Robot Hive / Exodus by Clutch

Robot Hive / Exodus, Clutch's seventh full-length studio album, came out on DRT Entertainment in 2005, and it's the Germantown, Maryland band loosening their belts. The funk metal and blues rock they'd flirted with on Blast Tyrant take over here, and Mick Schauer's keyboards, making their debut with the band, pour hot grease over Tim Sult's riffs. Jean-Paul Gaster swings rather than just pounding, Dan Maines keeps the bottom thick, and Neil Fallon hollers like a tent-revival preacher with a head full of strange ideas, with "10001110101" as the proof.

There's a pair of blues covers in the mix too, one from Howlin' Wolf and one from Mississippi Fred McDowell, a nod to the roots under all that riffing. The original ran 14 tracks, with a 15th on some editions, and a 2010 reissue came with a DVD of their set at the Sounds of the Underground festival in July 2005.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.