Biffy Clyro
Blackened Sky
Beggars Banquet
Blackened Sky is a debut album that wants to be noticed. Or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s so good that makes it seem like an attention-grabbing display. Either way, it’s a CD that compels further explorations without the full support of logic; and when it comes to music, that can only be a good thing.
As a band, Biffy Clyro have achieved an elegant synthesis of musical styles and influences, resulting in a sound both varied and progressively distinctive. At its heart, Blackened Sky is a forward-thinking rock record with strains of emo and hardcore; but there’s a detached, wistful air to proceedings that precludes any neat context. There’s no overriding ego present here, no discernable dividing line between band members – the group is tight and the songs are allowed room to breathe by their mostly-anonymous facilitators.
Blackened Sky takes sustained intensity to new heights. The record’s mellower moments don’t offer shelter from Biffy Clyro’s fierce poetry as much as they highlight the album’s extremities, in a “You’re not safe, don’t relax yet” type declaration. Digesting these tracks in one sitting will leave you exhausted and feeling vulnerable – while each piece sits alone as a finely-sculpted song, it is in succession that the true force of Biffy Clyro becomes apparent. That said, there are moments when Blackened Sky is so fragile that it aches.
Biffy Clyro: http://www.biffyclyro.com
