Biffy Clyro's Only Revolutions: First Listen
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Fresh from the Warners official watermarked stream comes our first listen to the fifth record from Scot titans Biffy Clyro, due next month.
The Captain
Already heralded by a fair few cries of derision amongst the DiS community, ‘The Captain’ sets up precisely what Only Revolutions represents. There’s a simplistic, almost sea-shanty verse which folds into a massive harmonised chant and terrace-bound chorus (“Somebody help me sing!”). Most striking though is the huge brass orchestration brandished underneath like a brand new weapon to their audience with. A strong start.
That Golden Rule
The second single and, unexpectedly, the hardest track of the whole album. Only Revolutions is nowhere near a return to Biffy of yore – as all the marketing suggests – but this swoops closest to their old hallmarks. A whiplash riff that cracks at a frantic pace, before lurching into a non-starter of a chorus and then those BBC Prom strings thread the whole thing into an exhilarating close.
Bubbles
A stingy, tinny riff loop falls into guitar lines vaguely following Simon’s staccato vocal melody. After gently lulling us into nonplussed security, that itchy riff snaps back with fuzz bass in the pre-chorus before hitting a huge choral goal – Simon’s dodgy lyrics (“In her own creepy world, there’s a girl, there’s a girl by the river”) aside. It escalates, soars and is purely anthemic. The repetitive, welding of a simple four note guitar line to your brain while warped, aching noise swoops in helps slam the outro home, too.
God & Satan
The first of the acoustic led tracks continues to keep everything simple. More lyrical guff from Simon here: “I savour hate as much as I crave love because I’m just a twisted guy”. The song builds from its strummed beginnings into a craftily-built, strings‘n all heart-tugger. In case we haven’t got it by this point, it’s definitely clear Biffy have left deft complexity behind for this record almost entirely.
Born On A Horse
Perhaps the biggest surprise – and a reminder of why Biffy is supporting Muse come the European tour – is this faintly bizarre buzzing bass-synth and woodblock work out with possibly the most hilarious first line ever conceived: “I pronounce it aluminium, because there’s an I next to the u and m.” It’s pure nonsense come the chorus “I’ve never had a lover whose my sister or my brother before.” Taken lightly it’s a slightly silly yet irritatingly catchy number similar to ‘Who’s Got A Match’ from Puzzle. Taken seriously it’ll be an absolute travesty to most long-term Biffy fans which will kill them stone dead in their eyes. Your call. I’m all for FUN myself.
Mountains
You already know this Top 5 single from last year. Actually one of Biffy’s best from the past two years, it certainly deserves its place in their least cohesive album so far. Individually it’s an arena sized, three-part hit that builds beyond its initial sombre piano intro. As part of Only Revolutions, it signifies the wild divergent pop found throughout and that the record is far lighter and fluffier than the dense and dark Puzzle. Yes, you read that right.
Video: Biffy Clyro: 'Mountains'
Shock Shock
The thrumming, tremolo guitars and Simon’s opening gambit “You scratch and you scratch til your face comes away, replaced by a hole or a vortex” sound oddly off kilter and positively violent compared to what’s come before. The song doesn’t develop much further down this path unfortunately and maintains a fairly lightweight, though memorable, chorus. Even the guitar breakdown seems at odds with intentions, like it’s been intentionally watered down, but the high pitched vocal/theremin sound and bizarre trio of parps towards the end remind us who we’re dealing with.
Many Of Horror
Another gentle opening, set upon minor arpeggios, it’s an effective indicator of how Biffy’s rejection of awkward, angular ideas has let their songs breathe. The subtle orchestration underneath, brings far more to the song than on ‘That Golden Rule’. It is likely to become a live favourite a la ‘Folding Stars’ and recalls ‘Christopher’s River’ or ‘As Dust Dances’. A good’un.
Booom, Blast & Ruin
Perhaps the most driven song here, the pure pop punk beginnings – tinny, lo-fi chiming riff before pummelling into full volume – is no diversion. It simply powers along, fairly generically it must be said, with an undramatic chorus. The outro riffs out but otherwise there’s not a whole lot to enthuse about. It still has that slight thrill that Simon Neil’s unaffected voice seems to bring to everything, though. In fact it’s on songs like this where Simon becomes the band’s biggest strength, which is not necessarily a good thing, but at least you know where you are.
