Holy Shit, Biffy Clyro!

Who?


Do you like Dave Grohl, but not the cranked-to-eleven meat-head rock of the Foo Fighters?  Wonder what it would sound like if Death Cab For Cutie traded in their "lonely guy pining for the geeky rocker chick" schtick for straight-up arena rock poses and stadium-size hooks?  Okay, that last one was kinda "out there", but it's honestly the first thing that sprang to mind when I listened to "Different People", the opening salvo on Biffy Clyro's new album, Opposites.

Biffy Clyro - Opposites

Throughout the album, there are chord progressions and phrasings that are eerily similar to Death Cab, but presented with such joyous bombast that you kinda wish Death Cab could let loose like this even just once.  Additionally, anyone who finds themselves missing Hey Mercedes will find a lot to like about this band and album.

"Black Chandelier" is the sort of song you keep yearning to hear on a Foos record, the familiar soft verse/loud chorus template that his previous and stole from the Pixies and used to gritty effect.  Muse do this very same thing quite well, but even their quieter moments are presented so urgently that you're never quite able to catch your breath.  By contrast, Biffy Clyro songs ebb and flow with a living, oceanic precision.

The album's title cut is a beautifully haunting ballad that immediately recalls Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody's vocals, but is at least twice as good as any song on that band's last couple of records.  It's sort of a "Chasing Cars" on Red Bull.

Believe me, I've got a spiffy thesaurus that's just aching for a real workout and this is just the album to unleash some stellar verbage, but I honestly believe this album will put your jaw on the floor within the first four songs.  Not just make you go "hmm", literally FLOOR YOU.

It's prog, it's modern rock, it's big, it's immediate, it's sensitive, thoughtful, and fucking tough as nails, it's soft, it's loud, it's hard, it's elegiac, it's hopeful, and it's just goddamn fun to listen to from start to finish.

It's streaming on Spotify, give it a listen.  If it doesn't blow the bright pink bows off your prize poodle, Pookie Boots, I will give you your money back, every last cent of it..

Let me leave you with one last teaser, though.  Bffy Clyro's new album is an expansive 21-song double-CD that never wavers, never faulters, and never stops massaging the heart of rock & roll.  It's smart, it rocks, it has everything you could possibly need in a rock record circa 2013.

VERDICT: This one is THE SHIT.