No.26 Clutch – Blast Tyrant

So my first introduction to Clutch was a video on the TV show Raw Power, the ITV metal show that used to be on at 2 in the morning. The video just followed a dog with huge balls around a house. I can’t find which song it was, but it certainly, for better or for worse, made me remember who Clutch were.

Unlike pretty much any other post I’ll make during this to 50, I don’t really have any long, involved stories about how I came to get into this album. I saw the great reviews and just got myself a copy, and somehow it’s always just stayed in my listening rotation ever since. (21 years!) Any time I need something that kicks ass and goes hard, well, that just means it’s Blast Tyrant time. Or to give the album its full title, Blast Tyrant Atlas of the Invisible World with Illustrations of Strange Beasts and Phantoms. Or maybe not, that’s a terrible title.

What is strange about my love for this album is that I’ve never enjoyed hard rock. I started off Metal and when I went back to investigate classic hard rock or classic punk bands, they all sounded weedy compared to something like Metallica. 

Well Blast Tyrant is not an album that has that problem. From the jump they just come crashing with the groove and riffage that just can’t be beaten. There’s the DNA of 70’s and southern rock but Clutch just bash it all together and blend it with a swagger that no one can touch.

Neil Fallon has one of the greatest voices in music, just full of gravel, whiskey and cigarettes. It’s got a blues feel to it while having an incredible amount of power. And with most singers that would be enough, but Neil is one of the best lyric writers out there. This could very easily just be another post that is wall to wall song quotes. As always, I’ll try to avoid that, but the opening lines of this album are “Daedalus, your child is falling and the Labyrinth is calling.” which is a lot more lyrical than your average rock song.    

It’s impossible to get across just how catchy this album is. It has more hooks than a tackle shop. More hooks than 20 meters of velcro? I dunno, similes are tricky. But bad writing aside this is an album that just does not let up. Enjoy the riff on the verse? Well here comes a chorus that you’ll just have to sing along to. It’s almost exhausting as there’s 15 songs here but somehow, there’s only two of them I cut. Even lesser songs like Subtle Hustle have hooks that most bands would kill for and the lines “I got your number. I steal your thunder. I got your mother’s maiden name tattooed on my arm.” are pure gold.

So when you’re playing air guitar to this album, (and you will), place your foot on the imaginary monitor and let your bell bottoms flap to the Pure Rock Fury of the riffs. This isn’t your grandad’s hard rock, this is an all timer record and should be in everyone’s collection.

https://lynkify.in/song/promoter-of-earthbound-causes/KdFIgKO4