As a long time Biffy Clyro fan, I've recently lost faith in the ability of the trio to create music that is true 'Biffy'. I fell in love with Blackened Sky, enjoyed Vertigo of Bliss, and spent many many weeks with Infinity Land on repeat. It was only after the release of Puzzle that I began to feel that they had lost their pizzazz. I'm ashamed to say that it hasn't returned in Only Revolutions.
After leaving Beggar's Banquet, and joining Warner Bros. it seems as though 'the Biffy' have lost it. Gone are the days of spit-and-sawdust; gone are the days of chugging riffs and walls of sound. Only pop-rock remains, in such a way that people are able to listen to 'the Biffy' from all walks of life - it's not something I disdain, I just feel like they've done the whole 'maturing' thing when they really didn't need to.
Anyway, enough of my personal opinions. On a more objective level, Only Revolutions provides something of a buffer from the old Biffy and provides people with an album that they can listen to without having to think that they're going to offend anyone in the room - there are no moments where I thought "I have to turn this down/off", there are just moments where it was good-natured, radio-friendly pop-rock...it's an album of hyphens, to be quite honest.
It's a far cry from the days of Jaggy Snake and I suppose, if it had to hark back to something, it's almost an album of Justboy-esque serenity. It's on a level where parents and children alike can feel like they're listening to music, and not listening to Simon Neil bashing out chords and tearing his voicebox apart.
However, it's not what I'd call a good album by previous Biffy standards. It's on a whole different plane, so it's unfair to say that it's not good; but, it's also unfair to say that it is good because it just slots into mediocrity. Personally, I'd tell you all that if you wanted to listen to Biffy Clyro to give this album a miss and go out and buy Infinity Land - turn it up, and enjoy the 'real' Biffy from a time when they didn't seem to care what people thought, and managed to produce music of a certain calibre that is actually hard to find today*.
Overall: 6/10 - It's pop. It's alright. It's nothing major. It just slots into that "rock" category that you find on the radio - Still, if you're not into all that thrashing about and being a tit, give this a go and you might at least pass yourself off as 'rock n roll'.
Top Track: That Golden Rule
*On a semi-related note, it seems the blame rests with Simon Neil, who, as a member of Marmaduke Duke, has also toned that band down immensely from their debut (and so far best) album. Shame.
