Strange Cousins from the West
| Strange Cousins from the West | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Clutch | ||||
| Released | July 14, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | March - April 2009 | |||
| Genre | Stoner rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 48:41 | |||
| Label | Weathermaker Music | |||
| Producer | J. Robbins | |||
| Clutch chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| NME | (7/10) |
| PopMatters | (7/10) |
| Thatdoesntsoundright | Positive |
Strange Cousins from the West is the ninth full-length studio album by the band Clutch and was released on July 14, 2009.
It was produced by J. Robbins, who previously worked with the band on Robot Hive/Exodus. The album debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 the week following its release with sales of 13,000 copies making it the band's highest debuting album. It saw the departure of Hammond organ player Mick Schauer who had played and toured with the band for the last two albums and their following tours. On May 13, 2009 the first single, "50,000 Unstoppable Watts" was released online. A video for this song was made available online on July 24, 2009. "Abraham Lincoln" can be listened to on the band's Ultimate Guitar profile.
In discussing the album's first single, singer Neil Fallon said "The song is more or less about where we rehearsed in Frederick, MD, next to an army base, Fort Detrick, where they do a lot of the chemical weapons manufacturing and testing. So, when I’m saying Anthrax, I’m talking about Anthrax, the chemical weapon, not the band. And there is a lot of ham radio operators, well, old ham towers there. And one morning I was going, well one morning, oh Jesus, one afternoon I was going to the liquor store and the lyrics just popped into my head after practice."
Initial critical response to Strange Cousins from the West was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 72, based on five reviews.
All songs written by Clutch, except "Algo Ha Cambiado" written by Norberto Aníbal Napolitano and originally recorded by his Argentine band Pappo's Blues.
The track "Metroliner Special" is available as a bonus track on some releases of the CD, via special online merchandise orders and is also available for free at their official website to download.
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