Dr Fever's Five Star Review of 'Pure Rock Fury'

Maryland's Clutch has been ripping up the globe for about 10 years now. Formed sometime in 1991, this foursome has dropped four full length albums (Transnational Speedway League, Clutch, The Elephant Riders, and Jam Room) that have had their own distinctive sound. Now, with their fifth full length, Pure Rock Fury, the boys finally found a way to combine all their various styles from over the years and turn them into one flat out, undeniable monster of an album!

The tone is set right from the first track ("American Sleep"). A mass of heavy funk that'll blow your speakers right outta their box, this track is Clutch at their finest, combining their Hardcore, Metal, Rock and Jam Band influences. It doesn't stop there. "Careful With That Mic" is a very simple (musically) track that has one sole purpose, to lampoon the utter stupidity (and lack of musical credibility) of RapRock. Lead vocalist Neil Fallon rips through the track with a rapid fire delivery of the vocals and a sense of sarcasm, you can almost imagine the smirk on his face as he sticks it too the Fred Durst's and Kid Rock's of the world.

On the album, Clutch gives the un-initiated fan a taste of them in their purest element; Live. The addition of a live version of their underground classic "Spacegrass" is a supreme highlight and definitely gives you a taste of what it's like to see Clutch live.

I highly recommend you go out and get this CD TODAY! Sell a kidney, Sell your children, Rob a bank, do WHATEVER you have to do to get the money to buy this, trust me, your musical life will never be the same again.

Gary Schwind's Live Review

Let me start off by putting one thing to rest. I'm just going to come out and say it. Clutch is king. They reign over all the pretenders to the hard rock throne.

I have seen Clutch about half a dozen times and I have never felt that they were off for even a song. I'll say this much. I don't think you'll ever find a band tighter than Clutch. You may find some bands equal to them, but never tighter. And their fans are some of the most devoted fans around. They know every lyric to every song and in between songs, they all shout the song they'd like to hear next. The audience erupted when Clutch kicked off the show with "Big News I" and "Big News II" and didn't stop until the house lights came up after "Impetus."

It occurred to me last night that Neil Fallon might be the perfect frontman. He certainly is the personality of the band but he doesn't need to be the center of attention. After his Greg Graffin-like expressions and wild gesticulations, he is happy to step aside and watch the other guys do their thing.

Another thing that makes Clutch king is that you don't feel cheated when you go to one of their shows. They were on stage for probably an hour and a half and performed 20 songs. Knowing Clutch fans, they probably wanted more, but come on, you don't get that sort of effort from every band.

As expected, Clutch drew most heavily (7 of 20 songs) from their most recent album Robot Hive/Exodus. However, they also performed at least one song from: Clutch, Blast Tyrant, Pure Rock Fury, The Elephant Riders, Transnational Speedway, League, Impetus. You have to give them credit. They could have just gone up there, performed eleven songs from Robot Hive/Exodus and said, "Good night now!" But they didn't. They gave us a heaping helping of Clutch goodness and that's what we love about them.

Travis Becker's review of Robot Hive / Exodus

Brothers and Sisters, the church of Clutch is once again open for business and bringing its own particular brand of salvation to your town, nay to your very own home. Can I get a Hallelujah? I thought so.

Now, get ready to drop a dime in the collection plate and receive the newest offering from Maryland's prodigal sons. The release of a new Clutch record is a revival of Biblical proportions for their ever-expanding faithful, and a chance to convert a few more lost souls, but mostly it's a chance to go out and grab your next record of the year. With the release of their seventh full length album, Robot Hive/Exodus, Clutch expands upon the sound of last year's, Blast Tyrant while simultaneously making an about-face from that record.

The band has crafted a looser album while at the same time fine-tuning their attack even further and honing the groovy, "hits you like a ton of bricks" sound they've been making famous for over a decade. They get down and grow up. In short, while Robot Hive/Exodus is a record with a single purpose, burning and salting everything in its path, it is ultimately an exercise in duality.

Expectations are never a good idea when approaching a Clutch album, the band seems born to defy and exceed them, as long as their listeners come to the table with open minds and a willingness to learn something new. Even bearing that in mind, a strange alignment of stars surrounds this album, and the constellations created are nothing short of awe-inspiring. First of all, Robot Hive/Exodus comes hot on the heels of their last release, as hot as any of their releases have ever come on the heels of another. Barely fifteen months have passed since the tightly woven and hard rocking, Blast Tyrant. The band has also enlisted the services of a well known producer outside of their inner circle for the first time since Elephant Riders back in 1998, as J. Robbins of Jawbox fame mans the boards this go round. Finally, for the first time ever, Clutch adds a new full time member in keyboardist/organist, Mick Schauer.

For every New Testament, though, there's an Old Testament lurking in its midst, ready to inspire fear and trepidation. The spacey, experimental guitar-playing of Tim Sult is still there, as is the titanic rhythm section comprised of rock solid bassist, Dan Maines and drummer J.P. Gaster, who lays down an impressively creative and technically superior clinic on the skins.

