Customer Reviews

Puzzle (Bonus Dvd) (Hk)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many bands these days seem to get hyped up on there first album, only to get slaughtered by the press on their second and then forgotten about by their third effort. Biffy on the other hand, have gradually floated to the surface, building up a hardcore contingent of fans along the way. `Puzzle' looks set to propel the band into the mainstream.

Puzzle is the 4th album to come from Biffy's locker. I came across them due to my brother being obsessed with them from day one. I really liked Blackened Sky and went to see them a number of times. When `Question and Answers' and `Infinity Land' came along I didn't appreciate them at the time because I felt they were just trying to over-complicate things for the sake of it. Over the last year though, I have listened to these albums more and now find them refreshingly different from what was out at the time. This made me wait for Puzzle with great anticipation...

With Puzzle it is like they have completed the full circle from when they began, and then stepped it up a gear. To break this down; with their first album it was the accessible indie/rock songs such as `27', `57' with some signs of prog in `Convex concave', which showed hints of their potential early on. The second album saw them exploring their guitar sounds and song structures more. While the 3rd album expanded their array of experimentation even more, through vocal harmonies, etc. Puzzles' roots clearly are from their first album, as they just wanted to go back to basics and make an album for the fun of blasting out a mixture of all out rock with acoustic masterpieces. Although the intro to `Living is a problem because everyone dies', along with numerous other points in the album, shows that they have taken bits from the two previous albums to put the `we haven't forgotten the progress we've made on the last two albums' stamp on some of the songs.

This is one of those albums you'll either love or hate, leaving no middle ground. If you do love it, it will make every other record in your collection seem inferior for a month or 6. `Puzzle' can be split into 3 large pieces; Rock, acoustic and rock ballady indie epic type songs. The main rockers are the singles; `Semi-mental' and `Saturday Superhouse', both are all out, brilliant sing along tunes. The title `Semi-mental' does not do the song justice as it is `FULLY MENTAL!'. The acoustic songs end the album with `Machines' and `drop it'. Listening to the lyrics in `Machines' its one of those ones that everyone can relate to at some time in their life. ie - not appreciating what they have and how lucky they are etc. Drop it on the other hand has got a kind of slow country feel to it; would be interesting to see if they took that sort of direction in the future. The last category is the sweeping, epic, rock ballady songs such as songs ending with /15ths and my favourite song on the album `The conversation is....' The easy comparison can be made to the Foo Fighters, but the reality is these are great songs, which definitely can be distinguished as Biffy's own.

This really is a great album and its almost as if Biffy knew when they were writing it that this would be the one that made them big with lyrics like - `looks like we made it' from `A whole child ago' and `This is the one' from `Now I'm everyone'. Its almost as if they're trying to send subliminal messages to people, to brainwash them into loving the album..................well it worked for me anyway!

You know how Oasis CD's always sound big and urgent, like something great is going to happen? There's a lot of that here, and unfortunately nothing really does. "Folding Stars" is the best example of that, big guitars and the lead up to the multi-harmony chorus . . . that just isn't there. "Dust Dances" is the slow burner type that sounds promising, but as the band gets into it they keep stretching lines out looking for something to click that doesn't quite happen, it all sounds like the lead up to the passage they were looking for and never found. "Saturday" goes against their sound, it's too fast and loud, and again never quite gets to a memorable hook.

A very frustrating CD, because I liked their sound and voices and was kind of rooting for them to really hit it. The problem is the one thing they're missing is the most difficult of all, nothing else really matters if you can write hooks. And if you can't, no amount of good noise makes up for it, because it just drains in one ear and out the other. You can learn a lot about music, but you can't learn to hit the gong, you either have it or you don't. Sorry guys.

I bought this album because Kerrang gave it Album of the Year. I was not expecting what I heard, but it was still really good. Not very heavy at all, it sounds quite a bit like Sugarcult's "Start Static", so if you enjoyed that album, pick this one up as well.

I saw the "Mountains" video on tv and liked it very much. So I bought this latest album. From the first notes on, I thought, this is a special band. And the album turned out to be great. Really love it ! And it never left the cdplayer since. This is the best album of 2007.....and maybe 2008 ?

I am a sort of a new fan of Biffy Clyro, I first heard of them when they were opening up for Queens of the Stone Age. I figured with a name like that and the fact that Queens has them opening for them, they have to be at least different. I like music that is different but yet is hard hitting and melodic. That is exactly what they are.

