A mere six days after Clutch debuted never-before-heard track Strive For Excellence, the Maryland rock outfit are back once again with another new song, this time arriving in the form of, apparently, Boss Metal Zone.
Premiering during the band’s set last Saturday (September 11) at Reverb in Reading, Pennsylvania, frontman Neil Fallon introduced the track – performed after a run-out for the four-piece’s 1995 song Spacegrass – as a celebratory anniversary offering.
Though Fallon failed to name-drop the song, an Instagram post sharing a slew of setlists – along with the repeated "Boss Metal Zone" vocal lyric – confirmed the song is indeed named after one the best-selling distortion pedals in history, and one of the most divisive.
“Sometimes when a band has an anniversary,” he began, “it’s expected for them to do some kind of nostalgic, retrospective, walk-down-memory-lane thing.
“We figured the best thing to do would be just to run another rock ‘n’ roll record. Some time this fall we’re going to record it. We’re going to beta-test a song on you right now.”
And, despite Fallon warning the audience that “the video tape you’re going to make is going to sound like garbage”, it still wasn’t enough to deter one determined attendee, thanks to whom we’re able to hear the track first-hand for ourselves.
In what is arguably the best-named song of the year so far, Clutch deliver all the high-gain goodness you’d expect from a track titled Boss Metal Zone – a track that we sincerely hope guitarist Tim Sult performed using the real deal pedal – including some psych-esque intro lead lines and mammoth thrash-y riffage.
The chorus hook, which sees Fallon sing, “electro-magnetic pulses in my veins, red alert, Boss Metal Zone” – perhaps a tongue-in-cheek nod to the recent COVID-19 vaccine hoax? – is propped up by some seriously catchy chord play, which in turn features support from Dan Maines’ thumping basslines and Jean-Paul Gaster’s savage drumbeats.
Fallon’s declaration that the band have plans to record Boss Metal Zone this coming fall makes it highly likely we’ll see it crop up on Clutch’s upcoming album, which follows their extended 2018 effort, Book of Bad Decisions.
It is also the second sneak peek Clutch have treated us to in recent weeks, after performing Strive For Excellence at the Alaska State Fair on September 5.
Visit Clutch's official website for a full list of their upcoming tour dates.
