Biffy Clyro: Ranking The Albums
Mon The Biff! Eccentric, endlessly inventive, fearless, passionate, and usually shirtless, Biffy Clyro rule. We take a deep dive into each of their stellar albums, including a couple of b-sides collections and a live album, ranking them in order of greatness and recommending key tracks. Whether you’re an old-school fan or prefer their more mainstream material, there’s a lot to discover here. Be sure to save this Spotify playlist and leave a comment below!
‘Ellipsis’ is a curious one. It is a solid listen all the way through, and its raw, back-to-basics approach was somewhat refreshing following the extravagent concept of double album ‘Opposites’.
However, it leaves a lingering sense of being incomplete; and for each of its highlights there was another Biffy Clyro song that had already been done better.
‘Howl’, for example, evokes ‘Pocket’ but with less of its charm. ‘Medicine’ feels like a less inspired ‘God and Satan’. ‘On a Bang’ brings the energy, but sounds as if the band are frustrated with themselves when they yell “Why can’t you f**king do better” in the chorus, having made more effortless versions of this song in “Booooom, Blast & Ruin”, “Saturday Superhouse” and “Modern Magic Formula”.
Released while Game of Thrones was at its peak on our TV screens, ‘Wolves of Winter’ was the perfect lead single, and it remains an absolute banger; and ‘Small Wishes’ has a quirkiness (complete with a whistling solo, no less) that remains a joy to hear.
So, there are some great moments - they just don’t leave as much of an impression as all the hype would have you believe.
Extra points would have been given if the label had been bold enough to include ‘In the Name of the Wee Man’ in the tracklisting, rather than relegating it to a b-side. ‘Ellipsis’ feels like something of an identify crisis.
Standout tracks: ‘Wolves of Winter’, ‘Howl’, ‘Small Wishes’
The MTV Unplugged series was the true barometer of ‘icon’ status in the 90s. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam… If a band was cool enough to have the MTV stamp of approval, they had REALLY made it.
For a band like Biffy to receive this accolade, this was a significant moment.
The problem is that this was over 20 years too late, and MTV meant next to nothing in 2018…so the opportunity for this album to be a genre-defining moment didn’t quite happen - especially outside of the UK.
It’s a shame, because this is a strong collection of acoustic songs, recorded in a beautiful setting including a tree in the centre of the stage.
Simon sounds magnificent and is the star here. In fact, this record is more of a vehicle for him as a solo artist, rather that for Biffy as a band, given how the instrumentals strip out some of the wonky time signatures (‘Mountains’) in favour of a smooth, strings-enhanced sound.
Definitely worth your time, but not essential.
Standout tracks: ‘Many of Horror’, ‘God Only Knows’, ‘Drop It’
For any old-school Biffy Clyro fans who dismiss everything they have released from ‘Puzzle’ onwards, or accuse them of ‘selling out’ with ‘Only Revolutions’, they should really listen to ‘Lonely Revolutions’. There are some tracks here that could easily have fitted on the first 3 records, such as ‘Prey Hey’, ‘Eye Lids’ and ‘Toottoottoot’.
‘Lonely Revolutions’ is a compilation of 18 tracks recorded during the ‘Only Revolutions’ sessions which didn’t make the main album. Like ‘Similarities’ (the b-sides album that came out after ‘Opposites’), this record shows how astoundingly prolific Biffy Clyro are in the studio. It also gives a fascinating insight into their creative process - for example, the echoes of ‘The Captain’ that creep into the end of ‘Paperfriend’ and the intentionally alternative ‘Help Me Be Captain’.
Where ‘Similarities’ was a collection of unused tracks that were almost all strong enough to be A-sides, ‘Lonely Revolutions’ does have some moments where the quality dips, such as the fast-but-forgettable ‘Street Love’ and the lacklustre ‘Hawkwind’ - and, at 18 tracks, ‘Lonely Revolutions’ is hard to digest in one sitting. But overall, it is a triumph that contains some gems which combine the abrasiveness and quirkiness of ‘Infinity Land’ and ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’ (albeit without the screams) with the melodic accessibility of ‘Puzzle’ and ‘Only Revolutions’.
