Thursday 19 September 2019

#11 - Top of 2018

Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions (Weathermaker Music)



What can be said about the latest endeavour of southern/stoner/slacker rockers Clutch? The album follows suit from previous releases "Earth Rocker" and "Psychic Warfare", continuing the trend of the band experimenting with different song structures and playfully dipping their toes in variations of the sound that made them famous. They can't go too wrong as the vocals of Neil Fallon and the riffing by Tim Sult, accompanied by the ever-present rhythm section of Dan Maines (bass) and Jean-Paul Gaster are a surefire guarantee of a good-time. And in the "Book of Bad Decisions", the band again delivers with another album good from the bottom to the top. Thus, the band seems to have found the recipe for success in creating groovy compositions that seem destined to dominate any live show they play! After all, they can write anthems effortlessly, with "How To Shake Hands" and "Weird Times" being two of the more distinctive compositions that confirm Clutch's excellence in this area and are distinguished for their functionality and simplicity. At the same time, as noted above, they continue to display a tendency to experiment and mix different stylistic elements. This results to a host of truly memorable compositions, with 'In' Walks Barbarella "(with the excellent use of wind instruments) and" Vision Quest "(with a fantastic piano orchestration) being perhaps the most stand-out tracks. Along with the aforementioned tracks,  "Emily Dickinson", "Ghoul Wrangler" and "Lorelei" (with a very .. soundtrack dynamic) are a set of compositions that would fit seamlessly in almost any previous band release, and once again reaffirm Clutch as one of the best rock acts of any kind out there.


95.5/100

Below are the music videos for "In Walks Barbarella", "Hot Bottom Feeder", "Give Me the Keys", "How to Shake Hands" and "Ghoul Wrangler".












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