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Rating: For the series "did we really need it?" And granted, we all love that raucous and ignorant Hard Rock. And granted, also, that from time to time, we willingly let a little bit of Hardcore deviance flow. But this is too much. Clutch know how to play, and they have learned well the commandments laid out by the masters of the aforementioned genres. Clutch also know how to produce truckloads of riffs that are as enjoyable as they are derivative. And, ok, they also know how to structure a mid-tempo. Too bad that in forty-six minutes, there are very few memorable moments. To be fair, we are not dealing with a bad album, but simply with an insipid one. All the tracks seem to travel on the same highway (ok, the Route 66-6, it's cool and Hard Rocker) stylistically, but few manage to stand out for compositional quality. The album's beginning throws a lot of smoke in the eyes. Indeed, the fast and pressing rhythm of "A Shogun Named Marcus" is irresistible, and it's impossible not to nod your head with "El Jefe Speaks", a track with an anthemic and irresistible refrain, preceded by a sultry and redundant verse. Closing the triptych, however, is "Binge And Purge", a sick and Sabbath-like slow song that manages to keep you glued to the seat before exploding in the finale with a relative tempo change. And now the bad news. This is not an EP, and there are still eight more tracks, yet the variety seems to have run out. And then come flat tracks like "Bacchanal" or "Effigy", which almost seem to chase each other in a delightful race to irrelevance. Hard to say which one comes out ahead. Some good insight comes from "Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks" and "Heirloom 13", although the tune is still the same: redundant pace and a big riff ready to explode in a "catchy" chorus, but it's worth saving what can be saved. Clutch later taught us that with not necessarily excellent means, you can churn out great albums ("Clutch" and "The Elephant Riders"), and my advice is to rediscover those. Try again, you'll be luckier, more than a warning, it seems like a premonition. They tried again, and they were!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 A Shogun Named Marcus (02:52)
if you thought it was boring in Jordan
then come out here for a day
and by the way the name's Marcus
but if you like you can call me sensei
well the emperor's in the pigsty
and the geisha's in the shack
and you better believe I'll hold em there
till the feds they pay me back
kamikaze backbone
nine iron spitfire
continental samurai
o my lord
brown sugar, sweet potato
sour mash, baby back
redneck romance bless my soul
hari cari and combines
come dancin with me
hari cari and combines
won't you come dancin with me
yes I'm a new world samurai and a redneck nonetheless
yes I'm a new world samurai and a redneck nonetheless
yes I'm a new world samurai
I can read your mind
check it out I'm like a buzz bomb
yes I'm a new world samurai
check it out I'm like a buzz bomb
so beebopaloobopawhopshamboo
and domo arigato if I got to
beebopaloobopawhopshamboo
and domo arigato if I got to
beebopaloobopawhopshamboo
and domo arigato if I got to
beebopaloobopawhopshamboo
and domo arigato if I got to
03 Binge and Purge (06:29)
Perhaps it's just the way the light falls
But everything looks like a target to me
And I don't know where the gun is
But I'm certain that it's pointed at me
And in the jungle, retched jungle
They say the lion eats tonight
And all around it is a colliseum
Dripping with a voracious appetite
I say hey there, fella
Whose soul are you tormenting now?
Hey there, fella
Whose soul are you tormenting now?
In the course of all the previous events
It is evident that something's bound to happen
Come on, rear your ugly head to me
I've got nothing to lose but my apathy
The root of the problem has been isolated
The root of the problem has been isolated
The root of the problem has been isolated
The root of the problem has been isolated
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Let's throw down
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Let's throw down
Just try me
Just try me
What are you waiting for?
