Biffy Clyro
(Warner Bros.)
"I talk to God as much as I talk to Satan/Because I want to hear both sides," singer-guitarist Simon Neil announces on Biffy Clyro's fifth album, Only Revolutions. Yet the Scottish trio's punk-goes-pomp sound no longer has two sides. Musically, this set is nearly all pomp, with chest-pounding lyrics and high-altitude emoting to match. The first British hit from the album is titled -- what else? -- "Mountains."
Biffy Clyro constructs from-the-hilltops rock skillfully, with thundering riffs and huge choruses that would sound good -- probably better -- when sung by thousands of voices. And the album's sweeping, violin-boosted peaks were presaged by similar moments on the band's previous album, 2007's "Puzzle." But that set also had plenty of spry, lean passages. This time, stripped-down rockers like "Cloud of Stink" and the techno-touched "Booom, Blast & Ruin" are rarities, and slinky rhythms have yielded to straight bashing.
The group's attempts to plant some flowers of evil amid the arena-rock crescendos can be giggle-inducing: "Born on a Horse" muses that "I've never had a lover/Who's my sister or my brother before." Neither God nor Satan probably wants to take credit for lines like that.
Standout Tracks: "Booom, Blast & Ruin," "Cloud of Stink" MARK JENKINS
