WELL PLAYED, READING & LEEDS FESTIVAL

Is it just me, or is there some serious one-up-manship going on in the festival scene this year? I mean, more than usual. 

Reading/Leeds Festival yesterday made a very impressive announcement, containing the following bands;

• Biffy Clyro
• Fall Out Boy
• System Of A Down
• Bring Me The Horizon

Alongside Deftones and headliner Eminem (always quality), this is making for a very, very good bill. Getting FOB is pretty huge, BMTH should be awesome with their new album out soon, SOAD is well, SOAD and Biffy...well, this is going to be their year. 

Your move, Download. Which one of you will take my money?

ALBUM REVIEW; OPPOSITES by Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro
Opposites
9/10

Mon the Biff! A magnificent collection of distinctive stadium rock anthems. 

The first thing that's worth mentioning is that this album took the number 1 spot in the UK Album Chart for it's first week (week ending February 3rd), and is also the fastest-selling album this year so far. And boy does it more than deserve that. Opposites, the 6th studio effort by the Scots trio, is lyrically intricate, rocky, tender, beautiful, downright odd and overall, glorious. n.b. Biffy released 2 versions of the album, a 14-track single album, and a 20-track double album (the full version) - this review covers the double.

Over time, Biffy have been developing the kind of sound that suits festival headline spots and stadiums down to a T, and Opposites is very much the pinnacle of this progression. There are some truly huge anthems to be had across both discs, such as single Black Chandelier, Biblical and Stingin' Belle, that are custom-made to get huge crowds deafeningly chanting the choruses or jumping within the first 3 notes of a riff. The latter of those 3 is particularly rousing, breaking into a ludicrously uplifting score of what else but bagpipes at its close. As if you ever wondered where they were from. But the use of bagpipes only breaks the surface of how far Biffy push their own boundaries in terms of sound.

Never ones to be pigeonholed, there is such a huge variety of alternative styles within Opposites, one of the things that sets Biffy apart. The Fog, for example, employs a spooky, almost baroque organ sound with electronic undertones, with a stunning dark crescendo at the end that will send shivers down you; Sounds Like Balloons, underlined by a quirky, stuttering riff, sees harps creep in; and one of the highlights of both albums, Spanish Radio, actually uses a mariachi band in conjunction with the guitars and drums. Mad and brilliant. 

The Sand At The Core Of Our Bones (disc 1) and The Land At The End Of Our Toes (disc 2) are very different in style; The Sand... takes on a much darker, more menacing tone than the uplifting sense behind The Land... - indeed, it's where the name Opposites comes from, with each disc acting as the antithesis of the other. But, together, it's brilliant. Rather than feeling too long, it's perfectly balanced, and at its' core, it's pure Biffy - off-beat riffs, oft-nonsensical yet beautifully flowing and clever lyricism, and personally deep to each band member but with a grand sound that brings them to the high point they were destined for. An amazing record. 

COMING THIS WEEK ON theNOISE

UPDATE: Link to Opposites now added. Check the photo caption. 

Okay, so, a few reviews coming your way over the next few days;

• Arc by Everything Everything
• Opposites by Biffy Clyro
• Conduit by Funeral For A Friend
• Bored Of Idiot Chatter by self-proclaimed 'mellow-rock' man Stuart Newman
• Potentially some other albums that I would have considered for the 2012 awards season but never got round to doing in full. Depends how long these others take.

I happened to notice that both Biffy and FFAF's albums are up on Amazon's MP3 site for £4.99. Bargain if you ask me, considering that Opposites is a double album and all. Or, you can listen to them on Deezer;

Conduit

Opposites 

AWESOME THINGS COMING IN 2013

There will be many awesome things in 2013, the majority of which are yet to be announced, but here's a comprehensive* list of the things we do know are going to happen.

New albums from;

• Paramore; Paramore (April 9th)
• Killswitch Engage; ? (April)
• Queens Of The Stone Age; ? (shrugs)
• Biffy Clyro; Opposites (January 28th)
• Bring Me The Horizon; Sempiternal (early 2013 but unknown)
• Animals As Leaders; ? (shrugs)
• Everything Everything; Arc (January 14th)
• 30 Seconds To Mars; ? (unknown but expected by summer)

Download Festival

Muse's Summer Stadium tour

Fall Out Boy reunion**

Mastodon are set to enter the studio to record the follow-up to 2011's The Hunter, but don't expect anything soon - expect another year's tour before we see a new album.

