Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions

Comprising of Simon Neil (vocals, guitar), twins James Johnston (bass, vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals), Ayrshire-based Scottish trio Biffy Clyro can be best described as a power pop hard rock. Sounds weird right? On paper, this combination probably shouldn’t work out, but after listening to their fifth studio album ‘Only Revolutions’, I can safely say that this is easily one of the best rock albums of the year. Only Revolutions picks up where Biffy’s mainstream breakthrough album (Puzzle) left off. The choruses are grandiose with equally heavy riffs to match. Couple that with unusual time signatures, chord sequences and interchanging melodies, you get a sort of Queens of the Stone Age meets, well, Queen.

Heavy and….Catchy?!

The album opener ‘The Captain’ kicks off with a slow marching beat, you can actually feel it building up to something grand and over-the-top and sure enough your expectations are fulfilled. The immense satisfaction I felt when I heard the opening riff cannot be felt, it just had to be heard. The next song ‘The Golden Age’ is perhaps the heaviest song on the album, reminiscent of Nirvana. Thundering guitars, pounding drums and oh yes, a background orchestra! ‘Bubbles’ is a Kings Of Leon-esque song, featuring the multi talented Josh Homme on guitar. While the first three songs are good enough to suck in a first time listener, the fourth song ‘God and Satan’ is my personal favourite. Starting off with simple acoustic strumming, the lyrics are some of the cleverest and beautiful I’ve heard in a long time. However, the song isn’t content with being a simple acoustic number. No no, it culminates in Disarm/Viva La Vida style, you know, with church bells and violins.

After the rush that is the first 4 songs, the album hits a small lull. It’s not that the songs are bad, but after a while the songs start blurring together. None of the songs really stand out, except the electronic intro of ‘Born on a Horse’ and the beautiful love song ‘Mountains’ (Coincidentally the band’s highest charting single to date on the UK singles chart, peaking at #5). But the band kicks into gear again with ‘Booooom, Blast & Ruin’, the punky ‘Cloud of Stink’ and the album closer and the cleverly titled ‘Whorses’ with galloping drums and all.

Conclusion

Overall, ‘Only Revolutions’ is an album oozing with plenty of clever ideas. It masterfully draws in two camps of music lovers, those who prefer to rock hard and those who prefer more commercial fare. If promoted properly I see this album making a big impact on the Indian market. Sure, the album isn’t perfect, it gets all too similar and over-the-top at times. All in all it is a VERY good rock album and a must hear for anyone.

“I talk to God as much as I talk to Satan 'cause I want to hear both sides

Does that make me cynical

There are no miracles

And this is no miraculous life.”

- God and Satan