Clutch – Strange Cousins From The West

If you haven’t heard of Clutch before then I would suggest you immediately put this album to the back burner and get familiar with the bands immense back catalogue. Start with Pure Rock Fury, then locate their self titled second album before dipping into The Elephant Rider; that will do for starters.

Right now we’re up to speed and you’ve got an idea of what kind of band we are dealing with let’s take a listen to Strange Cousins From The West. Disciples of the band will be pleased to know that Neil Fallon is the same herculean man beast that he always was; his voice rough enough to withstand a thorough sandblasting. As always the experience of listening to a Clutch record is akin to cozying up with a rattlesnake after a dozen sips of Maryland Rye.

Remember Clutch aren’t reinventing the wheel here, the booming blues groove is the bar stool that the band leans on, they gesticulate wildly from there; tales of the old days are followed by pertinent populist observations.

We are treated to steakhouse guitars that simmer lusciously. Opener ‘Motherless Child’ is a stupendous jam that grabs you by your giblets. ’50,000 Unstoppable Watts’ a marauding behemoth that arrests the senses. ‘Minotaur’ is real trad – subtle and unassuming, but the song instantly traps you at knifepoint with its thunderous opening, from that point on there really is no escape.

Highpoint of the album is undoubtedly ‘Let A Poor Man Be’, featuring a guitar solo that utterly bewitches. If I were allowed to swear constructive then this song would receive an exclamation of F Word Yeah!

I think Clutch are an incredibly underestimated band, criminally ignored. Any accusations made that Clutch aren’t moving forwards enough in terms of sound is preposterous.  When you consistently make solid records you haven’t got a problem, it is only staleness that a band should be concerned about, and on the evidence presented by Strange Cousins From The West Clutch are not getting stale, they aren’t even taking a step sideways. This is Clutch simply being Clutch, and that really is fine enough. Cheers!