Biffy Clyro

 

Ok so I was lucky enough to get down to the first two nights of the Q Awards gigs running up to the Q Awards themselves, and therefore had the pleasure of seeing White Lies, supported by Bombay Bicycle Club and The Drums on Monday, and Biffy Clyro, supported by The Boxer Rebellion and Frightened Rabbit on Tuesday.

Both were incredible shows, with both headliners absolutely owning the stage and mesmerizing the crowd. White Lies thumped out booming bass-driven, sombre Indie-Pop anthems against a backdrop of pulsing bright white lights, to an entranced rabbit in a headlight crowd. Note perfection, pristine and polished production, and colossal renditions of singles Farewell To The Fairground, Death and To Lose My Life made this a memorable show.

Biffy Clyro meanwhile exploded onto stage in a flurry of Celtic ferocity and facial hair with the apocalyptic That Golden Rule. Monster riffs, ethereal melodies, tight as fuck arrangements and an epic light show worthy of a sci-fi battle scene made this performance unmissable! Biffy absolutely dominated, as expected: their presence more than filling the stage; and crowd pleasers such as Whose Got A Match? and Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies deafening the ears. The Scottish Alt Rock / Power Pop trio finished with Mountains, originally a non-album single but now included on Only Revolutions (due for release 9th November), to the delight of a grateful and exhausted crowd. Epic. ‘Mon the Biff!

White Lies

Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro

 

Scottish Rock Gods Biffy Clyro are back with yet another epic, apocalyptic monster of a track, That Golden Rule, which is to be released tomorrow (Monday the 24th of August ’09), from new album Only Revolutions  (set for release October this year). Biffy fans will be pleased to know that the band are again working with Puzzle producer Garth Richardson, who played such a huge part in the album that catapulted the trio into the mainstream in 2007, but the direction will be more ‘classic Biffy’, as stated by drummer Ben Johnston in an XFM interview.

Following on from the incredibly successful and highly acclaimed ’non-album’ single Mountains from 2008 was never going to be easy – Mountains being by far their most commercially appealing effort, peaking at number 5 in the UK. However with signature Biffy, distortion-doused, whirlwind riff-driven verses, characterised by that standard Simon Neil growl, and high tempo, Punky drum lines, juxtaposed against delicate, beautiful, sparse and stripped down choruses with descending melodies, That Golden Rule holds its own. The track is essentially split into two parts – the second being a jaw-droppingly immense piece of Classical-infused instrumental Rock, with irregular, start-stop rhythms, and heavy powerchord progressions mimicked by a powerful string section blasting out intense melodic riffs.

That Golden Rule is both challenging and infectious to the modern rock fan. With stadium worthy, chant-along choruses and complicated polyrhythms it is instantly accessible and yet also undoubtedly genius in musicality – a real work of art to rival even Mountains.