Biffy Clyro: Only Revolutions
Biffy Clyro: Only Revolutions
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By James Christie
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Tuesday, 10, Nov 2009 11:22
14th Floor, out November 9th.
What's it all about?
Four albums in and Biffy Clyro are no longer alt-rock also-rans but an undeniably mainstream monster, with singles A-listed at Radio 1 weeks before release and a following that veers between the old faithful and newcomers awoken by the stadium-sized strings and heavenly choirs of outstanding fourth album Puzzle.
For fifth album Only Revolutions, named after the Mark Z Danielewski novel, the Ayrshire trio not only promise some of their "heaviest riffs to date", but a focus on "the revolutions in life and revolutions in relationship". Queens of the Stone Age's and The Crooked Vultures' Josh Homme guest stars, with American arranger David Campbell orchestrating six of the 12 tracks and singles Mountains, That Golden Rule and The Captain included.
As an example...
"Son of Henry, I'm the first in line/To the throne, smell my mustard gas/I slash swords through your wooden spine/Well it cut my heart and it blew my head." - That Golden Rule
"Nothing lasts forever, except you and me/You are my mountain, you are my sea." - Mountains
What the others say
"Biffy Clyro have got this far without paying heed to populist tastes, so they needn't start now. Still, it's a woeful soul who can listen to Only Revolutions without feeling exhilarated and part of the gang." - Sarah Boden, Observer
"They're likeable as ever then, albeit for reasons fairly removed from their first rumblings. But Only Revolutions isn't quite an essential album of 2009, however great a draw the band has become in the live field." - Chris Beanland, BBC.co.uk
So is it any good?
Where do you go after the release of your biggest album? For Nirvana, the harsh glare of success was followed by a move away from radio-friendly unit-shifters towards the tortured catharsis of In Utero; for Oasis a blizzard of cocaine seemed the optimum destination after What's the Story? Morning Glory made them superstars. In this ailing music industry, such self-indulgence might not be an option - though Muse proved the exceptions to the rule by disappearing up their own fundaments with the wonderfully mad The Resistance. But for Biffy Clyro, who seemed destined to join the pyre of British alt-rock also-rans until their stunning fourth album Puzzle, the course looks to be a driven by a commendable determination to capitalise on critical and commercial goodwill.
After frontman Simon Neil's enjoyable electro-rock side-project Marmaduke Duke and the 'Biff's highest-charting single Mountains - quite rightly included here - the Ayrshire three-piece have produced a superb fifth album that retains their traditional darkness and idiosyncrasies while opening the gates for a new audience. Producer 'GGGarth' Richardson's production is now fully in sync with the band's strengths, as the harmonies soar, the drums crash brutally and Neil's guitar slashes with vigour while there's a palpable confidence to the entire album. Puzzle may have been a career high but there's no sense of the Scots dealing with towering expectations on Only Revolutions - while Muse followed a career-high by boarding interplanetary craft, Biffy Clyro remain terrestrial even in their ambition and have cemented their command of British rock.
Gleefully grandstanding second single The Captain kicks things off with a startling woo, giant waves of string-backed guitar and choral backing within the opening 90 seconds; this is not a calm and collected album but a statement of assurance and intent. The darkness of their early work remains evident - in the savage That Golden Rule, the heavy riffage of Shock Shock, the Tom-Morello-goes-prog swagger of Cloud of Stink - but there's an increasingly sunnier disposition evident, both sonically and in Neil's lyrics. While Puzzle found the frontman grief-stricken by the death of his mother, Only Revolutions is powered by the newly-married Simon Neil's nascent understanding of love. Mountains is a touching anthem of adoration, with major chord shifts like tectonic cracks, with the Bends-era-Radiohead lilt of Many of Horror confirms his new optimism.
At times you fear the long-term fans might feel ignored, as the groovy bass of Born on a Horse reveals a hint of Marmaduke Duke, while Know Your Quarry opens with a harpsichord melody that could fairly be labelled Tudor. But these concerns would be mislaid as, time and time again, a track reaches a thrillingly explosive middle eight or another firework display refrain. Booooom, Blast and Ruin - the original album title - is a particular highlight and feels like a précis of their career, with guitar lines that recall the glory days of emo, ambitiously massive production, and mammoth drops that electrify the senses. Throughout you're struck by their remarkable command of melody, on an album that sends the band hurtling in several different directions while retaining a footy on the riff-driven rocky outcrop on which they surfaced
Whorses closes the album with cloud-bursting momentum and as Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and the Postal Service converge with Biffy's unhinged Celtic rock, the exhilaration overwhelms.
9/10
Lewis Bazley