What is all the fuss about then?On the front of this album is a sticker which proclaims 'this band will change your life'. Hmmmm. Not really though will they. Not in a Stones, Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix, Stone Roses, Smiths, Oasis kind of way. Typical Radio 1/NME hyperbole. This band is average at best. I wanted to like it but couldn't bring myself to. Now, I'm a sucker for long hair and beards on any rock band, that coupled with all the hype and the fact that I had some spare HMV vouchers to burn I thought I'd give this a try. I put the cd in with great expectation. The first song started up, with it's sudden bursts of guitar seemingly out of no where, I actually thought the cd was skipping because it seemed to go on forever. Not a good start. I excused that first faux pas and moved swiftly on, only to find that I had stumbled across a hard rock band, no make that an indie band trying hard to be a decent hard rock band. They didn't actually pull of either hard rock or indie particularly well to be honest. They in fact sounded more like one of those terrible american 'rock' bands albeit with a bit of prog chucked in. Classic rock it isn't. In fact it reminded me a bit of the more whiney moments of Queens of the Stone Age.
The long and short of my story is this. Despite what average talent the NME or Radio 1 say are good, is usually the opposite. The acts that Radio 1 can't play because of their rigid playlists are usually excellent and deserve a listen. THIS BAND WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Well certainly not for the better anyway. If you choose most of your music based on what people like Edith Bowman think is good, then go out and buy this, you'll love it!
If it were any other band..After watching them at Reading 08 after seeing them back in 05 I thought it necessary to do this;
Puzzle is not an excruiatingly bad album as lots of these reviews are trying to make out. It is just very standard and thats not what Biffy fans expect..if this were an album by any other band I would not have minded but its the band who brought us Some Kind of Wizard, Bodies in Flight and The Go Slow etc. Puzzle just seems like it has very little effort put into it and has just been commercialized. The only track I could honestly say I like was Semi-mental which was a reject from the Infinity Land album.. If you want my advice buy Infinity land, Vertigo and Blackened Sky (also download '98 cathouse gig, not that I condone illegal activities)
Back to Reading...
Apart from there encore, all the songs they played were off puzzle and I just felt disappointment.. until 57 started up and everyone around me looked puzzle-d (pun intended). It seems that Biffy have unlocked a new bunch of followers, the pop chart single buyers (the type of people who were at reading to see Lethal Bizzle).. Hopefully now they have had a top 10 hit as well they have the money to live comfortably and go back to the "old" stuff.. and lets pray in December of this year they have a better set-list!
stop giving this album bad reviewsthis is a brilliant album i hate when people keep going on about its not old biffy they still have there obscure brilliance please stop it becuase you are being to critical this album is AMAZING!!!!
MON THE BIFFY!!!An awesome album best album of the last year by far. My friend got me into Biffy a while back so was listening to the back catalogue for a few months before this album came out. "Living Is A Problem..." is an awesome opening track with the strings and the choir lifting the track to the next level after that we're off and flying. "Saturday Superhouse" and "Who's Got A Match" all fly by at break neck speed before the tempo is slowed is ever so slightly by "As Dust Dances". "A Whole Child Ago" harks back to early Biffy Clyro efforts before firing through "The Conversation Is" and "Now I'm Everyone" leading onto the singles "Semi-Mental" and the emotionally charged "Folding Stars" then then finishing on "Machines" with the lyrics "take the pieces and build them skyward" meaning that the album as a whole finishes on a positive note. Overall this album isn't as hard as The Vertigo Of Bliss for example, but provides those who want to get into Biffy Clyro an instant access point before discovering the delights of their earlier work.
Class CDThe cd has a couple of singles on which are really well known. The music is extremely easy to listen to and enjoyable.
Hide Reviews
Searching... Please Wait 
Shopping Blog
DVDs
Music
Books
Games
Mall
