Clutch are many things, but most of all, they are reliable. You can almost guarantee that you might not know what you are going to get with a new release, but you will know two things, one, it’ll be undistinguishably Clutch, and damn good!
Many bands seem to falter when it comes to hitting their third album, but this Maryland quartet are now embarking on their (unlucky for some) 13th release, and still, the machine barks like a dog and purrs like a kitten, just perfect!
Sunrise on Slaughter Beach bucks no trends, kicking straight into high gear with opener ‘Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone’, it follows up with the track lending itself to the album name, swaggering through ‘Slaughter Beach’ and from there the gifts keep coming. It is obvious the band know how to write a good tune, so many tracks are just gold and this release brings yet more of that wealth to our ears. Sitting in just over 33 minutes in length, Clutch have opted for quality over quantity, no riff is overdone, no drum beaten to excess, and no road trod too long with those bass lines, but I also think that might just be my only gripe about the release, 4 years on since the Book of Bad Decisions, I would have liked a touch more on a new full length. Still, beggars can’t be choosers can they? In a world with so much going on, I for one am glad there is a band like Clutch putting stuff out! Their foundations are as solid as they come and Sunrise on Slaughter Beach sits nicely in their discography. The band has reached out too, a theramin, some form of metallophone, and the addition of some beautiful, yet haunting female vocals round off as nice touches to get us old fans surprised.
As the song title suggests, ‘We Strive For Excellence’ is more than a song title, it’s the perfect phrase to say what Clutch are and can achieve, Excellence in its purest form. Clutch don’t do bad form, and even if they did, we’d all likely eat it up as much as their best material, because there is nothing they can’t do!
Clutch will be delivering Sunrise on Slaughter Beach to the masses on September 16th through their own Weathermaker label. Expect them to soon hit our shores across the UK on tour in support of this in November before a trip through Europe to the return and finish off the UK in December, because what year would be right without a merry Clutchmas?!