Top Five of the First Half of 2010 #5: Clamfight, Vol. 1
It’s a rare band that can blend brutality and groove, good times and hard hits, and Clamfight do it so well they couldn’t have been born to do anything else. The New Jersey clan’s first full-length outing, Vol. 1, was years in the making and riffs has hard, rumbles as deep and crashes as loud as anything I’ve heard this year.
Plus, it has the kind of artwork where you might see it in a store, buy it for a kid because it looks adorable and then scar said child for life with “Fuck Bulldozers” or “Viking Funeral.” And, as we all know, any music that induces trauma in the young is a good thing. Childrens could use a kick in the ass.
But even that’s not what ultimately got Clamfight on the TFFH10 list. And it’s not the fact that I know them either. What ultimately did it was a song like “Ghosts I Have Known,” which in addition to being concrete heavy is also a display of the band’s songwriting prowess. Sure, we can all get down with the pummel of “Rabbit,” and that’s a great time, but there’s more to Vol. 1 than that, and it’s right there for anyone willing to hear it.
Because this was an album that I’d waited for, and because it’s one that, even after the review, I’ve gone back to time and again for what I’ve pathetically come to classify as “enjoyment listens,” I’m glad to have Clamfight‘s Vol. 1 on my top five of the first half of 2010.
Tags: ClamFight, Lists, New Jersey, TFFH10, Unsigned bands, Westmont
Has this even been released yet?
Pretty sure it has. Even if not, I’m relatively certain if you email the band they’ll get you a copy.
Thanks. Been looking around for it since your review piqued my interest, but assumed it was delayed.
Thanks for the kind words Taskmaster. To clarify, the cd has not been officially released, we are aiming to have it out for a release show in Philly on August 13th with some incredible bands. We’ve been doling out home burned copies to a select few and some songs will be up for download on the various sites shortly. Thanks for your interest!
Well now I’ve gone and done it. The sentiment was greatly appreciated but I was brought up an honest man and I hope you appreciate that. Nevertheless, I’m still using this post as positive press and I guess we’ll just have to rock your ass harder in the second half of 2010.
Clamfight regrets to inform you that since the rest of us are not honest men, Sean has been asked to leave and will be replaced by a laptop. Atari metal here we come!