This review is pretty damn pointless. No one is going to buy a live album unless they're familiar with the band, and anyone familiar with Clutch will know whether they want to purchase it long before they read these fevered scribblings. For a long time now, Clutch have been leaders in the field of live rock for those in the know and it's gratifying that over the past couple of years they finally seem to be receiving the attention they deserve from press and people alike.
Full Fathom Five is an unsurprising tire-iron to the guts of ballsy rock with enough lyrical bite and verve to blow lesser-bearded rock stars out of the water. In a live setting Clutch are noted for their improvisational abilities and spun-out blues jams, often losing themselves so far into it that you can look at your watch and realize that the three-minute single kicked off ten minutes ago and shows no sign of ending any time soon.
It is then quite peculiar that Full Fathom Five steers mostly clear of these appended performances the hook-laden "Cypress Grove" being the only significant display of jamming prowess - instead drilling you with quality tune after quality tune, for the most part played so close to the studio recording that you would struggle to differentiate the two side-by-side. As would be expected from a recent Clutch performance, the material on display mostly veers away from their earlier releases with nothing at all from either the sucker-punch groove of Transnational Speedway League (no surprise there) or engine-oil infused power of Pure Rock Fury (big surprise here).
And it's a good blend of the expected singles and popular tunes mixed with slightly left field choices, where the likes of "Elephant Riders" and "Texan Book of the Dead" sit alongside the lesser-known "Animal Farm" and "The Yeti." The only slight lull in the driving rock tutorial is a strangely lackluster performance of "The Mob Goes Wild," a song that probably carries their most airplay to date.
The question of whether to pick up Full Fathom Five mostly depends on what you want out of a live Clutch release. If you're after something different from the studio releases that captures the raw biology of these guys on stage, then you probably won't find this essential. Having said that, it's difficult to criticize any release that carries the trademarked brand of battery acid Americana that this incendiary four-piece do so well.
Seeing as how a ticket to a Clutch gig would probably cost the same as this record I'd choose the former every time. But this will do just fine until they roll around again.
See also
Fu Manchu, Orange Goblin, The Sword
