Search - Biffy Clyro :: Vertigo of Bliss

Bliss Indeed

D. RENFREW | 10/29/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So, you release a debut album as good as "Blackened Sky", which spawns four top quality singles, you have an insane and dedicated underground following which is growing bigger by the day and are receiving rave reviews in the press for intelligent and unpredictable grunge/emo/metal rock. What do you do next?Questions require answers, and when one of the newer songs you start playing live is called "Questions and Answers", people start expecting good answers.Well, Biffy have come up with them. Vertigo of Bliss is one of the most accomplished and varied albums I have heard for a long long time. From the thumping, shouting opening of 'Bodies In Flight' to the sudden heart-stopping climax of 'Now the Action Is On Fire', this album grabs you by the balls (or other sensitive areas) and implores you to listen. You just can't help yourself. Each track begins and you try to predict where its going to end up, usually ending up completely wrong as Biffy twist the songs this way and that with crashing riffs, furious shouting, funky melodies and fragile broken vocals. Examples - "A Day Of..." starts with heavy drums and thrashed guitars and ends up with the group singing choral harmonies, the anthemic "All the Way Down..." begins with quiet contemplation and ends with a repeated shouted catchy chorus with fantastic backing vocals - reminiscent of the old classic '57'.And what singles has this album spawned? Well theres the epic 'toys toys toys', the catchy, slightly more mainstream 'The Ideal Height', the irrepressible 'Eradicate The Doubt'("you are the summer I'll feel forever"), and the aforementioned masterpiece 'Questions and Answers'. Great songs all.However, look elsewhere for the truly magical as its the hidden gems that this album contains that make it so special. Gems like the hypnotic, breathy, dreamy surrealness of 'Diary Of Always', the magnificent closing track 'Now the Action Is On Fire', and the joyous glory of 'When The Faction's Fractioned' (just listen to the little 'huhs' and 'woos' in the background).Yes, so the album is chockfull of excellent songs, and the running order is well planned in my opinion. However, truly great albums for me always contain one song above all the others that I treasure. Can Vertigo Of Bliss score one final mark for this?Of course it can! 'Liberate the Illiterate' is one of my all-time favourite songs, from the hopeful start ("don't be sad, keep smiling"), through the building tension, to the quiet pensive moments just before the full-blooded screams and the final, glorious repition of the song's title. Wonderful."

BEST album i own

robbo | Monmouth, Wales, UK | 09/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is without doubt the best I own. When you listen to this cd you have to completely remove any expectations and any knowledge of music composition. The way every song in the album is put together is unorthadox to say the least. forget verse, chorus, verse, chorus. each song is a journey with a beggining and an end and in between anything goes. There is one set rule: it is inventive, stunning and incredibly clever. Since blackened sky the biff have really matured and bloomed into one of the most inventive and distinguishable bands around today. despite almost no publicity biffy's extremely dedicated fanbase managed to push their last single "questions and answers" into the top 40 of the national uk pop charts. Somehow biffy manage to make a previously impossible sound, a sort of gentle alt EMO Metal with compassion. A cocktail of heavy guitar sounds and carefully executed licks blended with sensitive lyrics like "boulders of hate within love decay". This band are almost perfect in my eyes. 100/100 buy it now!"