I hate the way I conceal the weapons

Biffy Clyro: Infinity Land

Damn, Mickey Mouse is going through some dark shit.

“Glitter and Trauma” opens this affair with a pulsing industrial/techno beat, but the song doesn’t come alive until a minute has passed, when the drums kick in hard with a spidery guitar piece. This is then consumed by a firestorm of heavier guitar, which vanishes just as quick for a precise, sharp post-punk section, with the vocals. Infinity Land just cannot stand still. ‘You are the human strobe light.’ The whole thing is propelled by nervous energy without the uncoordinated messiness that most similar such undertakings tend toward. It is not math-rock, but it moves with mathematical balance.

Upon first listen, I was a bit knocked back by the emo aspects, but upon subsequent listens they more or less vanish. There are some shouty bits that feel excessive (especially “Strung to Your Ribcage” and “Only One Word Comes to Mind” and “There’s No Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake”), but mostly they work in a bit more subtlety although undeniably epic and urgent. The trading off between guitar and vocals on “My Recovery Injection” is a highlight of the album (and gets a lot of character out of the brief surfacing of their accents).

Infinity Land is a dark and unhappy album, all its energy a howl in the wasteland, frustration but not defeat. “Wave Upon Wave Upon Wave” earns its title with the powerful, climbing thrust of the guitars while the lyrics ask again and again ‘why bother?’ All this exhausting power in service of negativity can wear you out after a while, but one can’t blame them for adherence to theme and dedication.

68% => ***1/2

~ by jshopa on July 20, 2008.