Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

Horns… bloody horns. Although in most cases I wouldn’t go near them unless they were playing ska music but the opening of Biffy Clyro’s new album, Only Revolutions is full of it when track one, The Captain springs into life. Before that we get the slightly confusing sound of horses’ hooves, (more on this later), but once the album has properly begun it’s hard to see exactly what I had against the horns. The sound may be a little cluttered at times but it’s the Biffy that the fans have come to know and love which is reassuring after their mainstream breakthrough album Puzzle. Recent single That Golden Rule is next which builds on the bands growing promise for more and more stadium sized chorus’ and by the time the song has rung out the strings enhanced final riff it’s pretty obvious you’ve made a good purchase. Coming to third song Bubbles from a position of ignorance I was unsure what to make of it at first but in the great Biffy tradition of amazing but confusing songs it’s almost impossible to work out how the band got from the jangly offbeat guitar line at the start to a Josh Homme guest appearance solo.

Slowing it down a pace is the song God and Satan, a song in the works for a long time as I heard of it first sometime after the last album was released but it’s worth the wait and as the song builds from it’s acoustic ballad beginnings to a finish the band and in particular Simon Neil’s metaphor laden lyrics make you feel like you really belong on their musical journey. Born on a Horse, (Simon Neil is actually obsessed with horses, check the lyrics of the whole album), follows and it feels like it was pinched from the bands funky side project Marmaduke Duke, the opening bass line has a distinctly disco feel as does most of the song until it opens up and goes all huge sounding on us. Mountains was already a massive hit before the album was even in its early stages and in the context of the whole album it sounds even bigger. With a chorus built for festivals and stadiums across the world it’s the song that is slowly turning a trio of cult heroes into world famous superstars.

A song in the great Biffy custom of being abrasive yet still tender, (previous examples include All the Way Down: Prologue Chapter 1 from the album The Vertigo of Bliss) is Shock Shock, which is said to be about Simon Neil’s recent marriage and how he is learning to deal with conflicting points of view. Next is most recent single Many of Horror, it shows Biffy’s more mature side as the restrained strings, (restrained!!! Remember Puzzle’s jarring opening strings on Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies? I sure do and I still get nightmares) and by the time the final chorus has been wrung from the heart of the band and all that’s left is the cello and violin it could make even the most hardened rocker feel a little emotional. With a title taken from the book the album title is taken from, Booooom, Blast & Ruin comes off sounding a little bit like a more accomplished LostProphets, especially in the intro riff, and ends just as abruptly as it sprang into life a little over three minutes before.

Cloud of Stink… not an inspiring song name but with the bands history of obscure titles, (Now the Action is On Fire, There’s No Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake, I could go on) it’s worth giving it a good listen. If you’re not a fan of the singing in the verses at least you can appreciate such genius lyrics as “look up to the sky, is it still good to feel alive, well I, can dance, on top of a hurricane”. Very nice. A lot of the songs are based on the revolutions relationships put you in and penultimate song Know Your Quarry is no different but that doesn’t make it any less of a song. The production by GGGarth Richardson on this record blows me away every time as he has managed to retain Biffy’s sound whilst also polishing the edges a little. The strings once again come to the fore and the lyrics, although sometimes obscure come together to create a Biffy take on a love ballad. Whorses is the final song on this, Biffy Clyro’s most accessible album to date, (Puzzle wasn’t all accessible, Get F**ked Stud gives enough away in it’s name to show its accessibility) and it is very much a final song. Everything about it screams final song, just before the encore if you catch my drift, and the chorus is made for a mass sing-a-long, “We want to affect a change, with voice and electrical noises”. So as those electrical noises scratch out their last I can’t be the only one who wants more from the Ayrshire trio.

P.S.
Stay with this blog for a review of their forthcoming gig at the Hammersmith Apollo.