Customer Reviews

Blast Tyrant (Dig)

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Clutch has never failed to disappoint me when I'm in the mood for some head-banging, testosterone-laden riff-rock, and this latest album is no exception. Simply put, nobody combines heaviness, musicianship, and originality like these guys, positioning them as an ideal antidote to the endless waves of emasculated whining emanating from the radio. Like every other Clutch release, Blast Tyrant is an insanely infectious, fiercely original groove monster of an album that never fails to betray the sound of a bunch of guys who love what they do. For all their technical perfection and rip-roaring heaviness, that's really what makes Clutch such a great band: they never sound like they were sentenced to play music, or like they write songs to exorcise personal demons or any other such nonsense. They just churn out album after album of their own brand of uncompromising sonic stomp, and for that we should be thankful.

While it's not quite as ambitious or wide-ranging as its predecessor, Pure Rock Fury, this album still manages to surpass its predecessor thanks to its supremely focused songwriting and tight ensemble playing. Tim Sult's guitar playing has become even funkier than before, Jean-Paul Gaster's drumming jazzier, and Dan Maines's basslines even more thunderous. Towering over everything are the massive, gravelly vocals of the one and only Neil Fallon, whose frightening yowl is surely among the most distinctive voices in all of heavy music. With Neil in front, Blast Tyrant always hits hard, even during the acoustic-tinged tracks Regulator and Ghost and the quirky closing jam Wysiwyg. Unfortunately, Clutch don't seem to get mentioned all that often when the discussion turns to the world's best heavy bands, but they should be, dammit. Blast Tyrant is easily among the best albums of the year. Period.

Anyone who says that this is not representative of Clutch is missing the point.

First, I think the slow bluesy songs are a refreshing addition to their sound and they are most definitely Clutch songs. Even their hard songs have always been blues based, if you can't hear that then you just don't know music. All they did was slow the tempo down and used acoustic guitars for a couple of songs.

Second, anyone saying that this is not as good as Clutch's past albums is also missing the point. This is by far the best album they have done since their second, self-titled album in terms of every song being high-quality (there's not a bad song on the CD) and the fact that they are trying new things like the use of Hammond organ and the blues songs. A band should try new things and expand their sound yes? Or should they just crank out the same album again and again?

Add to this that they have not sold out by softening their sound, they still jam as hard as ever and have basically gone MORE underground by signing with an indie label and doing a bizarre concept album. This is the best rock band playing right now and the only true heavy metal we have today. Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, all born again in Clutch. This CD deserves to become a classic that people will still be jamming out to in smoke filled living rooms for in 20 years.

Finally, what's with the guy who said something about "anti-christian lyrics?" Where do you get that? It's a FICTIONAL story about FICTIONAL characters. What's anti-christian about it?

Been a clutch fan since first seein them locally 15 years ago. The live performance was something I've never experienced before in my 200 some odd concerts. It honestly was rapture. The cd's started filling my shelf immediately. Then after Elephant Riders I kinda eased up on the music scene. But then a few months ago I decided to check up on what Clutch had been making. I bought Exodus and Blast Tyrant. HOLY CRAP!

This band is beyond phenomenal. Blast Tyrant may be the best album I've ever experienced...ditto Exodus(but thats for another review). Clutch may be the greatest band ever and yet the least recognized as great...and I go back to the early 70's with my listening.

What can I say about this album. It's incredible...It's powerful...It's cosmic...It's funky...It's simply unbelievable pure hard rock from the soul.

Anyone who doesn't know Clutch but is considering them...stop! Go Buy this NOW! Those who know Clutch...DAMN!!!

It kicks off with a blast of standard classic sounding Clutch with Mercury. Hard...Attacking...In your face.

Then it transforms into a nice driven wah'd out ominous Profits of Doom. Simply an excellent song with so much power mixed in with creeping riffs its scary.

The Mob Goes wild is a nice third. Crunchy Punchy song with an excellent chorus. Some words are goofy(and political, who cares) but thats a clutch standard. Great Chorus...sick.

Cypress Grove is just a classic. Old sound Clutch. Scary crazy lyrics about evil women. The setup just births another perfect chorus that rips you out of your seat and throws you across the room. Holy Diver where you at? One of My favorites on the album.

Then comes Promoter...OH!!!...The words...the way they roll off Neils tongue like a greased jackhammer. The chorus doesn't catch like the previous songs, but the song overall is great.

Then theres the change of pace with the forlorn desolate The Regulator...reminiscent of Zeppelins No Quarter. Spooky mysterious...with another old style clutch chorus. They just keep coming on this album.

Then Worm Drink...nice funk...maybe my favorite on the album, if its possible to choose a favorite off of a complete album like this. Awwoooooo!!! This is a funky song with a sweeping mosh groove chorus and a ripping tearing burning guitar riff in the middle mixed with passion lyrics and werewolf howls. These guys are insane!

Army of Bono next...politico-biblical mania shot at you like a cannon with nice harmonies and then a seperate ending that completes the song nicely.

Spleen Merchant is a kicking shouter that continues the onslaught of riffs, not letting you even think about pausing...you're stuck in this wall of sound with no way out.

