Biffy Clyro: That Golden Rule

TRACK REVIEW: Biffy Clyro – That Golden Rule

Words: Gareth O’Malley

The year is 2009, and here is where we now find Biffy Clyro: After years building a loyal fanbase, two years ago, they released an album, ‘Puzzle’, that got to #2 in the UK albums chart. It was their breakthrough, and it helped them to expand their fanbase exponentially. While it was a commercial success, it was rather like Marmite with fans of the band who had loved them for their quirkiness. Say what you want about ‘Puzzle’, but it was a major shift in direction for the Scottish three-piece. It appeared that, while they’d said that they wanted to make a pop album, they had taken it too far, and lost too much of their identity, maybe even gone, whisper it, safe.

‘That Golden Rule’, the first cut from the Biff’s as-yet-unfinished fifth LP, ‘Only Revolutions’, is the sound of a band rejuvenated. It comes absolutely fucking roaring out of the speakers, with a jagged guitar riff and pounding drums. Frontman Simon Neil’s lyrics are as brilliant as ever: ‘The son of Henry, I’m the first in line / To the throne, smell my mustard gas’. Halfway through, it transforms into something like the bastard child of ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ and ‘Now The Action Is On Fire!’, off ‘Puzzle’ and 2003’s ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’, respectively, all swooping strings and crashing guitars. An adrenaline-fuelled four minutes that bodes well for the return of the Biff. ‘Only Revolutions’ will be with us quite soon; September and October have been knocked about as possible release dates. With a tour beginning at the end of the latter month, it can’t be long now. That’s good, because I can hardly fucking wait. And with good reason.

mp3: Biffy Clyro – That Golden Rule [alt]

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