Their fourth effort since the mid 90's I feel that "Puzzle" is their most grown up and realized album. The experimentation is still there and the hard hitting tracks are there as well. Although it is not as heavey as previous albums there is almost, if not any, screaming at all. The melodies and the instrumentation make up for it. After listening to it a few times I think that this is definitley of my favorite albums of all time.

An orginal and very talented band I would recommend "Puzzle" or any one of their three other albums to anyone.

I'm usually not one to try something out just because the critics liked it, but when I heard the praise this album was getting, my interest was peaked. I got the album, and fell in love. As a seasoned music lover, I wondered how I had never looked into this underrated band.

I listened to the album over and over, never growing tired of it, and each time I was struck by its quality. It was very melodic, with a keen sense of harmony as well, the lyrics were interesting, and each of the band's members had impressive skill on their respective instruments. Each song was distinct and well-written, and everytime I listened to the album, I was left stunned.

I've listened to most of the band's other material since then, and there's some great stuff - truly a fantastic band - but still, this album moves me every time, and I still think it's their best-written, musically speaking.

I know some Biffy Clyro fans are miffed because it's been successful (as if that's a bad thing), or because it's attracted new fans (again, is that a bad thing?), or because it they think it sounds more mainstream (which can be contested). Of course, one of the other reviews even complained that critics liked it too much. These fans need to lighten up and look at the big picture. All good bands progress and go into new territory from time to time, and that's what Biffy Clyro's doing, and, if you ask me, they're going into exciting new directions.

Biffy Clyro absolutley know what they are doing when they write music. Interesting album, I've listened to it 5 times in a row when I got it and still not sick of it. Highly recomanded!

Biffy Clyro deserve their reputation as an underappreciated and rising force in experimental rock, and this album is consistently listenable and occasionally fascinating. But sometimes the band seems to be progressing just for the sake of progressing, and they can't quite reach the heights to which they're doggedly climbing. Granted, the band's engagingly cryptic lyrics and imposing musical chops lead to many victories on this album. (Regarding those lyrics, I wonder if anyone else has noticed the obscure Guns n' Roses quote to start off "Get F***ed Stud.") Biffy Clyro are at their best when they stick to smart mid-tempo hooks like in "A Whole Child Ago" and "The Conversation Is..."; while they add some real excitement with the sly heavy grooves of "Saturday Superhouse" and especially the punishing "Semi-Mental." Unfortunately, trouble arises when the band slows down or experiments with different styles. The classical/gothic elements of "Intro," "Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies," and "9/15ths" are more annoying than they are enlightening. The angular stoner rock of "Who's Got a Match" is a direct rip-off of Queens of the Stone Age, and "Love Has a Diameter" is highly reminiscent of mid-period Peter Gabriel. The ballads "As Dust Dances" and "Machines," while insistent and believable, could be dismissed as slightly less languid takes on Coldplay. Regardless, the progressions and explorations of Biffy Clyro are worth taking very seriously, and as soon as they shed their over-reliance on their influences and their somewhat directionless over-reaching, they'll achieve a real breakthrough. [~doomsdayer520~]

...I have been a huge biffy clyro fan for a while...Infinity Land is one of my favorite albums being both experimental and never at a point where I could wrap one genre around it...it took a while for a new album to come out (especially after the tragic death of the lead singer's mother) but there really is no excuse for this...

...the first track "Living is a problem because everyone dies" is a very good song with the use of violins and children's singing (in a ghostly way) to create an amazingly good song...unfortunately that's where the downhill slope becomes literally vertical...

...songs like "Who's got a match" and "Folding stars" are poppy even for Biffy's standards...I could cope with "Questions and Answers" and "My Recovery Injection" because the rest of the album made up for it and they weren't that awful...they're probably in the same category as "Saturday Superhouse" on this album...

...what bothers me even more is they are getting huge praise and even radio play from daytime radio which is pretty much saying to them like a tellytubby "again again again!!"...

...ok to conclude this album is nothing compared to their older albums and if you honestly believe that it is then I guess you are a better Biffy fan then me...download the one good song and hope that they will go back to their old ways...or something new and fresh...just evolve into something interesting...so until that happens this will be my last Mon the Biff...