BIFFY CLYRO
PUZZLE
ROADRUNNER
WORDS BY: ABBEY BRADEN

Here is what is awesome about being Scottish-American: Rocking kilts at illegal lengths, the ability to get smashed with no hangover, a justifiably badass temper, and Trainspotting. Here is the lame stuff that I would rather not be associated with: Haggis, the chronic mispronunciation of Edinburgh, finding out that the sword dance has nothing to do with sword fighting, and Snow Patrol.

So, who exactly is Biffy Clyro, and which category will they fall into? Enter Puzzle, their first album in three years, and the final push that just might launch this threesome Stateside. As the opening symphony of "Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies" gains momentum and starts to kick you in the head repeatedly one thing becomes very clear: whoever the fuck Biffy Clyro is they've made one hell of an epic album. Arena rock is back, straight outta Glasgow and serving up power chords like no tomorrow. "Saturday Superhouse" wins as the eponymous single, but Puzzle is not only for wall-to-wall headbanging. BC has slipped something for everyone into this concoction and it is quite an ambitious ride.

"Now I'm Everyone" lays a (just as good, if not better) QotSA worthy bittersweet melody over a backbeat sure to inspire massive fist-pumping. "Love Has a Diameter" takes the elements that made The Joshua Tree so great, down to the semi-socially conscious lyrics and the glockenspiel laid over an epic "Whhhoaah oh oh ohhh" chorus. I'm thinking "Folding Stars" is gonna be the crossover mainstream hit if the CW syndicates it (hint, hint). The album begins to tap out with the eerie anthemic "9/15ths" and leaves us with "Machines". This track could easily be a Nirvana Unplugged B-side... but with a Scottish lilt which makes it, and Puzzle in its entirety, exponentially awesomer.