Maryland rock institution Clutch have shared the new single ‘Beware The Fever’, taken from their fourteenth album Wasted Lands, due 22nd January 2027 via their own Weathermaker Music.
It’s the first time a banjo has appeared on a Clutch record, and Neil Fallon sets the song among the ghost towns of Appalachia and central Pennsylvania.
“‘Beware the Fever’ started out as a lark,” explains Fallon. “I played some random melodies on a poorly tuned Deering Goodtime banjo and JP put a hip-hop beat to it. I thought that would be the end of it. Boy was I wrong. As a result of this, I now spend a lot of my free time watching banjo tutorial videos and the algorithm is really pushing AARP benefits and retirement properties in the Ozarks. Beware!”
Drummer Jean-Paul Gaster says the music came together in under 20 minutes, and that the banjo on the album is from Neil’s very first demo. “This song is easily one of my favourites on the record.”
Wasted Lands follows ‘The Drifter Returns’ and the title track. It reunites Clutch with producer Machine for their first album together since 2015’s Psychic Warfare, and their first full length since 2022’s Sunrise On Slaughter Beach. Written with the stage in mind, it pairs their trademark riffs with more melodic songwriting.
Wasted Lands tracklist: ‘The Drifter Returns’, ‘Stage Fright’, ‘Loaf ‘N Jug’, ‘High Class Action Lawsuit’, ‘Chestburster’, ‘Beware The Fever’, ‘Wound Collector’, ‘Colorado Fuel And Iron’, ‘Streets Are His’, ‘The Green Skull’, ‘Wasted Lands’ and ‘The Message Is Clear’.
The band have also announced a US headline tour with Corrosion Of Conformity, Agnostic Front and Chuck Ragan, running from February to April.
