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| Damn you, Biffy Clyro. Damn you all to hell. |
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Just when I thought it was safe to come out from behind the sofa (the one which I hide behind listening to Biffy obsessively), along they come with a new album. Thankfully, first spin, I'm thinking "This is rubbish! Where's the riffage? Where's the random usage of weird genre off-cuts? Where's the huge sound-scapes?". Content in thinking that the Biffsters have had their day, I promptly try and forget about Puzzle and listen to something else.
But something keeps nagging at the back of my mind. That something is going "I'm a fire, and I'll burn, burn, burn...". Determined that this is just the "Hey Mickey" effect, I ignore it and try and get on with listening to the something else. I can't listen to it again. That intro to "Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies" is just annoying. Stupid impossible-to-follow timing.
OK, maybe just one more go. After all, Infinity Land took me about ten listens until I started to really appreciate it. Here we go - OK, not so irritating this time. And I quite like the little choral precursor to the first vocal. I suppose that bass riff is pretty good as well. Still not keen on the strings with the chorus though. And I don't really like the way the vocals have been recorded.
Shit. Maybe I was wrong. "Saturday Superhouse" passes, and I'm already anticipating the foot-stomping rhythm of "Who's Got A Match". Actually, this is rather awesome. Especially the way the vocal rhythm and harmony become twisted over the riffing at the end.
There's the gradually building beauty of "As Dust Dances" (think in the "Wave Upon Wave" mould), with another odd but strangely appealing vocal rhythm. There's poppery in the shape of "A Whole Child Ago" and "Folding Stars", and more riffery in the excellent "Semi-Mental".
Four or five more listens in, and I'm starting to understand everything more and more. But something still baffles. How do they do it? How do they keep making albums that sound so different from the last, light-years away from anything else, that keep getting better with every listen, where every song follows on so perfectly from the last, where almost every song could be a single yet still fit together as an all-encompassing awesome suite of music? I'm not sure I, or anyone else, will ever know.
Damn you, Biffy Clyro. Damn you all to hell. |
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| Will McLaren - 9/10 |
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Name:
dan
| Date:
15/06/07 | Reply
i just don't get it. i don't understand why this band sounds great to everyone else and dull to me. there's something wrong somewhere.
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Name:
Tom
| Date:
24/06/07 | Reply
I've really tried with this album, but I've not got to the point where I start liking it. I'm finding it boring. There are some excellent ideas, but they don't do enough with them. And there's not enough rock. The only actually rocking riff is the one for Semi-Mental -- and that sounds like they're ripping off Reuben, which in itself is weird.
By the time it gets to Folding Stars I just start thinking Goo Goo Dolls.
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Name:
Will
| Date:
27/06/07 | Reply
I see what you're saying on the rock point, but I think you're looking for the wrong thing. The rock on Infinity Land was rarely the main riff / theme, but was developed during the song. Same thing here - it's all about getting comfortable with the songs, the anticipation of the build up, and then feeling your skin tingle when they finally let go with it.
They also translate unexpectedly well live - when we saw them at Junction only a few new ones stood out, but at Glasto, having listened to the album, it was awesome.
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Name:
James B
| Date:
27/06/07 | Reply
I'm yet to listen to this, and to be honest I'm not going to rush either.
I love Biffy, Infinity Land is a masterpiece, but the songs I've heard from this album are just so... not good. Saturday Superhouse was dull, Living Is a Problem was OK - but very toned dowe, and the one about the match is fucking awful. It makes me cry.
Marmaduke Duke = the new Biffy?
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Name:
Timothy Gordon Ernest Ruffer
| Date:
30/06/07 | Reply
I agree with Tom and James B on this album - it just doesn't do it for me. As well as the songs being less rocky and less complex, the production loses that live feel and ends up making them sound like your average emo band.
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