Standout Tracks: ‘Paperfriend’, ‘Prey Hey’, ‘10 Bodies’
Biffy Clyro were largely unknown at the time of recording their debut album, save for a small but fiercely passionate fanbase who had experienced their intense live show in support of their initial EP. As such, a few people were curious to hear what they would create, but the pressure was largely off.
To put things into context, British rock music was in something of a post-Britpop wasteland in the early 2000s. RnB and Rap were the order of the day in the UK, and rock fans were largely obsessed with Nu Metal and Punk Rock from the USA. Homegrown rock garnered very little attention.
Slowly, a few bands started to emerge. Hell Is For Heroes, Hundred Reasons, Reuben and Biffy Clyro were leading the charge, building on the mid-level successes of Ash, Idlewild and Feeder, and adding a more abrasive element influence by US Hardcore, Emo and Screamo.
Blackened Sky contains some fantastic tracks, including ‘Justboy’, ‘57’ and ‘Christopher’s River’. The quirkiness they would develop further on later records was hinted at in ‘Kill The Old, Torture Their Young’ and ‘Convex Concave’. As an album, it becomes somewhat one-dimensional over its 49-minute running time, especially with the guitar-bass-drums setup on which they would eventually expand; but as a debut it is impressively accomplished.
Standout tracks: ‘Joy. Discovery. Invention’, ‘57’
The fun thing about soundtrack albums is that they give bands a new kind of creative outlet. Ideas that might be left on the cutting room floor for the ‘normal’ albums tend to stick around for soundtracks, especially in the service of creating a mood that will fit the film.
And so to ‘Balance, Not Symmetry’, the soundtrack to a low-budget indie movie.
As an album, it doesn’t really flow too well, and it is unlikely that many people will have listened to it from front to back multiple times. But some of the individual songs are fantastic, and the range of musical ideas on display is nothing short of breathtaking. Multi-layered vocals, unconventional song structures, instrumentals - it is a challenging but breezy and rewarding listen.
‘All Singing and All Dancing’ would have fitted well on Muse’s ‘The Resistance’. ‘Different Kind of Love’, which had already made an appearance on the previous year’s MTV Unplugged album, is a sublime folk ballad. And ‘Tunnels and Trees’ is gloriously weird, with a middle section where you can imagine the band stopping half way through and wondering ‘What’s the strangest thing we can do in this bit?’.
Biffy Clyro have tended not to embrace the piano on their ‘proper’ studio albums. It makes it more poignant, therefore, to hear the sumptuous melodies of ‘Adored’ on plaintive piano chords, and the jazz-inflected piano runs in the verses of ‘Following Master’.
An offbeat curiosity.
Standout tracks: ‘Different Kind of Love’, ‘Tunnels and Trees’, ‘The Naturals’
Biffy Clyro’s masterful 2020 record ‘A Celebration of Endings’ was released in the strangest of situations, with no real opportunity to promote it other than by recording a live stream (which you can watch here).
The world was in shutdown. Everyone was frustrated. Unable to tour, Simon, Ben and James did what felt right to them, and they retreated to the Scottish highlands to make another record, all by themselves without the glamour of going to America like they had for ‘Opposites’. As is captured beautifully in the film ‘Cultural Sons of Scotland’, they rediscovered their love for making music, hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.
It certainly shows. For the first time since ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’, you can really hear the fun the boys had in the studio. There is a freedom in the experimentation of the synths of ‘Separate Missions’, for example; and ‘Witch’s Cup’ is dynamic, fun and joyous.
Sometimes the experimentation comes at the expense of a memorable tune (‘Haru Urara’ and ‘Existed’, for example), which is why ‘The Myth of the Happily Ever After’ doesn’t rank higher. But, if you want pure, unbridled Biffy Clyro, making the best of a challenging situation, this is a fantastic record.
Standout tracks: ‘The Hunger in Your Haunt’, ‘Slurpy Slurpy Sleep Sleep’, ‘Unknown Male 01’
It is hard to listen to ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’ without imagining being in the garage with Simon, Ben and James, laughing along with their banter, smelling their farts and being constantly in awe of their neer-limitless creativity.
Biffy Clyro wasted no time in getting straight back into the studio to record the follow-up to 2002’s ‘Blackened Sky’. Their debut contained some fantastic songs that helped them to build up an impressive live show; but the audience remained small and they were a long way from mainstream success at this point.
