Premiere: Clamfight’s “Brodgar” is a Sludge-Laden Love Letter to Scotland
When it comes to the deepest cores of the human experience, love and loss are inescapable. Such potent emotions hit us at our core and leave us changed forever. Such was the case for Andy Martin, the drummer and vocalist for New Jersey/Philly-based sludge metal outfit Clamfight — though the melancholic fuel for their track “Brodgar” wasn’t so much a specific who or a what, but more so a where and when.
“I spent eight seasons excavating at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney before COVID and some career changes put an end to my physical involvement with that site. When this record started shaping up to be about love, loss, and the importance of friendship, it felt really fitting to write a love song about the team, the site, and Orkney. After being apart for ten months out of the year, the team always picked up right where we left off. I wondered if that’s how it was for the original occupants of the site, spending their year moving around the islands but always reuniting at this special place. ‘Brodgar’ is my love letter to the Ness, to Orkney, and to the Dig Team.
“The melancholy and longing of the lyrics is what made us decide to ask Samantha Marandola from Oldest Sea to sing on the track. Sam is an incredible talent and has become a good friend over the last few years; we were over the moon when she said she’d do it. We sent her the track, she joined us in the studio and couldn’t have crushed the song any harder.”
From the moment its opening chords ring out, “Brodgar” immediately washes over the listener. Martin’s gravelly vocals deliver a timbre of hardened experience in a way. Bolstered by Oldest Sea’s Samantha Marandola’s backing vocals, the song gains an almost wind-swept quality. And with this being a sludge tune, the song ebbs and flows with the almost drone-like quality of the song’s main riff. Listening to the track, I can almost imagine the fog-draped lands evoked by the track’s title.
With their self-titled album coming out on May 16, the band say it’s become “a sort of diary or memoir” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, though it’s “not about masks and temperature checks at the grocery store, but about how the love and friendship between the band helped get them all through those dark times.”
Clamfight will be released on May 16, but you can preorder your copy today.
Clamfight Track Listing:
1. The Oar
2. Brodgar
3. Dragonhead
4. FRH
5. Drinking Tooth
6. Clamfight
7. Redtail
CLAMFIGHT Live:
5/31/2025 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA *record release show
6/20/2025 Goldsounds – Brooklyn, NY w/ Hollow Leg, Florist, End Of Hope
6/21/2025 Poponipalooza ’25: D.I.L.F.@ Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA
