Hard to pigeonhole cult favourites bring out live album. Duck tries to convert you all

The Lowdown: Underground Metal's best-kept secret release first live album on eve of Irish Tour.

You probably have two questions: who the hell are Clutch and what the hell is a Googolplex. Well Clutch are one of the most original, unusual, underrated, rocking metal bands on the underground scene. They hail from Maryland in the USA and started out in a dark hardcore vein in the early nineties. Since then they have released some amazing studio albums, their sound progressing to encompass elements of metal, stoner rock, jazz, punk, southern rock and the great American jam band tradition. All played with an original twist and a unique vocal/lyrical style that makes them sound totally unlike any other band you have ever heard. A Googolplex is a fictitious concert venue, a bit of Clutch humour. The album is actually pieced together from 4 separate concert recordings made in 3 different cities.

Clutch are a band that play by their own rules and don't cow down to the corporate rock dollar, therefore although they are signed to Atlantic for major album releases, the band has retained the right to release independent albums as and when they choose. This is such a release. What's the point of this you may ask? When you hear the music contained on this disc it becomes clear. This is no nicely produced, overdubbed live album like Priest's "Unleashed in the Studio". This is a postcard from rock'n'roll's very edge; raw, primeval, ethereal and damn compelling. These are straight soundboard recordings that capture the very essence of heavy music. The band sound completely involved in what they are doing and totally oblivious to everything outside of the music, beyond the moment. If you've ever heard a live recording of Led Zeppelin around 68/69 you'll know what I mean.

Songs from all five of the band's studio albums are featured and the CD opens with "Who Wants to Rock" from "Jam Room", a short, sharp, brutal statement of intent. This is followed by the title track of 2001's "Pure Rock Fury" album. You could surmise that these songs are going to be heavy just from the titles, and you wouldn't be wrong. This is powerful, driving music played with abandon, the adrenaline rushing through the musicians. Third track "Sea of Destruction" was recorded for "Pure Rock Fury" but didn't make it. This is the first time its been available and for fans of the band the CD is worth every penny just for this one track.

The genre defying "Careful with that Mic" is featured, a song that blends elements of hip-hop and metal but not in any way you would expect, in other words, it sounds bugger all like Limp Bizkit. This track really showcases Neil Fallon's one off singing style. The verses are wordy and multi-syllabic, the chorus short and direct, the vocal delivery powerful and throaty. He sounds like a man you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, but the sheer intelligence in his lyrics belies this impression.

Absolute highlight of the album however is delivered in the form of a three-song salvo, namely "El Jefe", "Rock'n'Roll Outlaw" and "12 Oz Epilogue", where tracks that sound very distinctly different in studio form are blended together to form an extended jam piece. It hangs together beautifully. Clutch stake their claim as a jam band further with the classic "Big News I" and "Big News II" from their eponymous second album. The musicians really get to stretch out in these two songs. Tim Sult's guitar lines are brick hard and funky at the same time, with plenty of space in between for low slung loose limbed bass lines and flashy but deadly accurate jazz tinged drumming. The brilliant "Soapmakers" closes the album, strange and breathtaking, a song that is uniquely Clutch.

This is a great testament to the power of live rock music. The type of rock music made for its own ends, that isn't there to shift "units", that can't be pigeonholed by the marketing men or the critics. Rock'n'Roll made by a truly original band that exists outside of the modern choreographed music industry. Oh, and did I not mention, its heavy as a bastard! Don't miss them live this April.

Coming soon to www.imarocker.com: "Metals Best Kept Secret: Clutch; The Band, The History, The Music", "Clutch Live review from Belfast Limelight".

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