CLUTCH, Sons of Icarus, General @Rock City, Nottingham 9/7/13

Balding men in the mid to late 30s who also have beards, seem to have found their role model if the crowd tonight at Rock City is anything to go by. The venue is packed with just that type of clientele.

The reason that we (and lets be in doubt that RTM is in its late 30s, is balding and has a beard) are in the East Midlands is to worship at the altar of Clutch and specifically their frontman Neil Fallon, who would act as our spokesperson, if we only knew what the hell he was singing about.

But before all that, let’s break it down to brass tacks, as Fallon might say himself. Joining Clutch on this tour are two young British bands, who might – given the sense of anticipation for the headliners, expect a difficult time. Actually, such fears prove unfounded and General go down pretty well. The Coventry band have evidently listened to a lot of Corrosion of Conformity, and songs such as “Monkey City” showcase their talent nicely.

Another fast rising UK combo, Sons Of Icarus, are next up. The Guildford based four piece have garnered some rave reviews for their early shows. Not quite as overtly stoner as the openers, and without the all out riffery of Clutch, instead they knock out some infectious hard rock grooves and, with a new album due to out soon, are ones to keep an eye on  - although one of the tracks did stray a touch too close to power balladry.

It was in this very room where RTM was anointed into the cult of Clutch. A few years ago they were the main support to the aforementioned CoC. They were brilliant. Then we saw them support Thin Lizzy 18 months or so back. They were brilliant.

This is, though, our first experience of seeing the band – Fallon on vocals, occasional guitar and cowbell, Tim Sult on guitar, Dan Maines on bass and drummer John Paul Gaster – headline. They are in town because in March the put out what very well might be the album of the year when such things are totted up in December. “Earth Rocker” is a quite stunning piece of music that for our money is right up there with the best they have ever done – which makes it very, very good indeed.

They begin with its title track. The song does two things. First, it encapsulates everything that good about the band. It has massive riffs, is catchy but interesting. Second it is perhaps the only song in metal history to contain at his heart the word “bloooahaha” (just listen to it).

The band clearly think “….Rocker” is as good as we do, because during the course of their hour and half with us they knock out 10 songs from it (or in other words, all but one). “DC Sound Attack” and “The Face” are perhaps the best of them.

There is a dip into some of their older material, with four songs from “Blast Tyrant” and arguably their best known song “Electric Worry,” which closes things.

What happened tonight was quite phenomenal. The crowd response to the four-piece is verging on the rabid and proves the band are on the very verge of becoming genuine stars.

To borrow another line from one of their songs, “if you are gonna do it, do it live on stage, or don’t it at all.” And quite frankly that is exactly what they did. We are close to being in gig-of-the-year-so-far territory. Clutch are our band, everyone. And they are quite, quite fantastic.