Clutch: Tim Sult (guitar); Mick Schauer (clarinet); Dan Maines (bass guitar); Jean-Paul Gaster (drums).
Additional personnel: Bryan Hinkley (guitar); Eric Oblander (harmonica).
Sixteen years after their debut EP (1991's PITCHFORK), and numerous label jumps, Clutch offer up FROM BEALE STREET TO OBLIVION, the group's second set for indie label DRT. Dripping with Black Sabbath-influenced fare that is close kin to bands such as Corrosion Of Conformity and Black Label Society, BEALE STREET rocks hard with splashes of Hammond B-3 organ garnishing monstrously bluesy riffs ("Power Player") and Southern-rock tinged vocals ("The Devil & Me").
Clutch have clocked many miles from their metal/punk origins; and with rock uber-producer Joe Barresi (Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss) on the dials, the production on BEALE STREET has the kind of meaty, analog-sounding approach that is deliciously welcome and yet all but extinct from current rock albums. Be it rave-ups ("Electric Worry"), the remake of their own short from 1999's JAM ROOM ("One Eye Dollar"), or crunchy mid-tempo stomps ("Child Of The City"), Clutch are firing on all cylinders. minimize