For a while, Biffy Clyro were one of Britain’s strangest – and best – guitar bands, an unruly and hirsute mob who would title songs things such as There’s No Such Thing As a Jaggy Snake, flit between time signatures on a whim and pair lovely three-part harmonies with punishing post-hardcore. In their current stadium-pleasing incarnation, though, they’re a vastly less interesting proposition. Singer Simon Neil has declared seventh album Ellipsis the first in a trilogy of “studio” albums, and verily everything here feels buffed up to a frictionless sheen. Lead single Wolves of Winter features the sort of jackhammer riffs that have been Biffy’s stock in trade since their 2002 debut, Blackened Sky, though without the crucial crackle of distortion that made them so compelling in the first place, while the syrupy Re-arrange takes an entirely unwise detour into Owl City territory. They haven’t entirely lost their spirit of mischief – Small Wishes is a likable country jangle featuring the surprising tinkle of a barroom piano – but for the most part, there’s a distinct lack of joy, discovery and invention here.
