Biffy return with their third album, which is always the big one for bands. First establishes them. Second evolves them. The third is to find out what musical direction they will go, and if they have enough left to go there. In the case of Biffy, their first was a pop rock record, the second was a little heavier, and their third could have gone either direction. What direction did they go? Well, it’s still hard to tell, but from reviewing it, it may become clearer.
Glitter And Trauma starts off and…wait a minute, I didn’t just pick up Clubland 2005 by accident did I? No, it’s just a unique Biffy intro, almost comical in its irony. After a minute of the beat and synth driven intro, the common instruments slowly replace their electronic counterparts and lead to an explosive opening into the song. A bouncing bass line for the chorus becoming more layered each time, then into the big ending. Simon’s vocals are consistently good throughout this one.
Strung To Your Ribcage sounds at home straight after, but with more screaming from Simon than normal….and cursing! A more grown up punk feel to this, then audibly pleasing outro vocals brings this to a close.
My Recovery Injection was one Biffy song that was played constantly on music TV, and the video was great. The song itself on the album has an extended jam introduction with a wah effect making its debut. Then the catchiest use of a hammer on/pull off ever kicks in. A softer song, which still contains all the regular song traits for a Biffy track. The increased guitar skill is also evident in the bridge.
Got Wrong is a new sound for the band. It has elements of Smashing Pumpkins in it (at one point I swear I heard Billy’s vocals), but this is an up tempo layered guitar song, which is also quite short, but effective.
Atrocity pulls out the piano, and gives Simon the spotlight. Slight irony in the title for this one, as although it has some good lyrics, this one lacks something. The end section introduces the other instruments, but it never seems to go anywhere.
Some Kind OF Wizard kicks the last track straight out the way and is a quick, happy, funny if you pay attention, track. More guitar skills on show again, another short kicky track.
Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave is made to be an audience participation track. Opening clap rhythm goes on for a few bars, then its time to sit down and shut up as the mess of a distortion section begins. It really shouldn’t go with the vocals, but it fits well. Lots of sections to this, and some general guitar effect messing about at times, before another beautiful outro brings this somewhat progressive track to a close.
Only One Word Springs To Mind, the current Biffy single, and again it has an extended intro, although its just Simon singing over random harmonics. An acoustic-ish song that feels different to the rest of the album. It sounds more like an effort from fellow Scots Travis or Snow patrol, but still remains sounding unique. It could fade out nicely, but it refuses to leave, and after a few bass notes, it goes into the screaming distortion/vocals ending, which gives it an extra kick if anything.
There’s No Such Man As Crasp, im sure is some sort of private joke? It's more of a filler than anything else, with Simon merely chanting random lyrics. I get the feeling that we’re not meant to get it.
There’s No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake on the other hand, is an open invitation to scream your lungs out. It certainly seems to be what Simon is doing, as well as playing bizarre but good sounding guitar riffs. The basic formula of this song is set, then it’s just a case of throwing in random xylophone bits.
Kids From Kibble And The Fist Of Light begins very ordinarily, the distortion section (after the death metal moment of guitar smashing) is plain and samey. It’s when it falls into the calming vocals it gains some creditability, but not enough to lift it from average.
Weapons Are Concealed is the first time I’ve laughed in public at a song intro. It sounds like it should be a cheesy cop show intro. There’s not a lot else to offer in this one, as it does lack anything else of notice.
Pause It And Turn It Up DON’T! Ill explain in a bit. The song in question is a slow burning and vocally lead. Its intensifies more and more over time, progressing along the simple formula. However, it’s not that interesting if you’re expecting what you want from Biffy. We then get something like 23 minutes of dead air, if you still have you CD player on. Then a weird distorted bagpipe, creepy vocal ‘thing’, which scared the hell out of me on first listen. The gimmick of the hidden track was getting repetitive, but this one if just weird, and not to be listened to at high volumes or in the dark.
Pros
Musical talent evident again
Some great songs
Can make you laugh at points without even needing a joke
Cons
A sense of repetitiveness
Tone isn’t always great
Latter half of the album drags.
So it seems they took the hard rock road, and threw in some new elements. It’s clear that the band have again grown up and increased in skill, but seem to be falling short of some ideas in places. This effort has some of their best tracks on, but then some of their worst are here too. It’s a tough listen, and some songs take work to appreciate, but there is probably something here for most people. Its still an impressive feat though, that this is their third album in 3 years.
Recommended Tracks
Glitter And Trauma
My Recovery Injection
Strung To Your Ribcage