Cloud of Stink
Not sure which of the twins are singing the lead vocal here, but it’s another slightly warped example of how they’ve taken up Muse’s tendency to absorb classic rock and pop influences. In fact you can imagine Dave Grohl heading this one, though the massive “whoooooooaaaah” in the background and dynamic trickery keeps you on your toes. Hard to say whether it’s excellent or bewildering. Or both. It’s certainly one of the most exhilarating songs here and another surprise in a record full of them. “I don’t have long!” screams Simon, and it’s tough not to yell along with him.
Know Your Quarry
A bold and rather lovely ballad, it begins with what sounds like a mellotron before striding into a violin plucked chorus. Exceptional lyric fails include “I won’t go where the sun doesn’t shine” and “Our lips should kiss each other”. However, it’s very emotive and proves that electric, orchestrated moments from their back catalogue, like ‘Dairy of Always’ and ‘With Aplomb’, are not gone forever.
Whorses
The final track on our record company-endorsed, watermarked stream is a charmingly sweet melody upon galloping drums and bass. As Simon’s voice starts hitting heights, you can imagine a huge crowd following him into the night shouting “We only want to make a change with faults and electric noises!” A single squeak of metallic feedback closes the track, abruptly leaving you with a bubblegum flavoured hole to fill.
Only Revolutions, then, is flighty, fluid, amusing, fun, thoroughly pop and unashamedly melodic, even to the point of ridicule. It’s an unexpectedly breezy follow up to what were two pretty dark predecessors. The elemental, refreshing tunes that adorned The Vertigo of Bliss have been implanted directly onto Biffy’s idea of delightful and simplistic arrangements. That it is still uniquely insane throughout is testament to the fact that they may well be lightening up nowadays, garnering hordes of fans in the process, but they are still those three Scottish psychos who can still twist your notion of rock back on itself and have fun doing it. There’s no doubt in my mind this is leaving a lot of earlier fans high and dry, but they haven’t really compromised on what they’ve always been aiming for.
First impression: 7/10
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Share on FacebookI found 'Puzzle' quite poppy and melodic
Really disappointed with the singles, and it seems this will be another Biffy album that I will be giving a miss.
Time to go back to the cracked case and scratched Cd that is the genius of 'Vertigo of Bliss'. Good by Biffy, I'll miss you.
This makes me feel
like crying. That Pirates of the Caribbean song makes me feel like crying. I want the proper Biffy Clyro back please!
"like it’s been intentionally watered down"
This is them now. I know they've still got it in them to release some good stuff. I just hope we've not lost them forever. :)
Eh?
Are you suggesting then that as I liked them in the past I must continue to like them now? Christ, that would mean that I would be buying Limp Bizkit albums for fear of being called fickle! (embarrassing confession there, it was the 'Three Dollar Bill' one... I was young)
Being 'fickle' would suggest that I have no foundation in my decision to move away from Biffy Clyro... but i do! It's just not cup of tea anymore. Sorry!
well written 1st listen! this album reads horribly!
but i wasn't really expecting anything less from them now. le sigh. hopefully this foo fighters phase is all a big trick to make lots of money, get lots of fans and then BAM! release the true follow up to Vertigo of Bliss and we'll all have a good old laugh and they'll poke us in the ribs and giggle "we had you going though didn't we?!!"
pffff
just compare "the captain" to the original "help me become captain" and you'll see how far they've watered themselves down. same goes for the demo version of living vs the studio.
I'm just living for the b-sides, only place you'll find any of the old biffy.
see: "kittens, cakes & cuddles", "paperfriend" and a bunch of others from puzzle.
.
here, have a fullstop. you might want to make a copy and use it in future posts.
Oh dear
I shan't be listening to this then.
Oh well.
I really like Golden Rule and Captain and really liked Puzzle so I guess I'll not be disappointed. Then again I'm not one of those that hates bands as soon as they become famous. Most of the moaning seems to be a case of "no, not another band we've lost to the mainstream". The day that Radio plays Animal Collecive or Deerhunter should be an interesting one.
I'm with BoyWithThe Blues
A new convert to Biffy around the time of 'Puzzle', and I'm liking what I've heard of the new album thus far, particularly 'That Golden Rule'.
I don't buy this "they used to be great but now they sold out" guff. I listened to the older stuff, and it's more experimental, more inventive, but nowhere near as catchy or listenable.
and in all fairness
the lyrics of the older stuff are utter bollocks too
"it's more experimental, more inventive"
this is why a lot of people enjoyed their older stuff
there are a lot of bands who sound like foo fighters already.
there was only one band who sounded like biffy clyro.
this is why people are sad.