Swollen Goat follows...purposefully awkward but good with a decent chorus...maybe the weakest on the album IMO, but thats only because everything else is so damn good. It's actually a good song, but an 8 on an album of 9's and 10's

Weather Maker...a little transitional ditty thats just odd, not really a song...but somehow it fits. Nothing special...filler.

Then the groovy swinging Subtle Hustle...it's smooth as mothers butter. It really is.

Then it kicks down to a nice acoustic Ghost with Pink Floydish keyboard overtones...that aquires a heavy melodic bass beat along the way, before dropping down into maybe the best chorus on this album...passionate and foreboding. It gives me chills. Love this.

La Curandera next...a bit Ozzy sounding at first...but then a very cool riff based center that makes the song.

Finishes off perfectly with the voiceless repetative but sublimely groovy Wysiwyg...kinda takes me back to the 70's.

Absolutely incredible album....incredible!

You positively must have this album...or miss out on a musical experience like nothing else in decades...maybe ever.

IMO Clutch's best work, followed closely by Exodus...just phenomenal. Get both.

I bow in reverence to these true geniuses of musicianship.

A few years ago, my guitar teacher at the time recommended several bands he thought I should be listening to. One of them was Clutch. With that I went out and purchased a few albums...I was hooked almost instantly.

Clutch has been around for over a decade and has amassed a large collection of releases. Most fans, including myself, will agree that their best work was their self-titled release (1995). I feel that subsequent releases were lacking something. "The Elephant Riders" was a solid record but seemed to lack a certain energy. "Jam Room" seemed too short and bland for me. "Pure Rock Fury" was a fairly good record, but nothing outstanding. "Blast Tyrant", while it isn't as good as or better than the self-titled in my opinion, is several large steps in the right direction and may rank as my second favorite release from them.

The tracks on this album are much faster and heavier than the last several albums. While there aren't too many "standout" tracks, the album functions incredibly well as a whole. The production is fantastic. (Although some people complain about overproduction...if you want to hear stripped-down versions of the songs go see them live) Neil Fallon's harsh vocal style is a bit more refined and sounds excellent on the record. Tim Sult's guitar riffs seem more simplified than on earlier releases but still remain huge chunks of sonic delight. The rhythm section of Dan Maines on bass and Jean-Paul Gaster on drums bring everything together into one extraordinary package. Even the bizarre artwork is a sight to behold. The CD package unfolds into a landscape, and the lyric booklet contains illustrations of the characters featured in the songs.

"Mercury" opens the album with over a minute of heavy instrumental-ness before the vocals kick in. An excellent choice for an opener.
"Profits of Doom" is a little more groovy while still remaining very catchy.
"The Mob Goes Wild" is the current single. It's a catchy song but not one of my favorites. There's a few political jabs here and there but nothing to get riled up about.
"Cypress Grove" is a heavy song with a cowbell added to the percussion. How can you not love a song with cowbell?
"Promoter" is a hard-hitting, headbanging slab of rock. Probably the heaviest song on the album. They've been playing this song for two years, and I was horridly sick of it until I heard the album version. The keyboards (especially evident in the intro) add atmosphere to the track.
"The Regulator" features acoustic guitars and a slowed-down drum beat. A nice little breather from the heavy songs preceeding it. The only problem is that Neil's singing voice isn't spectacular and doesn't compliment the track as well as it probably should.
"Worm Drink" is a funky little number that doesn't grab my attention as much as it probably should. This introduces one of the many characters that make up the theme of the album, a demon who's fed up with evil and war. This track is a bit bizarre due to Neil's howling throughout.
"Army of Bono" is my favorite track on the album. I've loved this song since its early days when it was known as "Walpole Man". The drums are hard hitting, the guitar riffs are incredibly catchy and Neil's vocals paint a vivid picture of a military-ruled society controlled by a "smoking Irish fly". (Or at least that's what I get out of it) Props to Neil for successfully using the word "stigmata" in a song.
"Spleen Merchant" is an eccentric song with heavy riffs and lyrics about cadavers and cannibalism.
"The Swollen Goat" is the name of the ship commanded by the antagonist, the Blast Tyrant. It's a song about pirates doing pirate things... pillaging, looting and destroying things. Definitely in the vein of the earlier classics, "Big News I" and "Big News II".
"Weather Maker" is a waste of 47 seconds in my opinion.
"Subtle Hustle" is a catchy track that sounds like something a gospel choir might sing if it was on drugs. Or something.
"Eulogy for a Ghost" is another acoustic, depressing track on the subject of death. Not a great track in my opinion.
"La Curandera" has evolved over the past two years into an epic song based on the Salem Witch Trials. La Curandera is prosecuted as a witch and is sent to be executed. The song completely changes halfway through, which still bothers me. Nonetheless, both halves are incredible.
"WYSIWYG" is an interesting guitar-keyboard jam that reminds me of Pink Floyd for one reason or another. Not the best way to end the album but it's a decent track.

So while I don't consider this to be Clutch's greatest release, it's still an incredible album that I'd recommend to anyone who's a fan of hard rock. If you can only own one Clutch record, I'd suggest the self-titled release. If you can only on two, I say get this one too.

