Following 2019's ambitious soundtrack
Balance, Not Symmetry, Scotland's
Biffy Clyro return with their ninth studio album, 2020's brightly attenuated
A Celebration of Endings. The album again finds them working with producer
Rich Costey, who'd previously helmed 2016's
Ellipsis and who has worked with similarly inventive indie rock luminaries like
Muse,
Fiona Apple, and
Supergrass, among others. Since their emergence as a wiry post-grunge outfit in the early 2000s,
Biffy Clyro have matured into a reliably consistent power trio known for their prog-inflected anthems that balance pop hooks with kinetically aggressive rock arrangements. It's a sound they brought to fruition on 2009's
Only Revolutions and one which they've continued to hone. In a post-millennial streaming world of individualized tracks,
Biffy Clyro are somewhat of a throwback to the album-oriented alt rock of the '80s and '90s. Which is to say that while there are stand-out songs here, not every track is meant to play like an immediately gratifying three-minute earworm. There are those kinds of cuts here, including the propulsively galloping "Weird Leisure," with its crackling guitar leads and
Queen-like harmonized falsetto backing vocals. Equally compelling is the rollicking "Tiny Indoor Fireworks," with its head-rush chorus about conquering obstacles, real or imagined, in which frontman
Simon Neil sings, "I fire it up then blow it out/I build it up then tear it down/Summit the ocean, scale the lake/And I'll pray for the better days." Primarily though, on tracks like "The Champ," "End Of," and "The Pink Limit," they take a more sonically circuitous route, indulging in pummeling guitar riffage, off-kilter drum grooves, and Teutonic fuzz-tone bass bombast. There are also more languid moments as they expand their sound with orchestral flourishes, as on "Space" and the acoustic ballad "Opaque." Ultimately,
A Celebration of Endings fits with
Biffy Clyro's long-standing knack for combining stadium-sized rock uplift with an undercurrent of wry post-punk thrills. ~ Matt Collar
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