Biffy Clyro are a band that at many points have shown musical brilliance, tracks ‘Glitter And Trauma’ and ‘My Recovery Injection’ from previous effort ‘Infinity Land’ are such examples, showing the bands unique approach to their music, best described as simple but varied. This is no criticism, it’s an approach that the band pull off well. However, it is with this approach that the band falls into a trap that other bands often do- ‘filler’ tracks. It’s not that these tracks are bad in themselves, it’s that these tracks seem weak when next to more popular, catchier songs. Though this aside ‘Puzzle’ is a pleasant surprise. 

Opening track ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ is ambitious, brilliant and also frustrating. For instance, the introduction is a 1 minute and 25 second instrumental consisting of a  punching guitar and orchestra combination, in a rather unusual timing that is perhaps too ambitious, like it’s 40 seconds to much. However to over-look this track because of its introduction would be a mistake. The operatic vocals that follow further the ambitious approach and act as the true introduction to what is in fact a brilliant track. 

Following number ‘Saturday Superhouse’ continues in, surprisingly, the same vein, unlike the old Biffy Clyro who wrote varied tracks, mentioned before, although it’s nice to see the band concentrating on one sound throughout a track. The same rock emphasis is also present later in the album in track ‘Semi-Mental’.

In tracks ‘Who’s Got A Match?’, ‘A Whole Child Ago’ and ‘Now I’m Everyone’, Biffy Clyro show a more mainstream outlook, each containing the simple focus on sing-a-long chorus’. A characteristic that has not been associated with them is now one the band has become rather synonymous with, and it’s not too long before the listener will be singing ‘I’m a fire and I’ll burn, burn tonight’. 

In ‘As Dust Dances’, ‘The Conversation Is…’, ‘Love Has A Diameter’ and ‘Folding Star’ the band show the subtle side to album, featuring a soft, ballad-like quality, but these are not typical ballads. Each one shows the true emotions on the difficult subject matter of dealing with grief (frontman Simon Neil lost his mother), best summed up in final acoustic track ‘Machines’, which acts as finale to the album. However, this is where Puzzle falls into the same old filler trap. These tracks are stuck between much more impressive ones and thus become unfairly labelled ‘filler’, such as ‘As Dust Dances’ stuck between ‘Saturday Superhouse’ and ‘Who’s Got A Match?’. 

Although this is also where Puzzle shows it true colours (and we’re talking a full Dulux colour chart here). ‘Puzzle’ is an album not limited to a single direction, best summed up in ‘Get Fucked Stud’, that manages to cross three or more directions, from rock, to ballad, to pop, and back to rock. Penultimate track ‘9/15ths’ is the most adventurous track where the album comes full circle, using similar operatic vocals and towering violins from the opening track. This is Puzzle’s crescendo, a track that sounds unlike all the tracks before it.

Puzzle’ is a full on punch in the face, it’s a showcase for what the band can achieve, experimenting with several different styles, all well executed. The band have learnt from previous efforts, taking more time over the record, and the result has made this album more accessible. Overall, it’s not without its down sides but still, brilliant.

8 out of 10

‘Puzzle’ is in stores now.

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Tags | biffy clyro, machines, puzzle, rock, saturday superhouse, scotland, semi mental