The new, long awaited album by Baltimore’s Clutch has followed in the footsteps of the previous album ‘Pure Rock Fury’: it’s still Clutch but nowhere near the quality of their older material. Each song is evaluated as follows: (out of five stars)

1. Mercury- Good intro, classic hard hitting riffs. I was waiting for some old fashioned Clutch yells, but it seems as though the singer has stopped the type of singing of the ‘Self-Titled’ days. ***1/2
2. Profits of Doom- This is best song on the album, bluesy verses, nice hook for the chorus. If I had to choose a single, this would be it. *****
3. The Mob Goes Wild- A very predictable song, the riff seems copied from an older song, that seems to happen a lot in this album. ***
4. Cypress Grove- I was waiting for him to yell ‘Californ-i-ay’ during the verse, again Clutch steals from itself, but on its own the song holds up. ***1/2
5. Promoter- At this point I was wondering if I had been listening to the same song for the past 12 minutes. Clutch is losing their uniqueness and it seems like they have a formula to write the entire album. **
6. Regulator- This ‘hillbilly ballad’ as I am dubbing it, surprised me. It has more of a classic rock feel to it. Nice. I was glad to hear a change of pace. Good song to smoke a joint and drink some Jack to. ****1/2
7. Worm Drink- Very funky beat. Tim Sult (guitarist) has always been able to come up with nice bluesy lines. Chorus is very COC, which is not a bad thing. ***1/2
8. Army of Bono- The album takes a turn here for the better. Very catchy riffs, accompanied by catchy lyrics. Although lacking in some areas on this album, Clutch still proves that they can write songs that will get stuck in your head. ****
9. Spleen Merchant- The ‘hey’ chorus rocks. Short, but quality song. ***1/2
10. Swollen Goat- Classic, southern-influenced Clutch. One the best songs on the album. The chorus is sweet. Listen to it. Now. ****1/2
11. Goat Warfare- An outro for the last track. Short and sweet. ****1/2
12. Subtle Hustle- Another catchy, great song on the album. This is will get stuck in your head. Guaranteed. ****
13. Ghost- Like the Regulator, classic rock influenced song (not that Clutch isn’t classic rock influenced in other song), with a slow mellow groove. A great song. *****
14. La Curandera- Means healer in English. A mediocre song at best. I could be wrong, but I’m not. **1/2
15. English Pounds- Nice instrumental COC style. Nice jam, they should have had more jamming on the album. I guess they tried to make it up in the last 6 minutes of the album.


Overall, the album had its ups and down. Between the two slower songs are the best songs on the album, besides the second track. Like I said before, it sounds like they have the same formula to make the songs, as there’s not many tempo changes or anything special in any of the songs. I guess they had a certain sound in mind and didn’t stray far from it. Clutch likes to do this in all their albums, but it left for little surprises in the album. There is also a God, Satan, bible overtone to it, but it’s not religious by any nature. It may be just me, but I want to hear more about pirates, soap makers, and ‘hitting neutral in the tail of a comet’.

Overall: *** out of five

If you’ve never heard of Clutch, don’t buy this album. Get the self-titled and Elephant Riders CDs. Download A Shogun named Marcus from their first CD. The new album doesn’t even come close to the godliness of their older masterpieces.

Rev. Joe