And of course, the James Joyce-esque lyrics of vocalist Neil Fallon are in full completely hilarious form, complete with references to mythology, science fiction, religion, and pop culture. On what other album are you going to hear lines like, "Tipping cows in fields Elysian" or "Swan diving from the tongues of crippled giants" or my personal favorite, "Ribonucleic acid freakout!" In short, the new and old live in peace and harmony, as much as can be found on a hard rock record.

The very title suggests duality on par with the new and old evidenced above. In fact, the records plays very much like an old two-sided LP. The first half of the record, highlighted by tracks like, "Mice and Gods" and "Burning Beard", rolls on with the heaviness of Blast Tyrant and remains very much akin to that sound in production and overall feel. This is the more traditional Clutch sound that most listeners will be used to. The exclamation point on the first half is the punchy, "10001110101", perhaps the first rock chorus sung in binary code. [actually Rush beat them to that –ed]

Side two emerges in a more subtle way, with a looser groove and a much more patient approach. It kicks off with the bizarre, "Circus Maximus" sandwiched between two funky, almost jazz-informed instrumentals in "Small Upsetters" and "Tripping the Alarm". This trifecta is where the album really settles down into the pocket. Through the end of the original material on the record with "Land of Pleasant Living" the listener is guided along gently and allowed to take in the entire soundscape. The addition of much more prominent organ and keyboard parts leaches out to the forefront of the band's sound in this phase of the album.

Covers of two blues giants, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Howlin Wolf, wrap things up with a gritty workout that leaves the wolves at the door hungry for more. When Fallon growls, "Who's been talking?", you almost have to answer.

Clutch definitely steers clear of the straightforward rock workouts that littered Blast Tyrant and Pure Rock Fury. Instead, they allow the ship to drift into the cove of groovecentric jamming and relaxed good (and bad) times, drawing a much closer comparison to Jam Room. Clutch's musical palette has matured as well, as the album contains nuances of gospel and blues accenting the straight ahead rock and soul.

All other praise aside, Robot Hive/Exodus is a great listen, although if helps to have some patience. It's not a record that jumps out of the stereo and smacks you in the mouth. After a few listens, you just have to sort of lay it under the tongue and let it all soak in. It probably dwells as close to late night album territory as any hard rock album ever has.

For the congregation, Clutch has delivered another sermon from atop the mountain of rock, and life will once again be good until the next installment. For all of you heathens out there who aren't on board, this album won't be the one to lay hands on you and pull those demons out. Similarly, for all the Old Testament dogmatists, this record is a long way from "A Shogun Named Marcus", and Robot Hive may not pull you back into the flock. For the uninitiated, however, pick this up and get saved right now, your soul is depending on you.

Billy Gamble's review of From Beale Street to Oblivion

In 1990 a band emerged from Germantown, Maryland called Clutch. At the time they were your considerable hardcore punk but since their start over 15 years ago, Clutch's sound have evolved into one that is wholly unique to the world of heavy metal. In the early 2000s the band experimented by combining standard Muddy Waters-ish blues influences with heavy metal In 2005 they truly committed to their funk roots on Robot Hive/Exodus with the addition of a series of funky gospel organs that gave the album the effect Clutch had been looking for. The CD From Beale Street to Oblivion combines that committed blues sound of Robot Hive/Exodus with the funky metal on Blast Tyrant.

The album has many twists-and-turns, unexpected chord progressions, and of course every word Neil Fallon (vox/harmonica/guitar) sounds holy. Fallon could be counting and it would sound holy (oh wait he did!). Tim Sult (guitar) is constantly mixing up the sound on the album. The first few songs sound straight out of Blast Tyrant, especially "You Can't Stop the Progress" and "Power Player". But eventually the blues burns through the record and it sounds like Clutch is trying to cover Muddy Waters. The guitar solos displayed on the album are moderately simple when listened to closely, but Sult puts so many wah-wah, electronic, and distortion effects on them it is hard to tell. "The Devil & Me" sounds like "The Incomparable Mr. Flannery" off of Robot Hive, but the production is far superior and extremely epic unlike anything Clutch has done before. Mike Schaver (organ/electric piano) is very technical in everything he does. Schaver's playing always seems to set the mood for the song being played. In "White's Ferry" Schaver opens with a spooky sound that's funky yet fun. The song sounds like a slower Black Sabbath during their Sabbath Bloody Sabbath days combined with the blues and a spacey electrical solo that has a sound right from the 80's pop era. Dan Maines' bass lines throughout the album are constantly dominant and distinguished in the mix. On "Child of the City" the bass dominates with the organ to create a song that sounds like Helmet combined with the standard and signature Clutch sound.

The only real complain about the album is that a few songs sound too similar to the standard funky Clutch sound heard on Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus. "Mr. Shiny Cadillackness" sounds exactly like "The Land of Pleasant Living", the only major difference is the Neil Fallon is going berserk preaching and on "One Eye Dollar" it sounds like Robot Hive's "Mice and Gods" but with a very classic Alice Cooper feel. Clutch has gone and done it again, combining the blues and metal to make a great album.

Don't take our word for it, find out for yourself!