‘The Vertigo of Bliss’ doubles down on Biffy’s idiosyncrasies, focusing on the weirder parts of their sound. As a result, the lead single ‘The Ideal Height’ was a fragmented, stop-start feast of quirkiness. ‘With Aplomb’ successfully integrates strings and distorted bass into what could otherwise be a tradiitonal Scottish folk song. ‘Diary of Always’ uses looped, layered vocals to beautiful effect. And ‘Toys Toys Toys Choke Toys Toys Toys’ is fantastic.
Best of all is ‘Questions and Answers’ which builds to an epic conclusion and hints at Biffy Clyro’s potential to become future festival headliners.
Standout tracks: ‘The Ideal Height’, ‘All The Way Down’, ‘Questions and Answers’
Biffy Clyro have always been a prolific band, but their most productive period - for both quantity and quality - was arguably 2012-2013. Trecking over to Los Angeles to record the magnificent ‘Opposites’ with producer GGGarth, not only did Simon, Ben and James create a double album, but they also had enough tracks left over to make ‘Similarities’, a separate b-sides album with a whopping 16 songs.
For most bands, songs like ‘Thundermonster’, ‘A Tragic World Record’, ‘Fingers and Toes’, ‘No I’m Not Down’ and ‘A Lonely Crowd’ would have been lead singles - but Biffy Clyro’s output is of such high quality that these tunes were kept as lowly b-sides. You can literally take any song on ‘Similarities’ and hear inventive melodies, quirky time signatures (used masterfully on ‘Fingerhunt’), top-notch production and an abundance of creative lyrics (“This is between me and god”, “I had to tame my savage tongue”, “You can’t escape the truth - it’s dangerous”, “Your body’s just like mine - crippled in all the right places”).
A couple of the songs (namely, ‘Sorry and Thanks’ and ‘Wooden Souvenir’) are forgettable; and, overall ‘Similarities’ is noticeably more of a compilation and therefore doesn’t have the same whole-album flow as ‘Puzzle’ or other Biffy records (in particular, slow-burner ‘The Rain’ is a curious choice for an opener). But it is still superb, and contains numerous gems that aren’t purely for Biffy Clyro completists.
Standout Tracks: ‘In a Lonely Crowd’, ‘Milky’, ‘Fingerhut’
A lot of earlier Biffy fans have a tendency to split their career into ‘the first 3 albums’ and ‘everything after Puzzle’.
These over-simplifications don’t really hold up, especially as Biffy have generally retained their earlier quirkiness throughout all their releases. They may have polished some of the edges, reduced the screaming and learned how to write music for stadiums, but the signs of mainstream appeal were always there in the first 3 records.
‘Infinity Land’ remains a fascinating listen, because it is possibly Biffy’s weirdest and most eccentric album, while still presenting some of the massive melodies they would become increasingly known for (particularly in ‘Wave Upon Wave’ and ‘My Recovery Injection’).
‘Glitter and Trauma’ kicks things off with an electronic, dance-y beat reminiscent of The Chemical Brothers, before exploding into life with massive guitars and an epic chorus. 20 years on, ‘Glitter and Trauma’ remains a high point in the setlist.
Fan favourite ‘There’s No Such Thing as Jaggy Snake’ is Biffy at their most obnoxious (especially after the disorienting, a-capella ‘There’s No Such Thing as Crasp’); and ‘Strung to Your Ribcage’ is a wild, screaming ride.
Standout tracks: ‘There’s No Such Thing As Jaggy Snake’, ‘Wave Upon Wave’, ‘Glitter and Trauma’
Where else was there to go for Biffy Clyro, after the huge success of ‘Only Revolutions’, mastering the double album with ‘Opposites’, headlining festivals with ‘Ellipsis’, and even being featured in MTV’s iconic ‘Unplugged’ series?
The answer seems to have been to try to produce the best Biffy Clyro record ever, combining all elements of their history. Massive choruses (‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’), dangerous punky heaviness (‘End of’), apocalyptic endings (‘Cop Syrup’), stadium rock (‘North of No South’) and grin-inducing Scottish humour (‘The Champ’). Largely, it works extremely well. Like ‘Ellipsis’, it is less polished than their most popular albums, but it still sounds huge.
