Puzzle
Puzzle, the fourth and newest release by Scottish rock band, Biffy Clyro, is a very dark, yet poetic compilation of songs. The album begins as if it is playing a game with the listener. The opening track, “Intro” seems to be written in a musical sort of Morse code. “Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies”, a single from the CD, has a post punk guitar sound accompanied with a choral and string arrangement. Multiple emotional, and energetic levels are available to be unpeeled through both the music and the verse.
A really cool, and mellow selection “As Dust Dances“, maintains the dark overtone of the album by starting out “there’s a man on the corner selling dozens of bones. Every type of bone except the one that I want.”, and ending with a very somber piano solo.
Two of my favorite faster songs are “A Whole Child Ago” and “Who’s Got a Match”. “A Whole Child Ago”, has that Bowling for Soup pop punk sound. The other, “Who’s Got a Match”, is just a damn good rock song due to the chorus, “I‘m a fire and I‘ll burn, burn, burn tonight!”.
Some songs just don’t quite set me on fire though, such as “Folding Stars”, a song about regret and a desire to see a woman again. I can’t quite figure out why I don’t like this song. It just seems to make me a bit crazy to the point I have to forward to the next song. “9/15ths”, a track toward the end of Puzzle could easily be substituted as the theme for almost any Roman Polanski film, with its repeated cries of “we‘re on a hellslide, help us help us“.
Biffy Clyro is a talented trio, and this album shows they are very talented, as musicians and as writers. This isn’t exactly a strong album as a whole though, but there are more than just a few cuts that are worth listening to. If you are already a Biffy Clyro fan, this may be their best CD yet.
