17.
Clutch
From Beale St. To Oblivion

Guilty pleasure number two, this filled a large Orange Goblin shaped hole in my new albums this year. The listener will encounter yet more catchy streamlined stoner rock on this, Clutch’s seven millionth record. You always know what you are getting from Clutch, and whilst this isn’t as good as the superb Blast Tyrant from a few years ago, it is still a cut above most of their endless back catalogue. Opener ‘You Can’t Stop Progress’ is like being hit is the face with the entire deep south, and ‘When Vegans Attack’ is equally a hilarious slice of redneck fury. Trucker growls over generic but highly entertaining (and endless!) riffing. No prisoners, no letting up, no…originality. Who cares, this is the most fun you can have with four hairy men from Tennessee without getting bruises. Very entertaining and multi-platinum selling in the US, but critically panned here and pretty much everywhere else too. It rules. Don’t tell the cool police.