I'll add things as I come across them, but these are the main things I'm looking forward to. Of course, there are/will be tours attached to all the above new album releases, so fingers crossed for UK dates from the foreign bands.

* I'm lying. Comment below if there are any glaring omissions and I will gladly un-omit them, which is to say, add them to the list.
** I'm lying again, although I had a strange dream where it happened but I was Pete Wentz.

TOP 10 TRACKS OF 2012

Let there be no ado about this - a brief countdown of my top 10 songs from this year, more or less rated on how addicted to them I got. Set? Let's dive in.

10. Muse; UNSUSTAINABLE

The first we heard from The 2nd Law, containing (in my opinion) one of the best bits of music Muse have ever written (in the middle section), and all told a breathtaking live intro.

9. The Chariot; FIRST

The highlight of my 10/10 rated album from the mental metalcore pioneers. Metal x spaghetti western is all I'll say. Genius.

 

8. Rolo Tomassi; OLD MYSTICS

Full to the brim of shredtacular riffs and general brilliance.

 

 7. Parkway Drive; DARK DAYS

Brooding from the start, a killer riff, some brutal breakdowns and powerful vocals, it's PWD at their best.

 

6. Biffy Clyro; STINGIN' BELLE

A joyously triumphant song, and that's before the bagpipes come in. It's just awesome.

 

5. While She Sleeps; SEVEN HILLS

Everything that makes WSS good - heavy power with melody, emotion and an anthemic chorus.

 

4. Enter Shikari; GANDHI MATE, GANDHI

An absolute gem that continues to set ES apart. Dubsteppy beats, hardcore breakdowns and a classic Rou rant.

 

3. Marmozets; GOOD DAYS

I'd have settled for a song's worth of the opening sexalicious bass hook, but no, everything's awesome too. Way to keep getting better, guys.

 

2. Baroness; EULA

Lyrically clever, beautifully complex; an outstanding song.

 

1. Muse; SURVIVAL

A rousing, intentionally ridiculous but brilliant piece of Olympic bombasticness.

 

So, something Marmozets didn't win? I am still in possession of most of my marbles. Butt I just loved Survival so much, it was over-the-top, inspiring, but at the same time almost a pastiche of itself. The perfect Olympic theme, and a microcosm of why Muse are modern prog rock/the natural successors to the mighty Queen.

 

 

ALBUMS, ALBUMS EVERYWAH

So, today saw an announcement from le mighty Deftones regarding...a new album, due out November 12! Excitement abounds, because I LOVE Deftones. The name's a bit of a, well, 'wtf?' moment;

Koi No Yokan

Maybe they've been to the Coldplay School Of Album Naming? But that is where I end my comparisons with them...my hatred of Coldplay is quite vehement and I don't want to tar Deftones with the same brush. 

But the point of this is to highlight an ever-growing list of albums that I'm ridiculously excited for that are due out before the end of 2012. And the nominees are:

1. Gallows - 'Gallows'
2. Muse - 'The 2nd Law'
3. Biffy Clyro - 'Opposites'
4. Rolo Tomassi - 'Astraea'
5. The Killers - 'Battle Born'
6. Coheed & Cambria - 'The Afterman: Ascension'
7. Neurosis - 'Honor Found In Decay'
8. The alleged new Queens Of The Stone Age album, which may or may not be released this year...
9. And I'm sure, even more to be found as I get into more bands. I'm going to need a bigger iPod...

BIFFY, Y U SO MYSTERIOUS?

They're recording a new album, we know that much. But there's so much cloak and dagger...

First this;

I mean, what? There's six strings, but what's with the space between them? It looks cool as though. 

Secondly, there's a mysterious video bereft of any coherence. Just sound and flashing images, kinda like some sort of dubstep orgasm. No, I don't know either. It's on their official site and I can't embed it here. Interestingly, they're doing a 24 hour live stream from the studio next week sometime, which should be good to watch. I'm up for spending all of said 24 hours in front of my computer screen (since I bought GTA: Vice City, it's all I've really been doing anyway, albeit in front of a TV)...


Lastly, you lucky people in and around Swindon will be able to go see them before they headline Download's Saturday night - the 8th of June at the Oasis Centre. I'm tempted, I'll be honest. Don't know about tickets yet though. 


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