ALBUM REVIEW: Book of Bad Decisions – Clutch

The world is finally waking up to the utter majesty that is CLUTCH. People in the know have loved them for years, of course, but 2015’s Psychic Warfare seemed to open a few doors that had previously been impregnable and venue sizes swelled considerably, allowing a new wave of ‘Gearheads’ (as the band call their fans) to join the Maryland rockers’ ever increasing army. Now, there is a new agenda in the form of Book of Bad Decisions, released tomorrow as ever via Weathermaker Records and CLUTCH‘s twelfth studio effort overall.

Trying to pick the best CLUTCH album could be likened to choosing your favourite child, such is the consistency and brilliance of all that has come before. Book of Bad Decisions isn’t going to make a decision any easier, because once again the foursome have not so much knocked it out the park as gleefully attached a rocket to it and fired it into the Sun. There is a rawer, punk-like edge that hasn’t been seen in a while on the album, which can be attributed to the phenomenal production work by Grammy-winning Vance Powell; he’s also responsible for the gorgeous vintage guitar tones throughout which, married with CLUTCH‘s superb instinct for groove and Neil Fallon‘s criminally underrated lyrical prowess, have produced musical gold once more.

Starting with the infectious Gimme the Keys and joyously romping through another fourteen tracks, it’s physically impossible to listen without a bop, a shake and a smile growing ever bigger between one’s ears. The title track is a slab of heavy blues that brings out those aforementioned guitar sounds wonderfully while the midway point – the fantastic Emily Dickinson – adds a healthy dose of keyboards that successfully timewarps back to the psychedelia and prog of the 1960s. A Good Fire, played live in recent months, pays homage to the masters in BLACK SABBATH and features a bassline from Dan Maines straight out of Geezer Butler‘s scrapbook. It’s not the only tribute present: previous track Sonic Counselor is written about the fans themselves, drawing on religion to sum up the near-Biblical experience seeing CLUTCH live is.

The other noticeable element is that the four members – Fallon, Maines, guitarist Tim Sult and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster – have not lost any love for the music even as they fast approach their 30th anniversary. The amount of fun they are clearly having is delightful and if you’re not shouting “weaponised funk” from the utterly bonkers In Walks Barbarella or “ghoul wrangler” from the song of the same name by the time this is over, you need to have more fun and should listen to the album again. Oh, and H.B Is In Control opens with lyrics about a glass of water and a ham sandwich. Really. Closing off Book of Bad Decisions is Lorelei, more stripped back than the rest and allowing for a powerful, emotive ending.

In December, CLUTCH return to the UK on tour and once Book of Bad Decisions drops there won’t be a ticket left for love nor money because everyone will want to go and hear these songs live once they’ve spun the record a couple of times. The times are ever changing, but it’s always good to know that CLUTCH are resolutely terrific.

Rating: 9/10

Book of Bad Decisions is out now via Weathermaker Music. 

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