CLUTCH - Earth Rocker

It is hard to review an album like Earth Rocker. What more can you add when you hear the direct and hard sound of total freedom coming out of your speakers?

Clutch come from Maryland, a state that lies where the North meets the South. This is why their music has so diverse influences, from hardcore punk to hard rock, blues and funk, in a deeply original and hard to label mixture. Simply put, Clutch have been writing quality rock for over 20 years, without any compromise: with their 10 studio releases, they have gone through pretty much all the major labels, ending up creating their own in 2009. The price they paid for their creative freedom was less promotion, so this is probably why you don’t know much about them. With this DIY approach, tours are the best occasion to spread the word of Clutch. With Neil Fallon, the band has one of the most expressive front men of the current rock scene, capable of inspiring the congregation like the apostles of the sonic revolution, MC5.

Earth Rocker keeps all the above influences, placing more weight on the hard rock side. But, as organic is the music, as fantastic are the lyrics to some songs - after all, this contrast is also a part of the Clutch identity. For instance, while the title song encompasses the band’s entire philosophy in a few direct verses - “If you're gonna do it / Do it live on stage, or don't do it at all” and “I don't need your stinkin' laminate / I don't need your VIP / I don't need your validation / Cause I wear mine on my sleeve” - the next track, Crucial Velocity, tells us about a chase on different time levels (Looper?). Unto The Breach starts with the lamentations of the Supreme being (“The burden of a time lord is there's never any time / Too much of eternity and nowhere to unwind”), and Cyborg Bette describes the separation from a robot girlfriend (“Cyborg Bette / You done me wrong for the last time / I got a new girl, the latest model / And she's mine, oh mine!”). But even the most fantastic stories sound natural, as if they were told by ZZ Top and spoke of the Wild West, due to the accompanying riffs and due to Neil Fallon’s voice.

If I’ve made you want to see what this album is about, let me recommend you a few more songs: D.C. Sound Attack! (“I got blood in my eyes and I'm looking at you!”), Oh, Isabella (“Oh Isabella / Your ship's run aground / Kneel at the sword / Scream at the clouds”) and Book, Saddle and Go. And, last but not least, the introspective Gone Cold, brings a moment of rest and blues at the exact half of the album.

I’m no technician, but I know that a Clutch transmits power, and I think they couldn’t have found a more appropriate name for the band!

Gedi Nota: 10