16.
Clutch
Strange Cousins From The West
If Clutch release an album in any given year, I can be pretty sure that it’ll get on the list, and also will be fairly certain that it won’t come close to bothering the top 10. You know exactly what you’re gonna get. This is pure riffing beardy trucker rock, no frills, three minute songs, stupid lyrics (‘anthrax, ham radio and liquor/coming at you live’). Strange Cousins From The West essentially sounds exactly the same as every other Clutch record, but then, one doesn’t buy Clutch albums for variety. This offering is perhaps a little bluesier than their last couple of albums, but you’ll only be able to tell that it has any kind of distinct sound after a number of listens, and the difference is, at best, subtle. There’s also a song sung in Spanish, but the music behind it’s still the same. The most original thing about this album is probably the fact that it comes in a really interesting fold out CD case... A real guilty pleasure, this has very little artistic merit; don’t expect to see this on the NME or Rolling Stone lists of the best records of 2009. At the end of the day, though, this is really good fun start to finish (if all the tracks are the same, you don’t get weak ones!). I played it non-stop for three weeks when it came out, and then hardly at all since; when I do put it on, though, it makes me smile a very big smile.
Clutch
Strange Cousins From The West
If Clutch release an album in any given year, I can be pretty sure that it’ll get on the list, and also will be fairly certain that it won’t come close to bothering the top 10. You know exactly what you’re gonna get. This is pure riffing beardy trucker rock, no frills, three minute songs, stupid lyrics (‘anthrax, ham radio and liquor/coming at you live’). Strange Cousins From The West essentially sounds exactly the same as every other Clutch record, but then, one doesn’t buy Clutch albums for variety. This offering is perhaps a little bluesier than their last couple of albums, but you’ll only be able to tell that it has any kind of distinct sound after a number of listens, and the difference is, at best, subtle. There’s also a song sung in Spanish, but the music behind it’s still the same. The most original thing about this album is probably the fact that it comes in a really interesting fold out CD case... A real guilty pleasure, this has very little artistic merit; don’t expect to see this on the NME or Rolling Stone lists of the best records of 2009. At the end of the day, though, this is really good fun start to finish (if all the tracks are the same, you don’t get weak ones!). I played it non-stop for three weeks when it came out, and then hardly at all since; when I do put it on, though, it makes me smile a very big smile.