The standout is arguably ‘Instant History’, a synth-led anthem which bounces from staccato, dance-y verses to half-time choruses that could floor any arena. If there is any criticism of ‘A Celebration of Endings’, it is that Biffy Clyro could have explored the synth-pop sound more, because they do it so well.
It was just a shame that this record came out during Covid, meaning they weren’t able to tour it properly. It did, however, lead them to produce a highly inventive live stream of them playing the album in full, across multiple stages - you can see it here.
Standout tracks: ‘Space’, ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Instant History’
Double albums often suffer from a lack of cohesion, or a drop in quality over two discs. ‘Opposites’ is a rare exception, where the quality remains high throughout.
In fact, this period of time was incredibily fruitful for Biffy Clyro, because not only did they release this double album, but the companion b-sides album ‘Similarities’ followed soon after and was stuffed full of tracks that could have easily made it onto the ‘Opposites’ tracklisting themselves.
Broadly, disc 1 is darker and more downbeat (lyrically, at least), while disc 2 has a more optimistic and playful tone overall. But that is where the ‘concept’ part of the record ends - because otherwise it is a relatively simple (for Biffy, at least) collection of solid, high-quality rock songs, as a logical extension of ‘Only Revolutions’. The production is impeccable, and almost every song here could be a hit single.
Most double albums can become a bit of a slog towards the end, but ‘Opposites’ is a rare exception. There is a enough intrigue and variation, including the uncomfortable synth-based conclusion to ‘The Thaw’, the bagpipes in ‘Stingin’ Bell’ and the mariachi flavours of ‘Spanish Radio’, to keep things interesting from start to finish. Invigorating, emotional anf life-affirming, ‘Opposites’ is Biffy Clyro at the biggest and boldest.
Standout tracks: ‘Victory Over The Sun’, ‘Picture a Knife Fight’, ‘Black Chandelier’
It started with ‘Mountains’, released initially as a standalone single, long before ‘Only Revolutions’ was announced.
Biffy had taken huge strides forward with ‘Puzzle’ and were starting to attract a lot of radio play, so ‘Mountains’ was the perfect next step. It was the perfect Biffy song - a huge chorus, triumphant yet cryptic lyrics, and just enough weirdness in the verses (try to keep up with the time signature) to keep the purists happy.
This was just the beginning. When ‘Only Revoutions’ came along, it turned Biffy’s pop sensibilities up to 11, with the major key bounce of ‘The Captain’, gorgeous ballads (‘God and Satan’ and the future X-Factor hit ‘Many of Horror’), epic singalongs (‘Bubbles’ and ‘Whorses’) and earworms galore (‘Born on a Horse’ and ‘Boooom Blast & Ruin’).
For many, this was the album where Biffy crossed the line into ‘sell-out’ territory; but, in actual fact, this might just be the best introduction to the band.
‘Puzzle’ may eclipse it for emotional heft, but ‘Only Revolutions’ remains one of the greatest British albums of the last 20 years.
Soundout tracks: ‘That Golden Rule’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Whorses’
Before it was released, we could tell there was going to be something special about ‘Puzzle’.
Biffy Clyro had flirted with enormous melodies on their first 3 albums, but had always been a little too weird for mainstream attention. Some bands start to fade when they reach their 4th album (we’re looking at you, Hundred Reasons), but Biffy were getting higher and higher on the bill at festivals by 2005/6, and had been talking a lot about taking a big leap forward for their upcoming record, which was produced by the absolute beast GGGarth (Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mudvayne).
‘Puzzle’ is a masterclass in drama (‘Living is a Problem…’, ‘9/15ths’), tearjerkers (‘Folding Stars’, ‘Machines’) and HUGE riffs (‘Who’s Got a Match’, ‘Saturday Superhouse’, ‘Semi-Mental’).
There is so much depth and heart to this record, with relatively understated tracks such as ‘As Dust Dances’ and ‘Love Has a Diameter’ becoming more compelling with every listen. Endlessly entertaining, emotional and daring, ‘Puzzle’ is arguably the UK’s answer to ‘Nevermind’.
Absolutely magnificent. Mon the Biff.
Standout tracks: ‘The Conversation Is…’, ‘Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies’, ‘As Dust Dances’.
