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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Clutch hail from Maryland. In 1991, the single Pitchfork and the album Transnational Speedway League (East West), featuring Binge And Purge, Bacchanal, A Shogun Named Marcus, and Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks, introduced a hard rock marked by Neil Fallons lycanthropic vocals and Tim Sults furious blues riffs.
Clutch (East West, 1995) continues in that rough, drunken, and ungainly style, from The House That Peterbilt to I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth, with the ferociously hiccupping guitar counterpoint and Fallons growl remaining the bands trademarks. The extended 7 Jam showcases Jimi Hendrix and Captain Beefheart influences. A mood halfway between the absurd and the psychotic drives the skin-tingling shocks of Big News, while a mash-up of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and AC/DC clichs shakes Rock And Roll Outlaw. Overly talked-about and monotonous, the album gets lost in its proclaimed but restrained violence.
The Elephant Riders (Columbia, 1999) is even worse. Songs meander with
no destination, instrumental skills are low and the style shows no personality.
The instrumental Crackerjack sounds like nothing else on this album,
and precisely for that reason is its highlight.
Pure Rock Fury (2001) and Blast Tyrant (DRT, 2004) were tighter
but hardly innovative. The latter contains the jam Wysiwyg.
Robot Hive: Exodus (2005) marked perhaps their nadir.
From Beale Street to Oblivion (2007) displayed signs of
improvement.
Strange Cousins From The West (2009) lost keyboardist Mick Schauer, so
the sound became even more predictable although as classy as ever.
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