"She wanted nothin
And I delivered"'

not crap!

I'd rather much listen to Monster Magnet.

Isaac wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 9:27 am A band full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Crap.

They'd probably agree with you. Except the Crap part.

enframed wrote: Wed Sep 10, 2025 12:46 am I'd rather much listen to Monster Magnet.

Yeah, Spine of God, at least.

The mention of Clutch is interesting. That's a band I should at least enjoy in small doses but instead find bland and pretty hokey. I can totally understand Fu Manchu landing like that for others, but the blown out double tracked guitars just tickle me I guess.

Fu Manchu is better than Clutch.

There's a certain family of bands that have their roots in Across the River / the Palm Desert generator party scene; teenage punks that got back into heavy classic rock via SST, esp Slip It In era Black Flag and early Saint Vitus. They started making organic, heavy rock with a distinctly American flavour; a more Grand Funk / Steppenwolf / Mountain / Blue Cheer mix than the usual Zep/Sabs/Purps holy trinity - or even much metal at all. So punk's "back to basics" ethos meets the raw fuzz n' freedom vibe of early USA rock bands.

But for me there's a clear distinction between the great bands (Kyuss, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man) and the good bands (Fu Manchu, Nebula, (and the geographically adjacent but very similarly minded) Monster Magnet and Clutch). The great bands could really stretch out musically, while the good bands had a much more limited range, bordering on being a bit gimmicky at their worst.

Boy, that's a fantastic way of putting it. I always skip this band when they come on, even tho everything I hear is something I otherwise like. Just seems like it's close but not quite there.

Not Crap, but just you know. Fine.

I’m glad Clutch was brought up. I saw the thread title before reading MH’s post. I don’t really know anything about that type of music outside Sleep and the sorta adjacent Queens of the Stoneage stuff, but I saw Fu Manchu and went digging until I could remember that:

A) i’ve probably never heard Fu Manchu, tho I remember being aware of them from my dad’s vast 80s-90s Guitar Player Magazine archive

B) the record I was thinking of was Clutch’s s/t album from 1995 and holy shit that bitch is a stone killer. So good.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Thu Sep 11, 2025 8:38 pm I’m glad Clutch was brought up. I saw the thread title before reading MH’s post. I don’t really know anything about that type of music outside Sleep and the sorta adjacent Queens of the Stoneage stuff, but I saw Fu Manchu and went digging until I could remember that:

A) i’ve probably never heard Fu Manchu, tho I remember being aware of them from my dad’s vast 80s-90s Guitar Player Magazine archive

B) the record I was thinking of was Clutch’s s/t album from 1995 and holy shit that bitch is a stone killer. So good.

Sleep come really close to this sound, but (obviously) use Sabbath as a foundational element and there's a lot more metal riffing in their methodology. Slightly different ballgame. Ditto the Obsessed who were around this scene socially during the Lunar Womb era, but musically had a bit more doom in the mix and much more musical ability.

I guess with Fu Manchu and Clutch there's a bit more of vibe over ability (not a bad thing) but they both (esp Clutch) wander into a jam band territory at certain points and it's never really their forte IMO.