Biffy Clyro - Blackened Sky
Regular price $56.40Like many debut albums, Blackened Sky functions as a sort of table of contents of its creators' record collections. In the case of this promising young Scottish trio, led by singer-songwriter Simon Neil, it's a safe bet that those collections would be assembled largely of American alternative rock of the late 1980s and early '90s, with particular emphasis on Nirvana, Fugazi, and the Pixies. These influences can--and often do--result in supremely dreary records, less grunge than sludge, but Biffy Clyro are too clever to fall into the usual trap. They have an admirable knack for building songs on unorthodox time signatures without ever sounding fussy, and they're able to shift from delicately drifting melodies to full-throttle rock & roll without an audible grinding of gears. --Andrew Mueller