Come on, motherfucker
Let's throw down
Come on, motherfucker
Let's go
Just rear your ugly fucking head
I'll put it on a platter
Just rear your ugly fucking head
I'll put it on a platter
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Let's throw down
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Let's go
Hey there
Hey fella
Hey there
Hey fella
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Come on, motherfucker
Let's throw down
Come on,
04 12 Ounce Epilogue (02:49)
This was always the last place
I expected to be
Once upon an apocalypse
So better make the most of it
So I said to the horsemen
Have a Coke and a smile
So I said to the horsemen
Why not stick around for a while?
But they said You Got The Wrong One Baby
The New Generation is pushing up some daisies
And by decree of Rapture Inc.
We're closing this here market permanently
Coming down like a ton of lead
More bang for your buck
More pangs for the dead
Coca Cola and Armageddon
I like it, like it, yes I do
So they
Tried to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
But it was way off key
So here comes the big RC
The melting pot boils
The bible belt breaks
And young America begins to sing
Coca Cola and Armageddon
We like it, like it, yes we do
Coca Cola and Armageddon
It's The Real Thing now
Come and get it
05 Bacchanal (04:11)
Temptation of Indulgence
Divides and conquers my mind
An elegy for fading youth
Welcome to mankind
If you provide the spleen
Then I'll provide the ideal
If I provide a puppet
Will you provide the strings?
Revel in the glory
Of a coming of age
Decades of suppression
Released in a rage
Have mercy
How can I seize the day when it is dusk?
You provide the pull, and I'll provide the thrust
Romance is nothing but a sack of lies
But it is truth which I have come to despise
Bacchanal
If I provide the scene
Will you provide the ordeal?
If I provide a crown
Will you provide a queen?
07 Rats (02:45)
Rats over the dishes
Rats over the dishes
Please tell me what the ratties say
Please tell me what the ratties say
Rats over the dishes
And God was certainly a genius
To expose this human weakness
Rats over the dishes
Please tell me what the ratties say
And the doorway is a cutaway of flesh and bone
Lay me down upon a bed of roses
And to think that this was once my home
But now some sick bastard's pleasure dome
They say to build a better man trap
Will lead the rats to beat a path to your door
Build a better man trap
And the rats will beat a path to your door
08 Earthworm (04:31)
Now all will be sanctified
And now all will be purified
And now all will be rectified
And now all will be rectified
And now you will be purified
So you writhe in the deep fry
Squirm like the Earthworm
In that mud called love
That you justified
That will be purified
Whether you like it or not
So you leap from the dung heap
Squirm like the Earthworm
In that mud called love
That you justified
That will be purified
Whether you like it or not
10 Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks (03:43)
Well I crashed a Cadillac through the Gates Of Hell
And returned with a Fist Full Of Dollars
And Evel Knievel, like Virgil
Was a gentleman as well as a scholar
I fly like a Retro-glide buckshot
And you know I hang like a hex on a barn
Grind the guardrail like a nail on a file
Above and beyond the hole nine yards
Well I rolled Jesse Helms like a cigarette
And smoked him higher than the highest of the minarets
Jesse James couldn't even handle it
Started looking at me like I was Sanskrit
'Cause in the Great Shining Path of the Great Monster Trucks
There's no such thing as beginner's luck
I'm the Dirty Dozen for the price of one
Get it while it's hot, going, going, going, gone
It's about time you started learning
Started learning to come to where the flavor is
Flavor is
It's about time you started learning
You started learning to come to Where the Flavor Is
Flavor is
The skies are always sunny in the heart of Flavor Country
Where the washer's stuffed with money are growing like grass
Junk bondage racks never cut you slack
But that's the way the racket goes when rounding up green backs
Don't hate me just because I'm beautiful
You'll find that it's really not unusual
When you're raised with The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
A holy trinity in Flavor Country
It's about time you started learning
Started learning to come to Where the Flavor Is
Flavor is
I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle
I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle
And you are my happy trail
You are my happy trail
You are my happy trail
You are my happy trail
The skies are always sunny in the heart of Flavor Country
The skies are always sunny in the heart of Flavor Country
The skies are always sunny in the heart of Flavor Country
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