has BH playing a melodic riff and then strikes a dissonant note with a vocal reactions. Also contains one of the best solos that pops in when least expected but is the crescendo of the subtleties. It alternates with a heavy guitar riff chorus. “Night Of The Slunk” (5:43) is a nice echo guitar riff that is melodic and has a nice electronic drum beat backing it up. Nice drumming and creative use of turntables and electronic effects. “Revenge Of The Double Man” (3:34) starts with a nice grungy guitar riff, funky bass and drums and has a subdued vocal arrangement. Musically this has a rather avant-garde DJ beat that is 4/4 in timing but has bizarre electronic embellishments, scorching avant-garde solos and a very strange breakdown at the end that creates a musical instability that leaves the listener scrambling for some order that has totally broken down. It has Bootsy Collins narrating the quandaries of living in the universe and the perplexing properties of time, life and humankind’s irrational fears that are leading to our demise. “Sow Thistle” (4:28) is one of the strangest on the album. This has an accompanying video and is a very surreal and needless to say bizarre experience all the while keeping one in that feel good funk mode that classic 70s funk bands like Parliament and Funkadelic were so adept at evoking. Track three “The Ballad Of Buckethead” (3:38) is a Les Claypool showcase with a funkier than slunk bass line that actually clucks like a chicken and is the only track where Les lends his vocal duties explaining the origin of the chicken lover. This one is all instrumental and conjures up the image of cruising the streets of a town filled with chickens like its their day before meeting their maker at the slaughterhouse. It changes into a hard metal riffage with cool electronic effects that dance with the jittery guitar solo. Track two “Stick Pit” (4:28) starts with a jittery guitar solo and a steady pummeling bass line designed to simultaneously soothe the soul and unravel the nerves. This is an awesome track where every element is perfectly balanced and a deliciously discerning glimpse into the album’s brilliance in general. In the middle it changes into a serious funky bass line with electronic embellishments and then back to the main metal riffage. ![]() This is beautiful aggressive metal riffage that has an electronica drum backing and some seriously flavorful guitar solos. The album begins with the energetic electronica meets heavy metal “Jump Man” (3:38) with Bootsy Collins declaring he can’t ever stop workin’ hard. The results of this menagerie of talents is what makes this amongst the most golden of finds in the Easter egg hunt in vastness of BUCKETHEAD’s discography. This is BUCKETHEAD’s defining moment and the fact that all these sounds work so well together is because of his avant-garde style being smoothed out with the efforts of Les Claypool from Primus who helps out constructing many of the tracks, plays bass and even contributes vocals on “The Ballad Of BUCKETHEAD.” Also on board here is Bootsy Collins (Parliament, George Clinton, James Brown, Praxis etc) lending some vocals on four tracks, Bryan Kei Mantia (Godflesh, Praxis, Primus etc) on drums, SF Bay Area DJ Disk on turntables as well as rap vocals by Ovi-Wey, Max Robertson and The Chicken Scratch Choir. All the funk, metal, jazz, DJ turntables and electronica come together in perfect harmony on this one. For all his eclecticness and productivity, the sounds he creates on this 5th album are by far some of the most accessible and most dynamic in balancing all the elements he has become known for. My very first experience with BUCKETHEAD was 1999’s MONSTERS AND ROBOTS which to this day still remains his best selling album.
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