Review Summary: Not what I expected
When I first read the description of the album, I was skeptical. I hadn’t really touched upon the genre and never felt interested in doing so, well at least until this past week, and boy am I glad I stepped outside my comfort zone and checked this out. There was something about the mix between melodic guitar solos and hard-hitting riffs accompanied by the wide variety of vocal styles complimented by driving drums that truly made this album exhilarating from start to finish.
Clamfight’s most obvious strong point is the instrumentation.
III is chock full of straight forward, powerful guitar riffs, pummeling drums, and even melodic, swift solos. From the clean guitar and driving drum build-up of
Whale Road to the blast-fire ending of
History of the Earls of Orkney, Clamfight succeeds in nearly every way possible musically. The use of a wide range of guitar affects produces an atmosphere of interestingly positive vibes juxtaposed by the generally haunting instinct. Speaking of effects,
III holds multiple uses of such effects to emphasize the sound such and style of the album as a whole, whether on the clean, delayed guitars of
Eynhallow or even the wah effect of the fast-paced riff at the back end of
Selkie. Although the guitars usually carry the torch, leading the way through the album, the drums manage to complement the superior sound. Ranging from blasting fills to slow, rhythmic grooves, the drums fuel the momentum of the album, along with help from the underlying bass grooves and licks.
Although the instruments garner a lot of praise, you can’t deny the impressive ability of the vocals. From the shouts of
Whale Road, to the screams/growls (not sure what to classify them as) of
Echoes in Stone, to the clean vocals of
Selkie’s verses, the vocals never fail to impress. I, myself, don’t consider myself much of a fan to harsher vocals (save for a few bands here and there), but I found myself enjoying every bit of vocal work, both harsh and clean alike.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. I generally tend to stick to my comfort zone of music, but this proves how much I’m missing out on in the grand world of music. Although the sound is in a sense “out dated,” sounding more like a previously undiscovered gem than a modern masterpiece,
III manages to pertain to a sound that leaves a listener not only consistently intrigued, but satisfied in the end.
