Groove Rock
Weathermaker Music
September 16th 2022
Line Up:
Neil Fallon – Vocals/Guitar/Keyboards
Tim Sult – Guitar
Dan Maines – Bass
Jean-Paul Gaster – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)
2 – Slaughter Beach
3 – Mountain Of Bone
4 – Nosferatu Madre
5 – Mercy Brown
6 – We Strive For Excellence
7 – Skeletons On Mars
8 – Three Golden Horns
9 – Jackhammer Our Names
Clutch have kinda passed me by, don’t get me wrong, everything I’ve heard I’ve pretty much liked but I just haven’t had the time to give them a proper listen – until now. This is right up my street. Heavy, melodic and verging on stoner – that will do for me.
Drums and a squally guitar are heard in the distance then a big bold riff blasts out of the speakers and we’re off on ‘Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)’. This is big and loud rock n roll with Sult and Maines playing the riff and Fallon roaring over the top but its controlled power and groovy as hell. ‘Slaughter Beach’ comes down a bit – heavier – it stomps around like a hooligan on the prowl on another one of those huge riffs before the funkier ‘Mountain Of Bone’. ‘Nosferatu Madre’ brings back the stomp and a real stoner groove then ‘Mercy Brown’ goes kinda southern gothic where the guitars chime rather than crush and Fallon shows another side of his voice. Things get punky on ‘We Strive For Excellence’ before the groove comes back with a vengeance on ‘Skeletons On Mars’. ‘Three Golden Horns’ is introduced with a brief piece of dinner jazz then it opens up on another huge rocker before Gaster’s tribal rhythm starts ‘Jackhammer Our Names’ – it’s dark and doomy with an excellent performance form Fallon.
Clutch very much do their own thing. The music has a base from Led Zep and Black Sabbath, but they’ve put their own spin on it to make it unique to them. Can’t fault this in any way. It’s big, ballsy bruising heavy rock that you can dance to, get stoned to and headbang to all at the same time.
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
About Author
- Groovy
- Stoner
- Stomping
- 8
