A Celebration Of Endings (studio album) by Biffy Clyro

From grohly 12/18/2020 12:34

An improvement on Ellipsis, but not by much. Sadly, the fear I expressed in my review of Ellipsis has come to fruition. But hey, there is still some light amongst the darkness. ACOE is bookended by two songs that I really dig. North of No South is a classic later-era Biffy stadium rocker that reminds me of all the best things about Stingin’ Belle, while Cop Syrup is one of those indulgent operatic rock creations that The Who might have made if they were a band in their prime today. The closer might not work for everyone but for me it’s the ambitiously loose edge of Biffy that I wish they would just run with instead of flirting with.

Now the bad stuff. The bland little ballads are still there, which seems to be a pattern ever since Simon forced bloody Many of Horror upon us. I don’t mind the actual songs themselves because they are well made and all that, but I personally don’t get anything from them in a Biffy Clyro album. The rest is just semi-decent rock songs. Nothing particularly special about them and nothing I feel any inclination to write about. I don’t know, I feel a bit disillusioned with Biffy now. The surreal song writing and outsider perspective that I fell in love with about 10 years ago just doesn’t feel there anymore. Or maybe I’ve just outgrown the band’s material. Or maybe they’ve outgrown me? I might sound more negative than my score suggests. But I want Biffy to be aiming for 9/10s rather than 7s. It's the disappointment in an extremely talented but ultimately safe band that hurts more than anything.

1. 80
2. 90
3. 70
4. 70
5. 60
6. 90
7. 90
8. 95
9. 60
10. 90
11. 50

Taking a step back towards bolder guitar-rock with a wider variety in terms of sound, Biffy Clyro effectively proves they still have something to say within the ever-changing landscape of alternative rock. Both quirky and fully serious, the band plays around with melodies, rhythms and song structures, giving some of the songs here a more of an experimental sound. While this album marks an improvement over the previous two albums, there are not very many truly memorable songs here that would lift the album among the band's best.

Weird Leisure and End Of are fine old-school Biffy songs, while single Instant History represents the newer pop-rock writing. Interestingly though, I find the album version lacking the edge of the single version. Worst Type of Best Possible is the type of average rock tune you hear every band release these days, and it's close to many other songs on the album. Space is the kind of overly sweet, almost awkward ballad that you stumble upon now and then, but it works incredibly well. I also love the quiet beauty of Opaque.

Overall, a surprisingly solid, if somewhat safe album from the Scottish trio.