Post-script: The CD is labelled as 'enhanced' but doesn't contain the enhanced features it was originally intended to due to time constraints.

Clutch rocks. Clutch rules. Clutch jams. Clutch is in your face. Clutch is hard and heavy. Clutch is intense.

They amaze me how they can be all those things with such intensity, drive, and talent without having to litter their music with profanity and hate. They don't sing about being miserable. They don't sing about how horrible their childhood was. They don't sing about hating God, quite the contrary. They don't sing about how much they hate their x girlfriend. They don't sing about what they wanna do to the kids that made fun of them in high school.

What they do is... Rock.

I've listened to more than my fair share of heavy, hatefull, profane music, but Clutch is such a breath of fresh air. They are possibly one of my favorite bands. I'm really not into the heavier stuff anymore, but I am completely hooked on Clutch. I can throw in any album at any time and be ready to rock. Every album of theirs are a treat and they continue to please us with Blast Tyrant. You MUST see them live if ever given the chance.

I've enjoyed Clutch for years, and this album is brains, humor, and balls. It may be the best they've done yet; more importantly, it's tough to say, because it doesn't easily compare to any of their other records. Clutch has succeeded once again, in expanding their awesome and unique style, and not letting their beautiful thing fall into a shtick.

It's all about the unique and beautiful flavor of American mythos and language, brilliantly articulated, in ways hilarious and moving at the same time; sung with a band that lives to kick ass.

This is a great album. I'd rate it four and a half stars if possible. The only reason it is not five is, I just wouldn't say it is their absolute best album (that'd probably be the s/t one). Hell it's still one of the best rock albums of the year though. Not quite as heavy as some of their other albums, but just sounds like what rock should in the 21st century. I love the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) blues influence, especially in Neil's lyrics. The intro comes out and busts you in the mouth, while the acoustic part of the Regulator goes for a much more subtle sound. On WYSIWYG these guys show you that they really know how to play their instruments. The keyboards add a nice touch to some of the tracks also. If you enjoy hard rocking music that lacks all the cliches of todays "nu-metal", I highly recommend picking this up (or any of their albums).

This CD is awesome. Now that that's out of the way, I found the "Mob goes Wild" song on my computer a week ago, after having it in there for a year or so, but never getting around to listening to it. Once I did, I was hooked. I'll admit that this is the only real clutch I've heard, and know nothing really about the band, nor have I been with them from the begining. But that doesn't mean I can't say this album rocks so hard, that it just rocks. I can't stop listening to it. I have played it and almost nothing else since I got it five days ago. "The Mob Goes Wild" is deffinately one of the best songs, but there are so many more. "Spleen Merchant", "Profits of Doom", "Promoter (Of Earthbound Causes)", "(In the Wake Of) The Swollen Goat" and all of the other songs. You want to learn the entire song just so you can sing along. The lyrics also actually rhyme, which is refreshing in this time of distorted-to-hell vocals that have no meaning. I can't stop singing these songs throughout the day, and they are all awesome musicians. Beautiful production, and just unstoppable intensity. Buy it if you love that rock-with-some-western-flavor sort of music. Maybe that's not the best description of it, but, for the last time, IT ROCKS!

This album rocks, and it rocks hard. In my opinion, this is hands-down Clutch's best effort to date.

Blast Tyrant almost feels like a crossover album to me. There is no doubt that existing Clutch fans will dig this in a big way, but it is also their most accessible album ever. I think Clutch was definitely an acquired taste before this release, but now even the uninitiated can pick this up and enjoy it right away.

Now it's not perfect, as some of the lyrics will leave you scratching your head:

"Condoleeza Rice is nice, but I prefer a-roni..."

Are you serious? Wow, that's bad. But the music more than makes up for it as they drive an awesome hard beat throughout.

This is a can't miss for Clutch fans.

The beautiful thing about Clutch is that, album to album, you are never certain what you are going to get, other than that it will be "Clutch" unique. Just prior to my last spin of "Blast Tyrant," I was listening to the starkly crazy and different previous release, "Jam Room." Amazing how two albums can be dichotomies of each other, yet pure greatness in their own right. "Blast Tyrant" is hands down one of the best heavy (the term "hard" is too light for this release) rock releases of the year.

Clutch is in a league of their own. The songwriting is always entertaining, the music as heavy as a medicine ball to the gut, the guitar playing pure Gibson magic, the time signatures and rhythms always outside mainstream rock, and the singing by Neil Fallon inimitable. This release mixes heavy metal with a few of the good elements of classic hard rock, makes an entertaining turn to the southeast mountains, and stays there with some ass kickin', southern fried, boozed soaked, in your face energy.

All of Clutch's releases are great, but definitely not for the faint of heart mainstream hard rock fan. This type of release has the best chance at garnering Clutch a larger heavy rock following with accolades. I am just as sure that the next release will be unpredictable, funky, and just as amazingly different as the last. Isn't that why all of us Clutch "faithful" love them so much? Keep kickin', guys, the elbow grease of the hardest working band in America is paying off in spades!