''Enter the Chicken'' is the fourteenth studio album by musician

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative electric guitar playing. His music spans severa ...

. The album was released on October 25, 2005 by

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...

's label

Serjical Strike Serjical Strike Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates under Republic Records. Background Serjical Strike was founded in April 2001 by Serj Tankian (lead singer of System of a Down), and has cast away t ...

. It has eleven songs, two of which are less than twenty seconds long. It contains appearances from such artists as

Saul Williams Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam'' ...

, Maximum Bob,

Efrem Schulz Efrem "The Bean" Schulz (born December 16, 1974) is an American punk rock singer of Mexican descent, best known for his work with Death by Stereo. As of Paul Miner's departure in 2005, he is the only remaining original member of the band. He al ...

and

. The album includes "We Are One", one of the few Buckethead songs for which a music video was made. The song also appears on the horror series soundtrack

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, C ...

and also in one episode. "Three Fingers" also appears on the soundtrack of the horror movie ''

Saw II ''Saw II'' is a 2005 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Leigh Whannell and Bousman. It is the sequel to 2004's ''Saw'' and the second installment in the ''Saw'' film series. The film stars Donnie Wahlberg, Franky G, Gl ...

''. The last song from the album, the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

piece "Nottingham Lace" (previously released on Buckethead's official website) closes the album, and is one of Buckethead's most popular songs, often played in concerts along with "

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

" known from the game ''

Guitar Hero II ''Guitar Hero II'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 and Activision for the Xbox 360. It is the second main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series and is the sequel to 2005's ...

'' and "Soothsayer" from the album ''

Crime Slunk Scene ''Crime Slunk Scene'' is the eighteenth studio album by Buckethead, and his fourth tour-only album. It was originally only sold on his 2006 tour, but was later made available on Travis Dickerson's record label TDRS music, until it eventually went ...

''. Buckethead promoted the album release with his "Disney World To Disney Land Tour" in October and November 2005. A re-issue of this album was released on April 8, 2008 with an additional song called "Shen Chi".

Album Information

According to Buckethead, Serj Tankian came up with the concept of an album comprising contributions from different guest vocalists and friends, hence the title. The artwork for the album was done by long-time Buckethead collaborator Bryan "Frankenseuss" Theiss. The cover of the reissue is identical to the original, save for some colour changes.

Reception

The participation of Serj Tankian as well as many other high profile musicians caused a bigger media echo than usual Buckethead solo releases would do. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called the album "an entertaining disc that dabbles in genres ranging from romantic pop to extreme metal" and stated, "The shredder/space alien proves there's more behind the mask than just a quick pick and a side of slaw." ''

'' wrote about "street poet" Saul Williams: " econfidently counterbalances Hendrixian distortion on

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

" ''Jive'' named "We Are One" and "Three Fingers" as being highlights of the album. Michael Melchor of 411mania stated: "The hip-hop comes into play on 'Three Fingers' and what sounds ..suspiciously like street poetry by

before Buckethead turns up the funk and groove."

Track listing

Personnel

* Tracks #1–7, 9–11 Recorded at John Merrick Recorder * Track #8 Recorded at the

Dungeons * Vocals for Tracks #1–4, 6–10 Recorded at the Serjical Strike Dungeons * Produced by

* Engineered, Mixed and Co-Produced by

Dan Monti Dan Monti, also known by his stage name Del Rey Brewer or simply Brewer, is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer who has worked with such bands as Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses. The bulk of his work, however, has bee ...

* Mixed at the Binge Factory * Vocal Engineering on Track #5 by

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...

, Cam Dinunzio * Additional Programming by

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Paul Miner Paul Miner (born December 4, 1976) is the bassist for Death by Stereo, who left the band early 2005 (right before the band's fourth album '' Death for Life''), to produce, engineer, master, and mix music full-time. Previously he produced and engin ...

at Buzzbomb Studios * A&R Coordinating by Serj Tankian and George Tonikian * Art Direction by Bryan Theiss @ Frankenseuss Laboratories * Buckethead's Legal Representation: Stan Diamond Esq., Diamond and Wilson

We Are One

"We Are One" was chosen to promote ''Enter the Chicken'' and thus was released as a video single. The song features vocals by

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

frontman

who also produced the album.

