Photos by Wayne Edwards.
© Wayne Edwards
Main article about the show: https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/04/23/clutch-at-the-andrew-j-brady-icon-music-center-cincinnati-april-21-2023/
Clutch throws a curveball on their new album, Sunrise On Slaughter Beach.
The groove metal band from Maryland has moved into its fourth decade. Sunrise On Slaughter Beach is the thirteenth studio album they have created, and there has never been a dull moment in the band’s history. Tim Sult, Dan Maines, Jean-Paul Gaster, and frontman Neil Fallon have crafted yet another unforgettable record that will be immediately embraced by fans.
But curveball, I say? Here is a widely quoted comment by Fallon on the new record. I saw this first at Lambgoat. “Sunrise on Slaughter Beach is a weird record. It was, by and large, a studio creation. It reminds me a lot of Jam Room in that regard. Under normal circumstances we may not have entertained the idea of using vibraphones, theremin, or backing vocals (thank you Deborah Bond and Frenchie Davis!). But as they say, necessity is the mother of weirdness.”
Clutch has never been a stranger to innovation and exploration. For example, “In Walks Barbarella” from their previous album The Book Of Bad Decisions was a surprise with its prominent use of brass. The extensions on the new record Fallon talks about are interesting and entertaining, and there is never any confusion about which band is playing when you listen to the set. Clutch is one of my favorite bands, and they have been since the first time I heard them. I have seen them live more than any other act, and I plan to keep that metric going until the end.
Sunrise on Slaughter Beach is out now in all its weirdness through Weathermaker Music. You can stream it anywhere, and you can buy it at the links below. Where will this one land in the annals of the band? That’s hard to say. What I do know is that when I drop the needle on any Clutch record, I never pick it up until it has run its course, and that is a fact. Sunrise on Slaughter Beach is no exception. I could go on and on about each and every track on the new one, but I am not going to do that. Instead, I insist that you go listen to it. The review will write itself in your head. Highly recommended.
Photos by Wayne Edwards.
Links.
Clutch website, https://www.pro-rock.com/
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Clutchband/
Weathermaker Music, http://www.weathermakermusic.com/
The natural progression from Live In The Mojave Desert is Stöner’s first studio album, Stoners Rule.
If you like stoner metal/rock then you like what the musicians in this new band do because Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri pioneers of the sound and style. Both are founding members of Kyuss and, along with Ryan Güt, they are putting down the smoothest desert stoner groove there is.
The new album was recorded last Fall in Joshua Tree, California, and it sounds like it. You can feel the desert insisting and infusing and simply being there when you listen.
There are seven laid-back tracks on Stoners Rule, covering a range of subjects that appear to have emerged from the flowing consciousness that overtakes you in the desert under the right circumstances. In each, a steady bed of rhythm provides a solid base for vocal and guitar explorations.
“Rad Stays Rad” and “Nothin’” are the first songs that made their way into the airwaves and cyber pathways. They are good representations of the music on the album. I have an affection for “Stand Down” for the way it rambles, and you cannot miss the thirteen-minute closer, “Tribe / Fly Girl” that one takes a deep dive into your psyche. The lead guitar is a mystical spell spoken in six strings that transports you far away from anything that was bothering you on this earthly plane.
Stöner is on tour with Clutch (and King Buffalo in the northeast) this Fall – you don’t want to miss this show if you are a heavy music fan. Let’s go.
Stoners Rule is out now from Heavy Psych Sounds Records with the quick digital at the ready from Bandcamp. Highly recommended.
Links.
Bandcamp, https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/st-ner-stoners-rule
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/StonerBandOfficial/
Website, https://www.stonerband.com/
Heavy Psych Sounds Records, https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/
The New Jersey groove metal trio celebrates beyond the twenty year mark of TAB with the band’s eighth full-length studio album, Scorpio.
I became acquainted with The Atomic Bitchwax segue Monster Magnet. Indeed the current line-up of Chris Kosnik, Garrett Sweeny, and Bob Pantella all play in Monster Magnet now, too. TAB material is different, though, being more jam-like, bluesy, and improvisational-feeling…and with a lot more lead guitar work than Monster Magnet.
The first TAB album came out in 1999, and the second was released the following year. For some time after that, commitments to other bands and a little line-up shuffling lead to an irregular recording schedule. But in 2015 there was Graviton, and in 2017 there was Force Field, and now there is Scorpio.
The new album is ten meaty cuts, starting with a reworking of one of the band’s earliest songs, “Hope You Die.” The new version has a fuller sound with the treble dialed down a mite. The groove metal is on full display from beginning to end. I have always had a soft spot for instrumentals and we get three this time: “Ninja,” “Crash,” and “Instant Death.” Damn can they rip out a jam! Could-be radio songs are there, too, like “Easy Action” – “Let’s get some satisfaction / Any kind of easy action.” I hear you. And “Super Sonic.” And “Betting Man.” This is rock and roll as far as I am concerned. One of the weirdest things about my life in music is I have never seen TAB live. I am all about fixing that. Wherever they are at next, I will be in the front row.
Scorpio is out on Friday, August 28th from Tee Pee Records at all the usuals. There is no way I can recommend this as much as it deserves and as much as I want. Go get it now. Highest recommendation.
Links.
https://theatomicbitchwax.bandcamp.com/
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