The Clay People – Review

The Clay People

(Slipdisc)
by Chris Best

I’ve been a fan of The Clay People for years. Their Black Sabbath-styled industrial was always direct and completely genuine. Live, they were always a wall of sound, with full-throttle guitars, live electronic drums, and a rich baritone vocal performing over the sequences. Sadly, they never got the recognition they deserved, and for three albums, they labored long and hard, playing to a small but dedicated following. The Clay People have changed a lot recently. The line-up has changed almost completely, and the electronics that were such a huge part of their sound have been scaled down; the live drummer even uses a real kit.

All of this would lead the normal fan to assume they suck now. Au contraire! The Clay People have made an album which takes this almost completely live band and reconciles it with their old sound. What comes out is a more dynamic and heavier Clay People than ever before. The album starts out with “Awake,” a song with their classic sound that alone is worth the price of the CD. The one big surprise on this is the song “Ghostwishing.” It sounds like Type O Negative doing a Smiths song. Astonishingly enough, it works. What doesn’t work well is the last song which sounds like Stone Temple Pilots, but what’s one bad track have to do with the ten good ones?
(101 W. Grand Ave. 6th Fl. Chicago, IL 60610)