Reviewed by:
petrucci_owns86, on november 15, 2007
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Sound: This album is one of Buckethead's better ones, bringing a cleaner, more structured sound along. Since there are no lyrics what'soever, there can't be a story. It's just a lot of heavy riffs and astounding solos. Buckethead uses heavily detuned guitars on this album, evidenced by riffs from songs like "Baseball Furies" and "Final Wars". It's also got some great album art, I gotta say. // 9
Lyrics and Singing: No lyrics, it's 100% instrumental. Except, before the bass solo in "Bird With a Hole in The Stomach", Bootsy Collins yells out "Hit me!" But that's all. Here are the descriptions of the tracks:
01. Thai Fighter Swarm - awesome hook, sounds like the guitars are playing at a different tempo than the drums. Cool solos, fast riffs, all encased in a two-and-a-half minute song.
02. Final Wars - another amazing detuned hook. This has one of the best solos on the album. Switches from distorted to clean effortlessly.
03. Baseball Furies - the title always make me laugh. My third favorite song on the album. Yet another hooky detuned riff from Big-B. Amazing ending solo. Too short though.
04. The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock - freakish opening riff. Actually sounds like what I'd imagine the Elephant Man's alarm clock to sound like. Some very interesting solos on this track.
05, 06, 07, 08. The Lurker On The Threshold Suite - all are great songs, and they all add up to an epic track. My favorite song on the album. Not sure why Buckethead split it into four parts though.
09. Oakridge Cake - cool detuned song, nothing special though. Kind of eerie sounding.
10. Gigan - it's interesting, but again, nothing special. It's pretty short.
11. Droid Assembly - fun little song, it's got a cool riff once the guitar kicks in.
12. Bird With A Hole In The Stomach - awesome, funky song. Some sweet guitar and bass solos on this one.
13. Fizzy Lipton Drinks - starts off with a deadly riff, and kicks into and awesome song. The guitar effect for the opening riff actually sounds kind of "fizzy". The song continues for around three and a half minutes (can't remember exactly), then goes into silence for about three or four minutes. Then, it comes back with a funkish hidden track. Over ten minutes long including the silence.
Since there aren't any lyrics, I'm going to rate this based on the quality of the music. // 8
Impression: I think out of all of Buckethead's albums, this is one of the best. It's overall very heavy, with some amazing soloing techniques. The three most impressive songs would be (in order): The Lurker On The Threshold Suite, Final Wars, and Baseball Furies. I love the overall heaviness of it, and the soloings incredible. The things that bug me are that some of the riffs get repetative, and that "Fizzy Lipton Drinks" is broken into two parts. But other than that, it's great. If it were lost/stolen, I'd buy it again in an instant. Buy this if you love instrumental/metal music! // 9
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