vendredi 18 Mai 2007, 4h36m

I certainly am no musical Nostradamus, but unequivocal proof of the ominous turgidity Biffy Clyro were about to excrete upon their previously unblemished career, has finally hit the fan people. PUZZLE IS HERE.

Many appeared dubious to my dreary forecasts of Biffy's downhill journey down the slopes of Mt. Artistic Integrity (See My previous journal "Mon the Sellouts") , in face of all the evidence that seemed to suggest the band was on the virge of straddling the zeitgeist and becoming a middle-of-the-road daytime radio rock bore, a lame arse alternative to those who find Snow Patrol a little bit lacking…

However, this shift in sound toward "Britian's answer to the Foo Fighters" would not have even bothered me, had I been unknown to the fact that this was a band who had produced albums like the Vertigo of Bliss. But before the rant commence, let's get one thing straight:

Change does not necessarily warrant critical merit.

Having said that, one of the most appealing aspects of the band was their ability to change their sound with each album. Granted, it sometimes worked better than others (Infinity Land) but nonetheless, each album marked a shift for the band whilst retaining the quintessential elements that defined their identity. On those grounds alone, I can't criticise the band for their intent in making such an obvious record, so instead I will pass judgement upon the record itself. And it is OBVIOUS.

Everything from the generic, almost synthetic-like plastic (yes..plastic) production, through to the nature in which the songs have been arranged, it is all just too damn straight-forward in it's presentation. Biffy records of the past used to pose a challenge to the listener, the entirity of the record was not simply laid out before you on a silver platter. I heard some new intracacy with each repeated listen, the songs would almost DEMAND that I listen again, paying more attention each time around. As I have said on multiple occasions, the forementioned qualities all bear the hallmarks of musical substance…something to get your teeth into.

The start of the opening track seems to exemplify everything I'm talking about. The record begins with a straight one-note muted guitar riff a la Survivor (Eye of the Tiger) and for approximately the next 2 YES! TWO minutes continues to do so whilst a combination of percussion and a horrendously cheap synthetic string sounds courtesy of Logic pro produces seemingly off beat staccato hits to (presumably) build up tension. In reality, what we get is a brilliant parody of the overly dramatic scores that accompany equally serious news documentaries (anyone who has watched the brilliant Brass Eye will know what I am talking about).

Then there are the strings…oh the damn f**king strings. Remember when you first listened to Now the Action Is on Fire? Or With Aplomb? Can you recall how intense and quite simply overwhelmed it made you feel as it took on a near gargantuan form with the arrival of the string section? Yet the majority of strings dotted about across Puzzle are used to little or no effect. It's almost like the band chose to employ them since their mere presence would make your average Snow Patrol fan think that they were indeed listening to something "epic". It's almost like the dischordant ending to Saturday Superhouse..the last 3 seconds of the song was mindlessly placed there to prove to old fans that Biffy were still capable of the unexpected. It's almost like the few off-kilter time signatures lazily thrown in are only present to serve as a small reminder that the band are not quite daytime Radio 1 tripe yet..a band whose fanbase is largely comprised of indivuals who probably bought around 5 albums last year. And one of those purchases WAS Snow Patrol. This year will be different though.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this all stems from my childish tendency in refusing to share my one-time favourite band with "latecomers" and pubescent teenage girls who possess the grammatical know how of Kanye West. I'm probably being too critical; there are good songs on the album, 9/15ths is probably the most blatantly Radiohead inspired song by Biffy I have heard, and actually manages to utilise the string section and vocal choir to full effect. Get Fucked Stud is arguably the classic biffy of old, whilst Love has a Diameter, despite it's completely vacuous nature and horrendously generic production somehow got stuck in my head…in a pleasant kind of way. Actually, in a strange paradox, this record has probably been their most unconventional to date by being so damn average. Everytime I anticipated some trademark curveball in my direction, I found myself in the same place..cruising along in 3rd gear. It's almost like they were messing around with the expectancy that the audience had in wanting the songs to actually GO SOMEWHERE.

Despite all these reservations, I'm still probably going to buy the album(I did download a leak afterall, and as we all know; that's just goddamn dirty). Every band goes through bad spells and it only seems fair that I stick by them. Though the album completely washes over me like bad sex, leaving me empty and unfulfilled, and even though I'm probably going to hate talking about "how great their new video is" to strangers everytime the topic of music comes up, I'm going to hang on in there and listen to the mighty Oceansize until Biffy get their act together.