Clamfight: I Versus The Glacier

New Jersey sludgers come out of their shell

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While they might not have the most savoury name in the world (but you’ll remember it, right?), Clamfight pack more muscle than the fish counter at Sainsbury’s. Following up their 2010 debut, Volume 1, which was an acerbic nod to Eyehategod, I Versus The Glacier takes their screams, rolling drums and screeching guitars and transposes them into a smoother, sharper and sexier take on beard metal.

Arms crossed, head nodding, the listener is taken on a journey of mesmerising depth and dirt, with transcendental solos and otherworldly riffs that denote the masculine and heavy-as-shit essence of sludge, only with a finely honed production that pushes this band into popular territory without losing any of that angsty, grassroots authenticity.

The old-school ferocity of a band that share their lineage with Crowbar is surpassed by a lust for quicker, thrashier rhythms and pounding hooks that straddle hypnotic doom and foot-tapping stoner with stop-start moments that set up the next cataclysm of vocal force. A band that leaves you begging to see them on stage surely has a good thing going.

Holly Wright

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.