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Rating:
So, have Biffy Clyro finally reached the long-awaited maturity? This new "Puzzle" has just been released... Given their undoubtedly fascinating but also complex preference for excessively deconstructed songs, so excessively that it divides critics without winning over the masses, the title suggests little good. Upon closer listening, you’ll notice that a lot will change compared to their previous works, but the ingredients, used in a less adventurous way, will be pretty much the same.
In the nonetheless crazy "Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies" I still see the punk verses and the Nirvana choruses. At least, however, the rhythm is consistent. There are traces of novelty in the music, more instrumental, with strings and slightly gothic-ecclesiastical choirs. In "Staurday Superhosue" (spelled just like that) I hear "Go With The Flow" by Queens Of The Stone Age in the chorus; and those guitars chasing each other in the verses, what do they remind you of? The obvious references to Josh Homme and company continue with "Who's Got A Match?" It remains a fact that they haven't lost the flair for 4-minute tracks and the catchiness for easy listening for rockers. "As Dust Dances" is a ballad that electrifies late, or is it that the song is too long?
Emo (finally?) makes a comeback in "A Whole Child Ago", in its more standard version. Traces of Sunny Day Real Estate (the non-commercial emo, I know it seems contradictory) reappear in "The Conversation Is...". The skip is instead advisable for "Now I'm Everyone", while in "Semi-Mental" we return to being dragged by the "trusted currents" produced by Homme. More interesting is "Love Has A Diameter", a cross between a male U2 specimen and a female emopunk. Despite the title, "Get Fucked Stud" is the episode most traditionally in Biffy style, made of slow arpeggios followed by loud screams of Mark Arm and Nirvana-like choruses. "Folding Star" is another potential hit, all driving rock. The grand finale and stroke of genius materializes in the symphonic (and lyrical) "9/15ths", with the same strings and choirs as the opening "Living Is...". Chanted choirs and a determined pace, two and a half minutes of pure power. A path, this one, to delve deeper into in the future. Yes, but my mother always told me that one should work by subtraction, not addition, because it's better to do fewer good things than many poorly, or even left halfway through. What did Biffy Clyro's mother say, however? Peaceful ending for "Machine", acoustic and cello.
What impresses in this "Puzzle" is the amount of tracks that can "stand" as singles, at least according to my assessment, six. Without betraying their audience, or not completely, they mostly abandon the famous constant accelerations/decelerations at all costs, even where the song did not benefit from it. There you go: the song structure finally takes precedence - before it was not always like this - over the music and riffs. Kurt has mostly turned into Josh Homme, while Mr. Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate has become any vocalist of the most vulgar and chart emo. Less raw sound, light but present production, keyboards, pianos, and in two cases strings "normalize" the band's sound from Ayrshire. For now, this is the work, despite the title, that is the least "puzzle" and least crazy in their career. The most radio-friendly (hoping for them that it yields something monetary), but not the best, which for me remains the genuine first, which I reviewed. It is hoped that one day they can truly find their own stylistic mark, drawing from here and there as everyone does, but without outright copying what was Kurt's yesterday, what Josh is today, what might be Mien_Mo_Man's (maybe!) tomorrow.
As many steps forward as backward.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies (05:18)
Come on baby, do you think it's good to feel,
Like I'm lying here swimming in memories
I fear god because everything dies babe,
Got a gun in the back of my car,
A spasm of good sense is making my eye twitch
I've had enough of all your consolation
I'm drowning caught in a shit tide,
Tape my face to the inside of love,
Nothing to eat but fingers in the backseat,
Well i've met god and he had nothing to say to me,
I pray to god that you're right before my eyes,
Bath in white light with halos in your eyes,
Don't want to waste no more time,
Time's what we don't have,
Everywhere I look someone dies,
Wonder when it's my turn,
How well do you know me?
Leave an open door, what your looking for,
Babe when you come down? (come down)
I built a time machine to escape from all the pain in the back of my car,
Livings a problem because everything dies babe,
Save yourself you're not too far away
02 Saturday Superhouse (03:19)
Saturday Superhouse
I'll be sitting on the left side
You'll be sitting on the right
Dying to share our problems
Make everything alright
Then I see a darkness
You see the blinding light
Will Oldham's in the corner moaning
Can't you write your own lines
If we don't know where we belong
It'll make no difference from where we started
Look out kid cause here it comes
You're not the lucky ones
There's a dozen corpses on the left side
I swear ones smiling at me
Compliments on your confession baby
Wow you really showed me
You think you're full of conviction
Really you're just trying to survive
Tie them up then slit them out
It's good to help the boy shine
05 A Whole Child Ago (03:07)
I don't want to let you know, your hearts an attraction
but I know what you're looking for
it's me you're waiting for
you're not allowed to live anymore
and a whole child ago I would sleep all day
doing handstands in bottle bins to prove that I'm sane
and I'm not fooling around
looks like we made it
I can tell that she'd been flying
looks like we made it tonight
I'm the second devil on your right or left
with an eyeball melting out the corner of my mouth
your wings are bleeding
you're not supposed to fly anymore
and a whole child ago I would sleep all day
doing handstands in bottle bins to prove that I'm sane
I'm not fooling around
looks like we made it
I can tell that she'd been flying
I saw her in the sky
why don't you just ask her yourself?
