{"id":41551,"date":"2009-06-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/enter-the-chicken\/"},"modified":"2009-06-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-10T00:00:00","slug":"enter-the-chicken","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/enter-the-chicken\/","title":{"rendered":"Enter The Chicken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any time you have an artist who releases 27 solo albums in less than 20 years, it\u2019s going to take some digging to find the real gems in their discography. Enter The Chicken<\/i> isn\u2019t one of Buckethead\u2019s best works but it is among the more diverse, making it an excellent starting point for new fans and a worthy addition to diehards\u2019 libraries.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/i><\/p>\n

In a departure from Buckethead\u2019s usual instrumental fare, eight of eleven tracks feature vocal contributions drawn from a smorgasbord of artists. These range from Serj Tankian of System Of A Down to Saul Williams to Azam Ali of Niyaz. Buckethead\u2019s guitar histrionics are considerably toned down for the majority of the disc \u2013 not exactly hard rock \u00e0 la Chinese Democracy<\/i>, but certainly a far cry from his better-known shred albums such as Monsters And Robots<\/i> or Cuckoo Clocks Of Doom<\/i>. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The album kicks off on a hard-rocking note with \u201cWe Are One,\u201d the first of three songs to feature System Of A Down\u2019s Serj Tankian on vocals. Powered by a chugging riff, Buckethead\u2019s trademark speed and some trippy effects, the song makes for a great opener. It\u2019s a healthy dose of shock, rock and eeriness between the guitar playing and Tankian\u2019s performance.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Buckethead & Friends<\/i> decide to go for a one-two punch on this one, though, and just as the guitar fades out, listeners are launched into \u201cBotnus\u201d with a gravel-throated scream courtesy of Efrem Schulz. The style ain\u2019t for everyone, but the guy sure can belt out Cookie Monster vocals at a breakneck pace. The guitar riff sounds as if it might have been inspired by a techno loop, and the speed of Buckethead\u2019s signature licks is almost exhausting.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thankfully, there\u2019s a marked change in style after the rapid-fire riffing of the first two songs, otherwise this would be a real dullard of a guitar record. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Actually, forget \u2018marked change.\u2019 It\u2019s closer to a 180-degree turnaround, as Buckethead and Saul Williams slow things to a crawl and give listeners a spoken-word, almost light rap number, \u201cThree Fingers.\u201d This one\u2019s really a matter of taste, but it makes for an effective transition into a trio of memorable songs.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cRunning From The Light,\u201d \u201cComa\u201d and \u201cWaiting Here\u201d are each softer numbers featuring female vocalists and subdued, tasteful guitar work. Forget shredding. These three songs are all about atmosphere, equal parts calming, eerie and exotic in flavor. \u201cWaiting Here,\u201d featuring Shana Halligan and Serj Tankian, is particularly good. The vocals are chilling in parts and will leave fans wondering about the untapped possibilities of Buckethead taking on future projects with female singers.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That said, the album closes on somewhat of a limp note. \u201cFunbus\u201d is a throwback to \u201cBotnus,\u201d and \u201cThe Hand\u201d is a jumbled mix of mumbling, industrial noise and opera singers. Save for this pair of weak closing tracks and one run-of-the-mill instrumental, though, Enter The Chicken<\/i> is a solid disc that will give listeners a good sampling of Buckethead\u2019s versatility as an artist. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":29928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7965],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-41551","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-buckethead","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41551"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41551"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}