Released:2004
Tracks:13
Infinity Land, the third album from Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, is certainly not to everyone’s tastes, but do I look like an ‘everyone’ to you! Heck no… Let’s take a look… Or should that be a listen?
I have a rather varied group of friends, from all corners of the world, and at some point I have tried to ween them on to Biffy Clyro, but for a lot of them, Biffy are just too… confusing, for want of a better word. While you can tell that they are a rock group from the get-go, the songs have a sort of strange structure to them, and often use off beat times, which for some people, is just too much. Well they can bugger off back to their by-the-numbers-rent-a-pop-star music, and I’ll stick to imaginative music, that does its own thing, as Biffy Clyro are an awesome band! (I’m not sure where that rant came from… Sorry..)
Anyway, there is an album I have to talk about!
Glitter and Trauma starts us off, and is certainly a track that will give you an idea of what to expect from the rest of the album, in terms of tone. It has some really varied sections in the song, and the way it changes from one to another is really nice. I think that’s a real talent that Biffy have. They never just has verse, bridge, chorus, repeat, dont forget the middle eight… They just seem to have songs with 5 different ‘parts’ and mash them together… And it works really well.
We then have ‘Strung to your Ribcage’. A short heavy blast, which shows the surprisingly good range of lead singer Simon Neil, starting with some indecipherable screaming, moving on to some nice soft vocals, and everything in between. The length of the song is just right too, as it doesn’t start to overstay its welcome.
The album as a really good pacing to it, and really, there aren’t really any dud songs that stand out as fillers. Even the shorter songs, like the aforementioned ‘Strung to your Ribcage’, ‘Got Wrong’ and ‘There’s no such man as Crasp’, which is an acapella track, is actually a very fitting departure from distorted guitars, and the minute and a half-ish break, makes a surprising difference, and introduces the last third of the album nicely.
The only real gripe I had with the album was ‘Wave Upon Wave’, which isn’t at all a bad song, but it did seem to go on for about 4 hours, I just feel they could have shaved 30 seconds, to a minute off of it. Having said that, I did rather enjoy the ending of the track, as it had the usual Biffy sudden change to an almost entirely different song. And then there is ‘There is no Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake’, which again, isn’t a bad song, it’s just the first minute or so is just screaming, which doesn’t do anything for me, after this is over though, we have a pretty good song that emerges.
Finishing with ‘Pause and Turn it Up’ a great song, slower than most of the album, but makes you sit up listen to it with some really nice guitar sounds, and again, Simon Neil’s vocal range, is really nice, combined with the Scottish accent he sings with, it just works really well. And don’t forget to wait the extra 20 minutes at the end to get a rather disturbing little poem read to you…
Skip it: There’s No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake.
Skip to: One Word Comes To Mind.
Overall:
4 out of 5
(in case anyone is wondering, I am not trying to choose albums I like, I just put my iTunes on shuffle, and talk about whatever album plays.. I just happen to have awesome taste in music!)
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