06 The Conversation Is... (03:40)
I wander streets at night and hope to god to see your face
The fluorescent billboards sell a wonderful life that doesn't exist anymore
The conversation is
The conversation is over
What will I do if I'm wrong
Will I blame it on everyone
It's like I always do
So I'm a coward because of you
Are pills the only way to make myself complete again
They become the only way to a wonderful life with a happy ending
The conversation is
The conversation is over
What will I do if I'm wrong
Will I blame it on everyone
It's like I always do
I'm a coward because of you
I'm finding it hard to explain why I think that I'm right again
I'd love someone else to blame so I'm a coward because of you
And then you try to understand what it takes to be a man
And then you look into your hearts it defines you
What will I do if I'm wrong
Will I blame it on everyone
It's like I always do
I'm a coward because of you
I'm finding it hard to explain why I think that I'm right again
I'd love someone else to blame so I'm a coward because of you
And then you try to understand what it takes to be a man
And then you look into your hearts it defines you
The conversation is over
The conversation is over.
07 Now I'm Everyone (03:50)
Happiness is an allusion
Hold me close to see me a little more
Until my body feels your magic touch and steals my skin before it rots
My castle is a great illusion
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, its less than I've ever been
Hairy eyes are an obstruction
Help me die don't wanna rush ya
And all I need is a philosophy of noise to help me laugh and breath
My castle is a great illusion
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, its less than I've ever been
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone
Now I'm everyone, now I'm everyone, its less than I've ever been
This is the one [x38]
09 Love Has a Diameter (03:35)
You can give up if you like your heads lying down at your feet
You can call on the phone anytime you want to talk to me
If you know who you are you can always go round and see
If you don't and you're scared concentrate and grit your teeth
I'm watching the radio cause I don't compare
I'm watching the radio but it's the television looking at me
Wooooah
Wooooah
Wooooah
Wooooah
Feathers will fly if you shoot a bullet full of bubble gum
At my throat or my heart I'm protected by a humming bird
Receive only luck if you can it wouldn't be a constant mistake
Over flown but under worn so please come follow me
I'm watching the radio cause I don't compare
I'm watching the radio but it's the television looking at me
I'm watching the radio cause I don't compare
I'm watching the radio but it's the television looking, the television looking at me
Wooooah
Wooooah
Wooooah
Wooooah
(i will claw at your own feet)
Wooooah
(just because it tastes so sweet)
Wooooah
(take it out quiet star)
Wooooah
(its not like your in need)
Wooooah
I'm watching the radio cause I don't compare
I'm watching the radio but it's the television looking at me
(I will claw at your own feet)
I'm watching the radio cause I don't compare
(take it out quiet star)
I'm watching the radio but it's the television looking, the television looking at me
Wooooah
Wooooah
(television looking at me)
Wooooah
Wooooah
(television looking at me)
Wooooah
Wooooah
(television looking at me)
10 Get Fucked Stud (03:37)
Oh my distorted smile will tighten its grip
Now somebody is asking when you will disappear
You have to believe yourself to be happy now
You can't rely on someone else to be happy, happy
Get fucked stud it's time to kill
Only you see the sun set on amphetamines
All hands on the courtesy cunt
Get fucked stud I know you will burn in hell
For pretending to be the god of all men I demand of you
Pretend to burn in hell to be
The god of all well follow me
You're fucking right. I'm all at sea
My teeth are made of baby hair
The skyline is burning red so we'll all go down
Follow my head to survive cause it won't take us long to come round
The skyline is burning red so we'll all go down
Follow my head to survive cause it won't take us long to come round
Get fucked stud it's time to kill
Only you see the sunset on amphetamines
The skyline is burning red so we'll all go down
Follow my head to survive cause it won't take us long to come round
11 Folding Stars (04:15)
Take a long hard look at yourself
How did you end up here?
The blood drips like red inverted balloons
Tomorrow is a promise to no one
If you want, follow me, and I'll lead you inside
You don't have to run and hide
Eleanor! Eleanor!
I would do anything for another minute with you
'cause it's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
In a bedroom with no windows or doors
All the happy people are crying
You can't hold a gaze for a second or two
It always ends in total darkness
If you want, follow me, and I'll lead you inside
You don't have to run and hide
Eleanor! Eleanor!
I would do anything for another minute with you
'cause it's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
You would be folding stars
You can't ever understand each other, won't understand
It's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
It ends in a place with no love, only hate
And a mirror reflecting the truth
In your eyes, in your face
You can't wash it away from your cold, cold heart
Eleanor! Woah, Eleanor!
I would do anything for another minute with you
'cause it's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
You would be folding stars
You can't ever understand each other, won't understand
It's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
It's not getting easier,
It's not getting easier
I hope that you're folding stars
13 Machines (03:56)
I would dig a thousand holes to lay next to you
I would dig a thousand more if I needed to
I look around the grave
For an escape route of old routines
There doesn't seem to be any other way
Cause I've started falling apart
I'm not savouring life
I've forgotten how good it could be
To feel alive
Crazy as it sounds you won't
Feel as low as you feel right now
At least that's what I've been told by everyone
I whisper empty sounds in your ear
And hope that you won't let go
Take the pieces and build them skywards
Cause I've started falling apart
I'm not savouring life
I've forgotten how good it could be
To feel alive
I've started falling apart
I'm not savouring life
Take the pieces and build them skywards
I've forgotten how good it could be
To feel alive
Take the pieces and build them skywards
Take the pieces and build them up to the sky
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Other reviews
By GrantNicholas
"Puzzle is the 'mainstream' album par excellence for Biffy."
"Neil's performance at the microphone is excellent, truly at ease riding the sound textures created by the band."