Music video

The music video, directed by Syd Garon and

Rodney Ascher Rodney Ascher is an American film director, best known for his 2012 documentary '' Room 237''. Early life His mother is Jewish, and he resides in Hollywood. Awards *''Best Director Award'' at the Austin Fantastic Fest (2012, won for ''Room 237' ...

, tells the story of Buckethead paying a man called "Marquis" (played by

) to bring him killed animals. Buckethead uses the animals to perform

taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

on them (a real life hobby of the guitarist). Several animals appear, with flashbacks showing shortly how they died. Buckethead combines parts of all the animals together to create a new animal, which then immediately attacks Buckethead. The video has comparisons to the Frankenstein tale in that, Buckethead creates a monster, by bringing his creature to life by electrocuting it. The video then focuses on the fight of Buckethead to survive the attacks but the creation manages to kill his creator. The monster then drags Buckethead to the resurrection table, and zaps him back into being, however when he is brought back to life he discovers that his being had performed taxidermy on him, cutting off his arms and legs and replacing them with animal parts, the creature killing the maker and then bringing him back as a monster in its own right, has many layers of meaning and connotation.

Usage in ''Masters of Horror''

The song appeared on the soundtrack of the horror series ''

'' and was also used in the episode '' Dance of the Dead'' of the award winning series, when main character Peggy arrives at the town of Muskeet with his friends.

Reception

'' described "We Are One" as one of the standout tracks of the album, being "concisely spastic, metallic and reminiscent of Tankian's Armenian-influenced headbanger band,

." Other reviewers also compared the song to the singer's former work with System of a Down, namely with songs from ''

Toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

''. ''Jive'' named "We Are One" and "Three Fingers" as being highlights of the album. The clip gained airplay on several music related television stations.

Personnel

– guitar *

– vocals, producer * The track was recorded on John Merrick Recorder. * The voice track was recorded on Serjical Strike Dungeons

Botnus

"Botnus" was inspired by the evil character Dr. Botanus on '' Giant Robot'', a Japanese television show that heavily influenced Buckethead's work. The original name for the song was "Dungeon Stilt". A demo version of this song appears on the DVD ''Secret Recipe''.

Reception

The song has been described as "storm ngout of the gates with hellish fury letting up for only a few bars to allow the listener a quick breath" and being about "a creature that features the voice of

Death By Stereo Death by Stereo (also referred to as D.B.S.) is an American hardcore punk band formed in Orange County, California circa 1998 by frontman Efrem Schulz. They are well known for their energetic performances and intricate guitar work. Their name ...

participant

. ''Botnus'' may scare younger visitors, as it is very aggressive when disturbed." ''

'' called Buckethead's guitar work on the song as "lickety-split riffing and soloing," backed up by 411mania, writing that " e metal influences are in full force as Buckethead supplies the blistering rhythm for Shulz then inserts a grand, soaring solo into the song while he's at it."

Three Fingers

"Three Fingers" features vocals by

who was invited to perform on the track by producer

. As with the rest of the album's vocalists, Williams recorded his part separately from Buckethead's work, and the two never met during the process. The song was also included on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the horror film ''

''. When asked about the song, Buckethead responded: "Every day is like a strange movie for me."

Nottingham Lace

"Nottingham Lace" is the last track on the album and one of Buckethead's most popular songs. It is very frequently played live at Buckethead's concerts. The song's name is derived from one of the most high quality types of

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

in the world.

References

External links

Serjical Strike Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enter The Chicken 2005 albums Buckethead albums Albums produced by Serj Tankian Serjical Strike Records albums