IN REVIEW: Clutch - "Earth Rocker"

Plenty of history's great bands have celebrated two decades of rocking with albums that attempt to showcase what all those years have done for them; the hope is to give adoring fans another fine addition to their collection while opening the door to a new generation, which is what twenty years in business can do for a band. However, if history has taught us anything, it's that these attempts have a very low success rate. Twenty years after Kill 'Em All put thrash on the map, Metallica rang in their third decade with the messy, difficult St. Anger, an album nearly universally panned as their worst. The twentieth anniversary of AC/DC's debut LP saw them unleash the underwhelming Ballbreaker on its fans. R.E.M.'s album quality was never the same after drummer Bill Berry left in '96, but even the pessimists were disappointed by Around the Sun, a mind-numbing snoozefest of an album that followed their debut full-length by 21 years in 2004. Even The Rolling Stones, rock's poster boys for longevity, passed the 20-year mark and then released Dirty Work, one of the more lackluster efforts of their storied career.

I'm sure we can nitpick and find examples of artists who released career highlights over twenty years into consistent recording careers, and a cursory skim through my library tell me we can argue this is true for at least Alice Cooper (Trash) and Neil Young (Freedom). Now, with the release of Earth Rocker, add Clutch to that very short list.

Clutch have been laying thick grooves and banging out their workman-style hard rock from the beginning, and they've only added more weapons to their arsenal along the way. From the hazy, elastic riffs of stoner sludge to the soul-churning howl of the blues, Clutch have gleefully veered wildly all over the road in its first two decades of existence. But Earth Rocker sees the band barreling down the center line, pinning the needle and gunning for maximum thrills.

Not simply an acknowledgment of their sonic history, a reboot of old ideas or a victory lap, Earth Rocker takes everything you know and love about the band, distills it into an extremely potent elixir, and throws in a few fresh ingredients before it explodes from the speakers in a volcanic eruption from the bowels of Mount Awesome.

To illustrate the point, listen to Earth Rocker's opening salvo, the stunning left-right of the pounding title track and speedster anthem Crucial Velocity. It's a pair of tracks that (especially if you've heard them as a result of their releases ahead of the album) you might think they're foolish to start an album off, as these tracks are so good the rest of the album will surely pale in comparison. The duo that follows, Mr. Freedom and D.C. Sound Attack don't just keep momentum up... they're better.

The fearsome foursome that make up Earth Rocker's first four tracks is unquestionably the greatest start to a Clutch album. Ever. In fact, they're so good together that even Unto The Breach, a track that actually ratchets up the ferocity, sputters ever so slightly in their wake. After this, the album has no choice but to cool down, lest it run the risk of crumbling under its own crushing momentum; and that's the only reason Gone Cold has a place on it. Its laid back, easy groove would have sounded right at home on any of their last three albums; and it's a great song that sounds good on Earth Rocker, but only insomuch as it serves as welcome reprieve from the onslaught.

Earth Rocker's second half doesn't come off as menacing and relentless as the A side, but don't expect it to let off the gas too much. The Face slowly ramps us back up to speed, while Book, Saddle & Go brings out a solid bouncy groove only slightly reminiscent of The Mob Goes Wild. The tempo picks up again with Cyborg Bette, a late-album highlight that matches the pure rock fury of that opening quartet and sets the tone for a strong finish. Oh, Isabella and The Wolfman Kindly Requests maintain the supercharged sludge-blues, but throw in some of the mystical flair of seventies prog, with nimble riffs and (again) those stone cold grooves.

So much of the groove is the result of another superhero turn at the kit for drummer Jean-Paul Gaster. Whenever it seems like the songs may wander too far off the beaten path (or hang a beat too long in one place), Gaster's effortless master drumming steer the songs where they need to go for maximum impact. And the rest of the band follows suit; Dan Maines' basslines are the peanut butter to Gaster's jelly, Tim Sult's fretwork is tight and on point (even more notably so than before), and Neil Fallon keeps his lyrics as whimsically manic as ever while giving a greater focus on his vocals.

The result is a band that sounds like it's been playing together for twenty years, as it should. But, bringing out all of their tricks in such a condensed package yields far greater reward than even I could imagine. I got the same excitement listening to Earth Rocker for the first time as I did when Blast Tyrant blew my mind nine years ago (and the fact that Machine returns as producer for the first time since Blast Tyrant is not lost on me).

So, is Earth Rocker actually, unbelievably, better than Blast Tyrant? It's too early to ask one of my all-time favourite albums to slide down a peg just yet. But, with such a bounty of great songs and such a blistering presentation, I'll hearken back to the sticker that convinced me to buy Blast Tyrant in 2004 and declare that Earth Rocker is 100% Rock Satisfaction Guaranteed. And, if this isn't the record you wanted Clutch to make going into their third decade, you probably don't care much for Clutch, or rock and roll.

March 19, 2013 • Weathermaker

Highlights Mr. Freedom • D.C. Sound Attack • Cyborg Bette