IN REVIEW: Clutch - "Book of Bad Decisions"

Clutch's twelfth album begins with a song about a bad experience during their formative years; Gimme the Keys tells the tale of a band playing a terrible venue and making a getaway from some very angry people. It's energetic, bombastic and right in the Clutch wheelhouse.

Tellingly, it might also be the weakest song on the album.

Having built a reputation for the quality of both their albums and their live show, Clutch spent their last two album cycles recommitting to rock; Earth Rocker and Psychic Warfare were no muss, no fuss rock records, a pair of albums that further enhanced their formidable resumé. With Book of Bad Decisions, they're ready to expand their sound while keeping their core aesthetic intact. For this record, they worked with producer Vance Powell, whose award-winning expertise has resulted in some decisions here that are far from bad.

One of the album's most thrilling surprises is In Walks Barbarella, a song that could be considered a standard Clutch rocker if not for the addition of a horn section (which is used on some other tracks as well). This simple addition transforms the song into a four minute long endorphin rush, resulting in Clutch's most satisfying single since Electric Worry. Elsewhere, there are little flourishes that seem small but make a big difference. The pounding piano on Vision Quest, the flange on H.B. is in Control, the swampy blues licks on Hot Bottom Feeder, all subtle evolutions for a band that's made a career out of slow evolution.

Throughout, there's plenty of the established Clutch energy that's made them one of rock's most vital entities; How to Shake Hands and Sonic Counselor find Neil Fallon in peak showman mode, while the title track, A Good Fire and Ghoul Wrangler feature the unmistakable ZZ Top-inspired boogie that's become more prevalent on recent albums. Meanwhile, the slower numbers hit with the same inimitable slow burning fire that offers reprieve from the high energy track list and allows the band to stretch their legs, so to speak. Emily Dickinson and Lorelei both excel in this, punctuating the album's two halves perfectly.

Typically, my gripe with an album such as Book of Bad Decisions would be the quantity; at fifteen tracks with no interludes or instrumentals, there's always the risk of a few filler songs bogging an album down. Clutch, however, are so in the zone on this album that even its weakest moments (the aforementioned Gimme the Keys, Weird Times and H.B. is in Control) all have merit in their own right and only suffer due to the quality of the songs that surround them.

It seems as though every time Clutch threatens to become the least bit stale, they switch things up just enough to inject more life into their sound while maintaining the standard that longtime fans have held them up to. It's a remarkable achievement, to stay on top of their game as they have for as long as they have (2018 marks the 25th anniversary of their first album). With Book of Bad Decisions, Clutch just proves yet again that they are incapable of mediocrity.

September 7, 2018 • Weathermaker
Highlights How to Shake Hands • In Walks Barbarella • Sonic Counselor

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