Biffy Clyro – Ellipsis

Ellipsis opens with a certainty of which that reflects their debut album The Vertigo of Bliss. The song is titled Wolves of Winter, which is in itself immediately makes me think of Game of Thrones. It is enigmatic and evocative to the ears, a jumble of sounds giving a nod to The Vertigo of Bliss yet as with Biffy it does have order. The next two songs Friends and Enemies & Animal Style take a majority of their elements from Only Revolutions (their 2009 release) Honestly I believe it’s a nice transition into the album and a wise call to draw elements from a previous hit album.

Next we mellow out for Re-arrange which to be quite frank is a soft foray, it feels too pop for Biffy and isn’t a scratch on what Machines was yet it is a nice song to chill out to. Following this is Herex which is remmenisent of Mountains (honestly I caught myself singing Mountains with Herex) however it is a Biffy style and hopefully with more plays it can stand by itself a bit more significantly. Lastly in the mellow section we have Medicine which I am suspicious is actually a follow on from Machines as it contains similar ideals with its lyrics (I shall have to listen to them consecutively a few times)

We return to the more rock element of the album again with Flammable, and I find myself thinking, Maroon 5, Hard-Fi, Killers, Kasabian, think me strange, but bare with me. All these artists have had very distinct roots, roots which have been very rapidly departed from in their follow up albums, most notably The Killers. They reached out and experimented after their first albums. With Biffy the story is very much different, their albums have always included elements from the previous.

I’m concerned that my expectations and anticipation for this album has been misplaced, did I want something fresh? Did I feel like I wanted a throwback to songs such as Machines, The Ideal Height, Mountains, Many of Horror and Captain? If I wanted the latter, the album certainly delivers. With Biffy the magic is that you never know what to expect, I learnt that from their debut album. In fact it feels bizarre to listen to Ellipsis, the first time round it feels like a complete departure from anything they’ve ever done before, with tracks appearing to be out of order. But with more sampling, it dawns that it truly is an amalgamation of their best bits. Like when an artist paints their final stroke. Alas I do hope this is not Biffys final stroke on the canvas because it feels like a build up to something greater, could this be a double release as Opposites and Similarities was? Probably not, but this is definitely a Biffy album, if youre a die hard fan, you will love it, if youre new to Biffy it will grow on you, and with any luck it will turn you onto their previous albums.

Final verdict: A lul in the middle, I feel the album tries to do too much, then again I’m just a man behind a keyboard. I tip my hat for the artistry and the balls to just take everything and blend it together to produce a distinct Biffy album to voyage new waters.