It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since Clutch gifted us with magnum opus, Book of Bad Decisions. But since then, they pretty much did what they always do – toured the absolute bollocks off it, delivered an odds and sods collection of songs, and even worked in a few livestreams in the form of the Live From the Doom Saloon series.
Where their last album was the Clutch-iest album ever whilst throwing in some excellent curveballs like “Hot Bottom Feeder” and “In Walks Barbarella”, new album Sunrise on Slaughter Beach takes those two songs and has the Maryland men say: “What if we made an entire album like that?” Making their most varied album to date and clocking in at just over the 30-minute mark is an inspired response to the predecessor. But it’s where Clutch are at with their career. As a band who defines the idea that the music industry is a marathon and not a sprint, their ascendency has been a slow but deserved one. And once there, they’ve made the point of consolidating their position and now, they’re at the fun point, where they can just have fun.
Once the sharp opener of “Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)”, full of trademark furious fuzzy tones and bombastic booming vocal tones, crosses the finish line, we’re out into the nether regions. Each song has its own identity and completely different from the one which preceded it. And it’s where this album’s true strength lies. If they’d done this over a dozen or more tracks, it’d be hard to corral it into a listenable album but keeping it restrained with so few tracks and a short run time makes this one of Clutch’s most enjoyable albums.
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“Slaughter Beach” acts as the title track and drips with doom, the slow shuffle of the verses allows the chorus to up one singular gear and it’s still an amble. Indeed, it’s one you’d ideally place a decent way into a setlist to let the audience get a breather. But given Clutch’s modus operandi in the live environment and it would be no less surprising if they opened a show or two with this. Doom and sludge marry in closing track “Jackhammer Our Names”. As the most stripped-back number on the album, the bare bones drums marches sombrely with the bass to make a haunting and oppressive finale, Neil Fallon’s rough vocals akin to a lone voice in the wind.
Where the album shines brightest is on “Nosferatu Madre” and “Mercy Brown”. These back-to-back tracks are the least traditional Clutch numbers found within but become the highlights because of that. The former opens up with a comfortable fuzz-laden groove but as it explodes into the bouncy chorus, it sonically becomes far more light and airy as Neil Fallon’s grizzled vocals hold weight to them yet float atop it. Meanwhile, the latter becomes one of the best Clutch songs to date for its sheer boldness. As a Clutch first, there’s female vocals from Deborah Bond and Frenchie Davis across the chorus, the psychedelic tones taking the song into Jefferson Airplane territory. Meanwhile, its speedy bridge rumbles with danger, evoking hints of darkness and whilst the song becomes the longest on the album by quite some margin, it doesn’t feel out of place with the shorter songs found throughout.
For those who may be made uncomfortable by those two songs, the following “We Strive for Excellence” goes back to a prime cut offering of Clutch. It’s short, bubbles with excitement, marrying fuzz with groove, packs a hell of a wallop, and just for fun, has a hint of punk sneer. Theremin makes its Clutch debut on the appropriately named “Skeletons on Mars” with its subtle nods to Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds whilst “Three Golden Horns” features vibraphone (think cliché lift music in films) but its romping, chugging riff punts the song into the other extreme without becoming jarring.
Clutch have earned that lofty position of having nothing left to prove and can now kick back, have fun and challenge not only what a Clutch song can be but an entire album. Sunrise on Slaughter Beach shows the four year gap between albums was completely worth it which adds some excellent songs to their massive repertoire. It may not hit the dizzying heights of its predecessor and frankly, it’s not fair on any album to have to follow something as excellent as Book of Bad Decisions. But it’s Clutch and they’re not a band in the business of making bad albums, simply some are better than others and this still manages to sit with some of their finest work, proving the adage once more: form is temporary, class is permanent.
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Sunrise on Slaughter Beach is released on 16th September
Header image by Dan Winters
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