Search - Buckethead & Friends :: Enter the Chicken

Best in a While

Zachary A. Hanson | Tallahassee, FL United States | 01/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm surprised by how negative people are being in response to this. People seem to expect that everything Buckethead does needs to be one big, long superhuman guitar solo. Well, plenty of that is here and if you want way more where that came from you've got Metatron, Cobra Strike, and on and on. What impresses me about this one is the range. It starts out with "We Are One" with Serj Tankian on vocals. Buckethead's robotic rhythms lend themselves perfectly to Tankian's manic themes, leading me to wish that Tankian would stay put with Buckethead, as I like this better than anything that System of a Down does. Then there is "Running from the Light," which evokes gospel singing and has something of the tender side of Buckethead that we heard on Colma. I like "Coma," another softer one, even better: the morbid lyrical theme works well. Then there is the prime death metal contained on "Funbus" and "The Hand." The vocalists on these really capture the insanity that should go with Buckethead at his wildest; Maximum Bob on "The Hand" is especially incoherent, sounding like someone who should be institutionalized (still can't figure out why his hand has the meaning to him that it does).



While this record doesn't necessarily blow your mind on a continuous basis, it is certainly a highly enjoyable and versatile piece to blast while you are in the car. I haven't enjoyed a Buckethead piece as much in years."

Fingercrackin' Good

doomsdayer520 | Pennsylvania | 05/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Buckethead refuses to be pigeonholed, except when temporarily joining washed up arena metal acts, and as a result most of the record-buying public has no idea what he's really about. Buckethead's longtime fans also don't know too much about this mysterious virtuoso, but his terrifyingly innovative and innovatively terrifying guitar work is a must for music lovers of the troubled-loner or misunderstood-genius persuasions. Buckethead is a master of many genres on guitar, most of them loud and scary, and his wide-ranging and earshredding licks can be deemed as bizarre as his getup, or as evidence of an evil genius at work. This album features a slew of cutting-edge singers to back up Buckethead's wall of guitar skronk, most notably System of a Down's Serj Tankian, who also produced. The singers add some structure that brings Buckethead's traditional instrumental strategy into the somewhat more easily understood realm of concise songs, and this new strategy actually works in building appreciation for his guitar mastery. Noteworthy tracks early on this album include the very SOAD-like aggro-angst of "We Are One" and the slightly electronica and very creepy "Three Fingers." The middle of the album unexpectedly mellows out with three very believable power ballads in which Buckethead shows some surprise sensitivity, culminating in the majestic "Waiting Hare." The final three tracks bring back the full-on guitar terror, and the fearsome genre-smashing groove of "Nottingham Lace" is a pinnacle of Buckethead's lifetime of guitar near-godhood. Not bad for a weirdo who can barely see through that mask. [~doomsdayer520~]"

Hit

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 02/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Buckethead albums can be a hit-or-miss deal. His proficiency as a guitarist goes without argument, for he does stuff and displays a rage of sound that I could never HOPE to access, but I think he tends to really show his mettle in collaboration rather than on his own. Take his work with Praxis and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains and you will see a master in his element. On his solo albums, it seems to take a major talent to work off of to make his stuff really work. _Monster & Robots_ is an appropriately monster of an album, but stuff like _Bucketheadland_ and _Colma_ let the tall, lanky guy do a little bit too much of his own wandering.



But with _Enter the Chicken_, Buckethead is back to mush the faces of his nay-sayers in their own crap. And I feel that I have been appropriately mushed. His tracks with Serj Tankian of System of a Down bring Tankian's speed-metal vocal tempo to a new height, and Buckethead shows a precision and depth of sound even in speed metal. Buckethead has repeatedly been able to show off a guitar-god lick or two in most of work, with "Elephant Ghost" and "The Interworld and the New Innocence" being notable faves, but "Nottingham Lace" is one to rank right up there with all the other Buckethead guitar god tracks. The man (?) has an innate sense of the instrumental and can direct a song into wild directions without a single lick of vocals...but he is not averse to the voice either.



It is always good to find another classic Buckethead album. May he live to be a thousand.

"