Biffy Clyro - Futique 

After over 25 years together as a band, one thing is for certain: Biffy Clyro have never been afraid to listen to their gut. Whether in the jagged, raw-edged frenzy of their earliest releases, or the epic, mainstream-bothering likes of 2009’s ‘Only Revolutions’, they’re a band who have traversed through different feels and genres effortlessly without ever seeming to second-guess themselves. So, after the strangely prophetic ‘A Celebration of Endings’ and its immediate follow-up ‘The Myth of The Happily Ever After’ (which both flirted with the more idiosyncratic side of their musical coin), and a foray into scorched metal via Simon Neil’s side project Empire State Bastard - it’s little surprise that Biffy’s tenth is an altogether more uplifting affair.

Granted, there are still moments of serious, darkly-hued reflection here (take ‘Hunting Season’’s rumination on internet culture and the cultivation of hatred, or the quiet, epic revelation of ‘Goodbye’), but on the whole, these are songs that - both lyrically and sonically - encourage us to move through the shadows in order to hold life, and our loved ones, that little bit closer. From the swirling chorus of ‘Shot One’ (and its mantra of “You only get one shot / And that’s what makes it serious”) to the piano-led lilt of closer ‘Two People In Love’, which soon gives way to a gorgeous, free falling chorus (“Two people in love / Is a world in one”), ‘Futique’ is a bold album that - much like its overarching concept of ‘future antique’ - filters through Biffy’s past, all with the aim of protecting their future.