Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West (Album)
» Clutch Announce Australian Tour - March 19, 2007
» Soundwave 2010 - Bonython Park, SA - February 27, 2010
» Clutch - Factory Theatre, NSW - February 24, 2010
» Clutch: You Say Tomato... - January 22, 2008
» Clutch - Hi-Fi, The, VIC - December 13, 2007
Clutch's latest album, Strange Cousins From The West, is a hard rock masterpiece that builds on a tried-and-true formula of fuzzy distorted guitar, masculine vocals and a strong rhythm section. Oh, and sweet-ass songs. With serious riffage. For those outside the circle of knowledge, Clutch are a four-piece from Maryland, USA. Their style is a mix between stoner rock, metal, blues, classic rock'n'roll and hard rock.
This is Clutch's ninth studio album in nineteen years. Yep, nineteen years. Fair effort, lads. I've come across their music before but had never committed my ears to a serious listen. Now that I have, I can understand their longevity and the devotion of their fanbase. They play good solid rock'n'roll with a side order of stoner rock and a garnish of kick-ass.
While their earlier work featured metal influences and a heavier tone, their more recent albums have leant more towards a blues-influenced hard rock aesthetic, making them more accessible and more critic and listener-friendly. They remind me of CKY and Queens of the Stone Age, possibly leaning more towards the pre-QOTSA project Kyuss. Essentially, they've blended the metal and the blues and ended up with polished, groovy (I can't believe I just used that word), sludgy, thudding rock. And it's good.
The guitar in 50,000 Unstoppable Watts is incredibly dark but periodocally breaks into skilful blues-runs and manages to be both heavy and fresh, blues and metal combined. It will be the first single to be released in support of this album. If you're in the mood for some seriously sensational stoner rock, look no further than 'Strange Cousins From The West'. S'good.
