Population Override

In my opinion, one of Buckethead's finest moments. He's done a lot of great stuff but Population Override gets me every time I listen to it. From "Unrestrained Growth" with a funky sludge breakdown to the last track "..." ending the album on a bluesy note, the album finds balance throughout while skipping from metal to funk to blues to ambient guitar noodling without breaking concentration. Truly an epic and, more importantly, a convincing journey. To begin the journey are three tracks clocking in over 7 minutes each, and then things slow down for a 34 second interlude of "Humans Vanish." This sets up the truly psychedelic piece "Cruel Reality of Nature" which finds Dickerson's keyboards wafting from speaker to speaker on every note while B'head solos peacefully over top.This then brings about a transitionally epic piece of "A Day Will Come" which starts out on some really dark and twisted heavy riffs before the distortion takes a backseat and the ambient side of Buckethead dreams into "Earth Heals Itself." The next two songs seem to recover and bring the album to a close before the base blues of "..." Throughout one thing is apparent - Dickerson is a master at keyboards and Buckethead can craft some of the most rewarding melodies. If you like this piece I'd recommend other things Buckethead has done with Dickerson notably "Chicken Noodles" and "Gorgone." ++-