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Biffy Clyro 'Puzzle'

added 04 June 2007 at 09.46

And yet, despite the devotion of the faithful, Biffy Clyro have somehow remained in the wings awaiting the fateful nod that takes them centre stage. With many of their contemporaries having bitten the dust thanks to a combination of inability and small-minded parochialism, Biffy Clyro have steadily and stealthily built on their foundations and embraced an altogether more panoramic vision.

Put simply, Biffy Clyro have opted to widen their scope by biting the bullet to embrace a sound that offers a greater pop sensibility than of yore. It’s an approach that finds the band scaling back on the signature dynamics that slipped and slid with all the ferocity of an eel dipped in oil to offer something with a more mainstream appeal and clearly, Biffy Clyro have their route to the stadiums mapped out via arenas.

Certainly, opener ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ would suggest so. Stuttering strings, set against a chugging guitar and epileptic drums, build over an inordinate amount of time before ushering in a mass of choral voices that wouldn’t feel out of place in a horror film. This epic feel is a recurring theme throughout ‘Puzzle’ as it rears its head on the over the ominous interludes ‘2/15ths’ and ‘4/15ths’ before concluding on the foreboding menace of ‘9/15ths’ as massed voices chant, “We’re on a hellslide/Help us! Help us!”

So have Biffy Clyro gone all Muse on our asses? Despite the lush Storm Thorgusson graphics, there’s nothing here that matches the sheer scale of Muse’s histrionics. The simplistic approaches that characterise ‘A Whole Child Ago’ and ‘Who’s Got A Match?’ feel more like an afterthought rather than a concerted effort while the strummed and skeletal ‘Machines’ isn’t the conclusion that this album deserves.

When ‘Puzzle’ hits the spot – and it frequently does – the effects are dazzling. ‘Semi-Mental’ bumps and grinds in fits and starts with Foo Fighters’ DNA flowing boldly though its veins and ‘The Conversation Is…’ becomes Biffy Clyro’s shot at those huge audiences waiting to happen.

‘Puzzle’ hasn’t achieved greatness – that’s likely to happen further down the line – but it is, on balance, the first step of the journey that’ll take them there. Not so much puzzling then as the start of the solution.

 

Biffy Clyro ‘Puzzle’ (14th Floor) Released June 4th 2007.

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