Album of the Week #31: "The Vertigo of Bliss" by Biffy Clyro

John

Seems to be a few people interested in this, never heard this band before so I haven't a clue what this is like.

Creamy Goodness

great album, that was done on a very tight budget.

the guitar bass and drums were recorded in one day, vocals over a two week period.

the album starts with the brilliant "bodies in flight" which has nice and heavy chugging guitar sounds half way through the album is the lovely slow paced song "diary of always" which has so many layers of vocals i can even tell how many there are.

the drumming really excels on tracks like "a day of..." and the ending track "now the action is on fire!" laces biffy's sound with harsh violin sounds which biffy seem to enjoy putting unfamilar instruments on the records.

live biffy is just something that has to be witnessed if you were blindfolded at one of their gigs, and didn't know the setup of the band, you'd be very hard pushed to say they were only a three piece (their sound is that immense). tie that in along with crazy sing alongs and other shananigans ie. jumping off amp stacks (this is the reason Simon Neil is in a wheelchair for the "questions and answers" video) and straddling a giant mock up of a fender stratocaster at the gig they played in dublin for the fender's 50th anniversary of the strat.

with the release of their next album "puzzle" out at the end of may, and from what i've heard of it (you can preview tracks on their website) it's certainly a more poppier effort (which seems to come from their new label (14th floor) ) but still has that classic biffy vibe to the songs.

this surely won't be the last you hear of biffy clyro.

mr_angry

Ah, at last! I think myself and Cremo have been pushing this nomination for a long time now.

The opening "Bodies in Flight" and "The Ideal Height" can probably scare off a few people with the harsh screaming that Biffy Clyro have been known to avail of every now and again. However, if you stick with it, the album soon gives way to the amazing melodies that no other band seems to be capable of producing these days. The mid-section of the album - "Liberate the Illiterate", "Diary of Always", "Questions and Answers", "Eradicate the Doubt", "When the Factions Fractioned", "Toys Toys Toys Choke Toys Toys Toys", and "All the Way Down" - is just simply brilliant. The meandering, ever-changing melody is matched only by their determination to rock.

If you're a big fan of accoustic / folk, then this probably isn't the album for you (but its worth listening to anyway). However, for those of you that like up-tempo stuff, then this surely has to end up as one of your all-time favourite albums.

eljono

Check them out, they're a great band. I'm listening to a song from Infinity Land at the moment, There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake. Some of the song names are crazy as are some of the songs themselves with mad changes of tempo and sudden screaming in them. But they do have a highly melodic sound and after the initial shock of listening to them they can become addictive. Their first album, Blackened Sky is one of my favourite albums of the past few years. I've never seen them live though but a few of the lads have and they all say they're brilliant live.

bowsie casey

Can someone describe the music ?

Creamy Goodness

it's hard to describe biffy's sound, really hard.

check out their site www.biffyclyro.com and hear some of their newer stuff on the little ipod thingy.

bowsie casey

After checking out Biffy on Youtube, I bought Vertigo and was blown away...fantastic stuff!

What do you suggest as a follow-up for a new fan ? Infinity Land or Blackened Sky ?

Thanks, Bowsie

PS: I haven't suggested Puzzle based on plenty of negative comment on Boards.

Creamy Goodness

well depends what way you want to go, if ya want to mellower version of vertigo go for blackened sky, if you want a more weird and slightly psycotic version of vertigo go for infinity land.

i suggest picking up the other 3 albums though.

although puzzle gets a bashing it's still better than most of the ****e out there today, i mainly just don't like the way it was produced/mixed, it sounds better live.

Dudess

Start a "questions about Biffy Clyro" thread, don't drag up an old one.