Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions

After making a rather emphatic reestablishment of their continued presence as a survivor of the 90′s rock rise and fall with 2015′s Psychic Warfare, Clutch return to the groovy, funky, bluesy middle ground between hard rock and classic heavy metal with their twelfth studio album, Book of Bad Decisions, and it’s an album that finds the band both consistent in their channeling of swagger and stylistic confidence, but also not quite backing that confidence up with sufficiently consistent writing.

The writing isn’t necessarily poor, it’s just kind of dime-a-dozen, even if the band’s energetic performances keep them above water for most of the album. What had me especially peeved about my first listens to the album was the major front-loading of the track list,mainly for getting my hopes up for a consistently thrilling Clutch album.

The album does have some stunning highlights, however; the political cynicism of “How to Shake Hands” is done with such tight compositional acting ability, its snide attitude comes across so sharply. Then there’s the literally overblown “In Walks Barbarella” whose bombastic horns section brings a real fire to the track that truly sets it apart from the rest of the material on the album. And there are a good plenty of tasty Southern licks and very Sabbath-inspired riffs here and there, but nothing arranged in as interesting a fashion as it really should be. The track “Weird Times” I also found to be particularly annoying with its overdone repetition of the titular refrain. But honestly, for all the small-scale qualities the band bring to the album, too many of the fifteen songs on here are just too forgettable. Too often it’s just Clutch playing it safe and doing what’s worked for them in the past. I’m honestly quite mixed on this album, because on paper, and in certain moments, it has everything it should have to succeed, yet it manages to be a tedious listen, which is not something that should be attributed to an album of this style especially.

As complete bodies of work making up a greater body of work, most of the songs on here are not up to snuff, but they do bring in fiery attitude, sweetly bluesy solos, and convincing energy. It’s just not as uniquely put together as the band’s best work. I was overall just disappointed in the lack of originality combined with composing chops showing up on the album. This album is kind of a filler in the band’s catalog, one that definitely captures their essence, but not one that provides a captivating enough display of their ability within this style. Again, it has its moments, but that’s about all it offers, and if that’s all the band can offer right now, then perhaps they need to reassess their approach. I wish I had more good to speak of this album. I like the style, and I personally don’t think Clutch are in that place where they need to reevaluate what type of music they want to make; they show they still have the ability to make some real hits, and I just think they need to focus on doing it more consistently and not just letting the machine crank along.