Artist: Buckethead
Album: Monsters & Robots
Genre: Avant-Garde Metal
Year: 1999
Buckethead in a Year: The Reviews Project
Part 05: Monsters & Robots
This is one of the albums that really defines Buckethead’s overall sound, for me. Every style he’s touched on in the past (from the electronic/dance vibe on Day of the Robot to the soothing sounds of Colma) is well represented here. This album is more like Giant Robot in that it doesn’t have much of an over-arching theme. Indeed, it’s more of a collection of high quality songs. Even though it might sound like a grab bag, the album flows well and it doesn’t seem like the transitions were too forced. Beautiful, brutal, and shred-tacular, Monsters & Robots delivers on all fronts.
The guitar playing on this album, as we’ve come to expect, is astounding, jaw-dropping, insane. Every superlative I use isn’t doing the man a service. He’s a fabulous player, and if you still don’t think so, quite frankly, you’re wrong. The riffs on this album are nice and heavy in songs like Revenge of the Double-Man and Jowls. The guitar tone on the record isn’t quite as crunchy as his earlier material, but I’ve always preferred his smoother tones, and this disc is a fine example of why. These songs just feel good. They’re fun to listen to, and they never really get stale because of the stylistic jumping. The solos are incredibly shreddy. Almost every song has a section devoted to the master doing what he does best. Personally, I find this to be one of the album’s biggest draws, but if you’re looking for more melodic playing, it’s certainly here, but you may want to stick with Colma. There is one particularly beautiful moment on the song “Who Me?”. This song echoes the aforementioned Colma in every sense of the definition, and almost sounds like it was intended for Colma instead. It fits in rather well here, serving as almost an intermission between the two insane halves of the album.
The backing band on this outing sounds phenomenal. The drums give the songs a nice, driving beat, almost giving off a dance vibe. I could certainly picture a song like Jump Man or Night of the Slunk playing at a club on a late night (then again, I‘m a wishful thinker). The bass isn’t quite as prevalent on this record, but there’s certainly spots where it’s allowed to jump out of the mix and shine. The keyboards and effects on this album are nothing short of awesome. They do exactly what they’re meant to. They add a bunch of texture and atmosphere to a song, without taking the focus away from Buckethead’s playing. A song like Stick Pit wouldn’t be the same without those blips and bloops. Special mention must be given to The Ballad of Buckethead, one of the only Buckethead songs to predominately feature vocals. The vocals and bass on the track are played by Les Claypool, so you can figure out right away that this is going to sound like a Primus song with a Buckethead solo, and it certainly does. It’s not a bad song by any means, but it’s probably my least favorite here.
The vocal bits are back on this album, whether you missed them or not. Personally, I love them. They add a great touch to the album, and keeps it very interesting. Most of the songs have samples, and they definitely make the songs seem more like songs rather than random jamming. My favorite bit has to be in Jowls with the maniacal screaming of “SAVE ME THE SLUNK!!!” before Buckethead tears it up.
The coveted song of the album award goes straight to Night of the Slunk, no questions asked. It’s one of the ultimate Buckethead songs, for me at least. It starts off with a great clean riff, before the keyboard comes in and makes things interesting. Later, it breaks off into a great heavy riff, jumping back and forth until the spotlight is shifted to one of my all time favorite Buckethead solos. Totally flawless.
If you’ve never heard a Buckethead album before, this is the one you need to hear. It gives a crash course in all of his many styles, and manages to be an extremely entertaining, mostly instrumental album. Quite a feat, indeed.
5/5