Tuesday 15 September 2009

Cross Blogination #1 Clutch - Blast Tyrant


I'd never heard of 'Clutch' so when Paul (@formulaic666) suggested them as our first 'Cross Blogination Band' I was a bit, 'errrr... ok then.'  But actually if this is gonna work that's how it needs to be.  I'm guessing that plenty of you won't of heard of them either.  If you've come here first, because I know you out there in the real world, I doubt it.  Certainly none of you have ever mentioned them to me.  I'm guessing if you know Paul he's gonna have made sure you know all about Clutch.

So how to describe Clutch.  'Fricking good,' would be a start.

Seriously Paul, thanks, this is a great album, I shall be getting my hands on more Clutch albums.

When I was a student I shared a house with a couple of interesting characters one of whom we shall call Jason (his name was Jason) and he was very into his 'metal'.  Wore a lot of black leather and that.  Jason, if you're out there, you would adore Clutch.

I did a bit of reading up on the band before I got hold of the album and they were described an American 'Stoner Rock Band', which for me conjures up the sound of Dinosaur Jr etc. But for me Clutch are way more funky than that.  Most songs have a driving groove to them, you can easily imagine bouncing along to them in a small, dark, sweaty club, beer in one hand fag in the other.  Neil Fallon has one of those classic 'rock' voices, gravel and soul and you can not help but slip into that mild head banging motion to the throbbing guitars.

Lyrically it's pretty dark in places, in others there's an underlying humour that I really like.

Best songs for me on the album are 'Subtle Hustle', all pounding sexy groove with heavy guitars and 'Ghost', which is a slower more thoughtful track.  I do like a bit of quiet/loud in my rock and this has it in abundance with some great old school guitar playing.  Good stuff.

It's riff city here, each song sounding low slung and vaguely dirty.  Which, obviously I also really like.

It's an album that sounds very American, you just wouldn't get a British band making stuff like this.  I guess that's partly the joy of living in a country where a more niche sound can find a decent enough sized market to support it.

I can highly recommend it for a journey to, I imagine it's a great driving album, but I made good use of it on my boat trip on Friday.  The old dear next to me probably thought I was one of the cleaner cut guys on the boat, little did she know what my i-Pod was feeding into my ears.

Clutch guys.  Check them out as long as you don't mind your rock heavy.  And even if that's not your bag get hold of (download) 'Ghost', it's a great tune, I promise.

4/5

And of course that would usually have been the end of my review but now you need to go read the other half from the man who helped make all this possible.

GO ON NOW!  GO HERE!

We hope you enjoy out Cross Blogination, let us know what you think.

Oh and read the post preceding it on Paul's Blog about Patrick Swayze.  Sums up a lot of our feelings on a sad day.

Two weeks time and I get to turn the tables on Paul.

2 comments:

  1. Glad you liked it mate, just don't go thinking this means I am gonna go easy on your choices!

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  2. You're a braver man than me! (Well obviously you're more of a man... but you know what I mean :p). Glad you got something out of the project, and looking forward to reading the differing perspectives on your own first choice!

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