The eleventh studio album from famed hard rock band Clutch dropped Friday, Oct. 2, through the band’s own studio, Weathermaker Music, welcoming in a new wave of hard rock anthems ready to blast out of your speakers.

Set as a loosely tied together concept album revolving around a victim of “psychic warfare,” the album comes off as another tightly knit and explosive masterpiece of sound, even if singer/songwriter Neil Fallon maintains his traditionally wordy yet altogether rhythmic lyrical flow.

“It’s a tale about an unnamed protagonist who is forced to seek refuge in a flop house motel. He is hiding from several nefarious psychic forces, the worst of which is his own sleep deprived paranoia,” said Fallon, who has posted several videos to the band’s Facebook page discussing and explaining the lyrics to some of the songs off the album, including “Firebirds” and “A Quick Death in Texas.” But it will never be just the lyrics for which Clutch is known. It will always be their consistent country blues and hard rock sound, their definitive “Clutch”-ness that has yet to be matched by any other band.

Coming hard at the start with “X-Ray Visions”, the song from which the album got it’s name, they don’t slow down for a second until we hit the plodding beat of the quiet(er) “Our Lady of Electric Light.” Each member is in top form for this album as well, with each instrument standing out so distinctly and yet coming together to create songs that flow near perfectly into each other and maintain constant intertwining beats and riffs.
“I listened closely to the rhythm of Neil’s vocals this time around. The rhythms he sings, are very syncopated,” said drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, on the band’s official website. “It was my goal to articulate these rhythms on the drums while keeping the pulse of the music strong.”

And it’s true, the pulse of the music, and the band, is stronger than ever with “Psychic Warfare.” Not to mention, having released their monumental album “Earth Rocker” just 2 years ago, Clutch had a tall order to fill this time around. They met and surpassed that challenge though, as “Psychic Warfare” is currently sitting at number one in rock on both the U.S. and the U.K. iTunes, and on the Amazon music charts. And with “Earth Rocker” hitting it’s peak (for the album and the band) at number 15 in the Billboard Top 200, “Psychic Warfare” should have no trouble meeting that milestone, if not surpassing it.