Bumbyride Dreamlands - fun and riff-heavy, but not too chugga chugga heavy and demented.
Geppetos Trunk - fun and riff-heavy, a little more demented and chugga chugga heavy than Bumbyride Dreamlands, but not insanely disorienting or oppressively intense.
Infinity Hill - riding that same wave, a little funkier maybe and fun
Final Bend of the Labyrinth - pretty cool stuff...not sure how to describe it. A bit of classic metal sound, but not quite an 80s feel. I get the "epic fantasy" vibe from this one. More melodic single-string style riffing and dramatic soloing with heavy reverb than dry riffing chugging at you.
Snow Slug - a classic Buckethead style album that sounds like something from Enter The Chicken era. Fast, intense, groovy, plenty of changes, but not the mesmerizing, unrelenting wall of riffs you find on other albums (which are too often for me unlistenable). This is a perfect example of that "Buckethead sound" that probably makes the most fans. Nice doomy Black Sabbath vibe in there somewhere beneath, too.
The Boiling Pond - I don't listen to Tool, but this reminds me of what people probably like about Tool in that it seems progressive, complex, well thought-out and has a dark, clean guitar tone. It has more abrupt and frequent changes than anything Tool does, from what I've heard, though. And now I'm going to stop comparing it to Tool since, as I said, I don't listen to Tool. I can't really think of anything else to compare it too, though. It sounds like a serious, epic, progressive metal album with unique tones and some surprise shifts. Toward the end, beginning with Pummul, it starts to feel less serious and more like bonus tracks of different genres (deep doomy sludge or midrangey chainsaw chugging, mostly).
The Coats of Claude - another classic-sounding Buckethead album, but this one regularly veers off the cliff of sanity in a controlled way. This reminds me of Slaughterhouse On The Prairie.
Hollowed Out - guitar tones and feel again remind me of Slaughterhouse On The Prairie. Some nice melodic breaks in there, not too intense. Ends with a nice nylon string piece reminiscent of something from Electric Sea or Electric Tears.
Coat of Charms - starts off with a delay pedal on clean channel, so if you like Colma, there is plenty to like about it. The whole thing is more subdued and clean, but Jettison parts 1-6 do get progressively heavier. The guitar tones are subtle overall with a bit of flange or chorus, some distortion but not too much. Sort of a psychedelic, epic voyage bluesy metal sound. Very cool, unique and original. People who really liked Colma, Electric Tears, Population Override would probably like this a lot.
Twisterlend - we are back to off-the-rails rollercoaster riffage. This is probably the closest thing to the Giant Robot album on Spotify right now besides the actual Giant Robot album. The guitar tone doesn't sound 80s and it's a little more demented, but still plenty of fun and not too disorienting.
Thank You Ohlinger's - This one is a lot of fun, reminds me of earlier Buckethead albums. Actually, maybe this is the closest thing to Giant Robot album on Spotify. It has everything without going too far in any particular direction. Okay, it doesn't have everything since there are no clean guitar tones. I prefer this tone to the sharper more mid-rangey tone he's been using for most of his chugga-chugga riffing lately.
It Smells Like Frogs - a little more disorienting, looser, heavy classic metal sounding album interspersed with Buckethead flourishes like random interludes of jarring feeling tone effects rather than something that might make more musical sense with the riffs. Gets more intense as it goes on, a little repetitive, but still is reeled in enough that it stands out as an occasional listener.
Telescape - really nice deep, scooped guitar tones. Loose feel, a bit psychedelic or stoner metal vibe, sometimes reminding me of Kyuss's "Welcome To Sky Valley" spacey jamming. I like this one a lot more than I am able to explain. Like most of these reviews, less words does not mean less good. Usually, it means I like it better.
However, with that said, I have to give up on this for now and get to work.
For brevity from here on, I will just say "the usual guitar tone" if it has that Slaughterhouse On The Prairie / Knottingham Lace tone. What I mean by "the usual guitar tone" is this. It is sharper and has more mids, which to me is not my favorite and sounds a little undercooked and cold. For chugga-chugga riffing, it sounds very precise and fast, but to me it's just not very tasty of a tone. This is the tone he uses the most these days, it seems, but he has changed it up a bit on quite a few of these Pikes and I've mentioned it above a few times.
Other pikes in my Buckethead playlist folder are:
Forgotten Library - cool and fun, not too crazy...the usual guitar tone.
*March of the Slunks *- another classic sounding album interspersed with some funky weirdness...a lot of different guitar tones. Some Population Override sounds here.
The Silent Picture Book - really cool chillout album. Starts off with the usual guitar tone and seems like it's going to be a riff-filled roller coaster ride, but it quickly settles into a chillout album of mostly clean tones. And there is some cukoo crazy nonsense thrown in there that doesn't seem out of place for some reason. The riffs do come back here and there, but overall, it's a pretty laid back vibe that has a dark feel. It doesn't feel dark like evil, but like a ghost or vampire content in his solitude. It doesn't sound sad like some of his other chillout clean stuff. Except for the song Flashes. That one sounds a bit sad.
3 Foot Clearance - another one that reminds me of the Giant Robot album (which makes me very happy), but overall a little more modern. Not quite the usual guitar tone, either, but often quite close. I like these variety of tones better. More scooped mids, more reverb and the occasional brief return of a shrill icepick tone.
Aquarium - A fun one. There's a rollercoaster on the cover that gives a good idea of what this one's all about. It is mostly the usual guitar tone, however, which is not my favorite. But, some of the obviously electric drums set that off nicely as in the song Hopper Feeding Mash. Reminds me a bit of Funnel Weaver and earlier Buckethead albums.
Leave The Light On - the usual guitar tone, another good one in the vein of Slaughterhouse On The Prarie and Knottingham Lace
Claymation Courtyard - the usual guitar tone, another good one in the vein of Slaughterhouse On The Prarie and Knottingham Lace
Wishes - great, mellow stuff that feels like it goes somewhere
Closed Attractions - another chillout album. If you liked Colma, check this out.
Cycle - this one is fucking cool. A really different chillout album. Again, anyone who liked Colma should check this one out.
The Frankensteins Monsters Ball - fun, funky, bubbly and weird. Pairs well with a nice chillout album. :) I like to listen to this right after Cycle, for example.
City of Ferris Wheels - some Jimi Hendrix sounding stuff on this mellow album make it very cool and different
Hiding In the Pickle Jar - some Hendrixy tones on this, too, combined with the fun, funky, bubbly weirdness of The Frankensteins Monsters Ball...so I would have to say this is a cross between the last two albums and yet sounds not really like either of them.
Rainy Days - another mellow album...very straight. Closest comparison would be Electric Sea.
Pearson's Square - another mellow album, also very straight. Seems very unique in the Buckethead catalog somehow, but similar to Electric Sea, I suppose.
Monument Valley - another chillout album similar in feel to Colma with canned beats and delay (by the way, that's pretty much what I mean whenever I said "chillout" album anywhere above) and also some mellow clean songs more like the Electric Sea vibe.
The Spirit Winds - pushing the mellow, clean vibe into new territory. This has a bit of world music feel in some of the drum choices, but in general I would describe this as a perfect blend of Colma, Electric Tears and Knottingham Lace, but there is a different feel to it that reminds me of something isolated, expansive and...uh, Icelanding, like Sigur Ros (or something) at times. It sounds more underground/independent than, for example, Knottingham Lace.