I'd suggest you give the album go nonetheless
It's still twisted pop music, just more obvious and less murky. It's a lot happier too, but this doesn't mean the skill they've always had for writing a melody and fixing appropriate (or inappropriate) dynamics around it has disappeared. I didn't mean to imply the whole of the record is watered down either, I don't think it is. This is just how they're writing now. It's a very different record to Puzzle but their least cohesive aswell. Nevertheless it still represents the same band you used to love. I'll restate: I genuinely enjoy this record. It's a very good record. There are a handful of good, direct lyrics on here, but I had to point out the bad ones, as they are exceptionally bad. Sorry Simon! Finally, they sound nothing like the Foo Fighters. The Foos were never this adventurous.
I don't think its about selling out.
Good on them if they are going to sell more records going in this direction, who would begrudge them of that? But obviously they are going to lose some fans along the way.
I prefer the old stuff, I'm disapointed that they have changed their sound, but no hard feelings! Good luck to them!
Bubbles
was played on Zane Lowe tonight. Decent track. Had the big outro The Captain so badly needed. Josh Homme's solo added to the track as well, rather than being a pointless cameo
it still strikes me as quite brilliant
that Mountains went top 5. I know it's far from Biffy's best but that's quite a remarkable result, all things considered. That Golden Rule went to no.10 as well and got A-listed, and that's since the sweeping pop domination of the charts, so it's seems like the band are now firmly lodged amongst the most popular British rock bands. A fair result to their hard graft and gradual ascent, so if they want to capitalise on their success then fuck it, why can't they? It's hardly like they've shifted into becoming The Feeling, it's just that all the arena/stadium supports and mainstream exposure has rubbed off on them, resulting in more pop sensibilities. Is it that horrendous to consider?
Yeah, I reckon I'll still be buying it.
Like I hinted (but didn't elaborate on) earlier, I know they've got it in them to still make some exciting music. In terms of catchy pop-rock songs, they have nailed the formula pretty bloody quickly. They're a talented bunch and Simon obviously is a bit of a genius at writing hooky melodies.
Great post.
Biffy deserve all the success they are getting. They've worked hard, played all the toilet venues in the UK and are now reaping the rewards. A bit like Kings Of Leon.
Much better than Arctic Monkeys...POW...our-first-song-is-number-one-and-we-are-selling-out-cricket-grounds nonsense.
Anyone who says the backlash is owing to the fact they are now popular is missing the point
Sorry, this has been said but I do want to re-iterate.
Vertigo of Bliss is unique, inventive and just seemed to come completely out of the blue. Oh, and I think the lyrics on this album are really innovative too.
Puzzle had a few good songs and in fairness some of them do come accross better live than on record but didn't make me want to listen to it over and over again like VOB.
Although to be fair
KOL had tons of hype on album one, what with Molly's Chambers and all this garage rock movement.
Agreed on Arctic Monkeys, Dancefloor just holds no appeal at to me, and I can see the appeal of alot of mainstream songs even if it's not my cuppa.
Totally agreed.
The fact remains they are exactly the same people they've always been and they're playing music they love, and now other people love it too. Brilliant. I'm really excited that a band like this can make it into the public eye without completely smoothing out their odd tendancies. That Golden Rule really isn't a typical Top 10 single is it?!
When have Si's lyrics ever made much sense?
Also, I find this line in particular to be telling: "it’s an effective indicator of how Biffy’s rejection of awkward, angular ideas has let their songs breathe."
Surely that's a good thing? Now, I love old Biffy, but I also love new Biffy. The songs are just better, I think. More focussed.
All their best songs pre-Puzzle were largely the ones that weren't throwing everything at it. I'm thinking 57, Justboy, Questions & Answers, Christopher's River, Glitter & Trauma, etc.
Sure, there might be depths to them, but they're not dominating the song in the way that some of their more wilfully awkward moments do.
What amazed me about VOB
was the fact that the singles like Q and A were so catchy yet therest of the album was quite odd yet had so much longevity - not the kind of thing you get bored of after 10 listens.
I didn't get this with puzzle, but I'm not prepared to have a squabblr over this as clearly Biffy are alot of things to alot of people as they have gained more fans and climbed the ranks with each album.
I think those that argue that people don't like them simply for getting big with Puzzle are looking over the fact they sold out the London Astoria off the back of Infinity Land and I can't remember the fans bitching then.
Would any self-respecting fan of music...
...let alone, Biffy Clyro, actually not bother to listen to the new album (i.e. suedehead) on the basis of a 'first listen' review from one person who happens to write for this website?
I mean, come on! Make your own f**king judgement before writing off an entire album!
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