| The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Buckethead | ||||||||||
| Released | April 20, 2004 | |||||||||
| Genre | Heavy metal, experimental rock, avant-garde metal | |||||||||
| Length | 52:16 | |||||||||
| Label | Disembodied | |||||||||
| Producer | Dan Monti | |||||||||
| Buckethead chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell is the thirteenth studio album by guitarist Buckethead. It was released on April 20, 2004 via Disembodied Records. The album contains seventeen songs, and is considered by fans to be Buckethead's heaviest offering to date. Many of the song titles include references to elements of Dante's Inferno. "Descent of the Damned" could refer to the journey that sinful souls make down to Hell; "Woods of Suicide" is a direct copy of the name of the Seventh Circle of Hell where those who take their own lives are sent to suffer; "Ravines of Falsehood" could easily refer to the Eighth Circle, reserved for those who commit fraud, as the Eight Circle has many individual pits ('ravines') where different types of fraudulent sinners suffer. In addition, the music video for "Spokes for the Wheel of Torment" has imagery that is inspired by the triptychs by Hieronymus Bosch, which depict many Inferno-esque scenes.
The album includes the song "Spokes for the Wheel of Torment" which is one of the few Buckethead songs a music video was made for.
Contents |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Descent of the Damned" | 3:07 |
| 2. | "Spokes for the Wheel of Torment" | 2:17 |
| 3. | "Arc of the Pendulum" | 2:32 |
| 4. | "Fountains of the Forgotten" | 3:22 |
| 5. | "The Treeman" | 3:40 |
| 6. | "Pylegathon" | 2:35 |
| 7. | "Traveling Morgue" | 3:18 |
| 8. | "One Tooth of the Time Train" | 3:27 |
| 9. | "Bedlam's Bluff" | 3:15 |
| 10. | "Beaten With Sledges" | 2:52 |
| 11. | "Woods of Suicide" | 3:28 |
| 12. | "Yellowed Hide" | 3:37 |
| 13. | "Moths to Flame" | 3:13 |
| 14. | "The Ravines of Falsehood" | 3:11 |
| 15. | "The Black Forest" | 2:12 |
| 16. | "Haven of Black Tar Pitch" | 3:19 |
| 17. | "The Escape Wheel" | 2:52 |
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Total length:
|
52:16 | |
| "Spokes for the Wheel of Torment" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Buckethead from the album The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell | ||||
| Released | April 20, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | John Merrick Recorder | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, experimental rock | |||
| Length | 2:17 | |||
| Label | Disembodied | |||
| Writer | Buckethead, Dan Monti | |||
| Producer | Dan Monti | |||
| The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell track listing | ||||
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"Spokes for the Wheel of Torment" is the second song from the album and one of a few that have a music video (the other were "The Ballad of Buckethead" from the album Monsters and Robots, "We Are One" from Buckethead's 2005 album Enter the Chicken, "Pyrrhic Victory" by Thanatopsis, and "Viva Voltron", for the animated series Voltron).
The music video was directed by Syd Garon and Eric Henry featuring additional artwork by long time Buckethead collaborator Bryan "Frankenseuss" Theiss. The video is based on the famous triptychs by Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Last Judgement, the Paradise and Hell, and The Temptation of St. Anthony.
The music video starts showing a place that looks like hell where Buckethead has a lute and is carried by a flying beast which releases him. Buckethead ends in the hands of the "Prince of Hell" from the The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych.
Buckethead gets eaten by the creature and his head, the lute and the two arms fall, getting themselves stuck on a tree where Buckethead starts to play a part of the song. While he plays, a lot of people getting killed are shown in several ways and a bird is picking body parts. Then the "Tree Man" from the same triptych is shown and the camera changes to the upper part of the triptych where all is on fire.
Buckethead keeps playing and when the song finishes the screen goes black and the credits appear showing the triptychs by Hieronymus Bosch. After the credits the camera pulls to show the credits were on a circular shape. During this time, parts of the song "Traveling Morgue" from the same album are played. The screen goes black again and the words "Beware, Beware, God Sees" appear.
The clip was shown at some film festivals around the world, such as the Sydney Film Festival,[2] amongst others.[3]
The music video has been officially made available in 2006, as part of the Anxious Animation DVD release[4] as well as Buckethead's own video compilation Secret Recipe.