Clutch: Robot Hive/Exodus

Band website: http://www.pro-rock.com/

Disclaimer: I’m a superhuge Clutch fan, so take my review with a grain of salt. That said, you must believe me when I write this: If Clutch put out a shitty album, I wouldn’t give it a glowing review… I’d slam the fuck out of it. Given evidence to date, however, I just don’t think Clutch is capable of putting out a shitty album.

Robot Hive/Exodus redefines “powerhouse”.

Imagine all of those jam sessions you’ve seen at all of those Clutch shows you’ve seen in your life (esp. if Bakerton Trio opened), and remember how—even though you didn’t recognize the “song”—you found yourself bobbing your head, diggin’ the groove, just loping along with the music. Aside from a few gutpunch songs, that pretty much sums up this release: Looser, bluesy-er, funkier.

Then, add some big organ. (I do that on a regular basis, bitchez.)

Others on the ‘net have so far unwaveringly mentioned the lyrical content of Robot Hive/Exodus. It’s almost as if they’ve never listened to Neil Fallon’s words. I’ll clear the smoke right now: These are typical Clutch lyrics; by default, they’re “thought-provoking”, “hilarious”, “weird”, or whatever clever adjective you can use to pigeon-hole the message(s). Also by default: homeboy’s a modern-day poet on par with Rollins (if I can try to insult Gregg a little bit?). You can get the blues gait and funk anywhere, but the words make the album.

When it comes down to comparing this CD to previous Clutch offerings… you just can’t look at apples when you’re listening to oranges. This one is different. I can’t say it’s better than all those phenomenal Clutch CDs on your iPod; but, I can say that it’s just as good.

The legacy of Clutch being bad-fucking-ass continues.

Afterthought: Read Gregg’s thoughts on Blast Tyrant. Note to self… it’s copy and paste.