Following 2019's ambitious soundtrack
Balance, Not Symmetry
, Scotland's
Biffy Clyro
return with their ninth studio album, 2020's brightly attenuated
A Celebration of Endings
. The album again finds them working with producer
Rich Costey
, who'd previously helmed 2016's
Ellipsis
and who has worked with similarly inventive indie rock luminaries like
Muse
,
Fiona Apple
, and
Supergrass
, among others. Since their emergence as a wiry post-grunge outfit in the early 2000s,
have matured into a reliably consistent power trio known for their prog-inflected anthems that balance pop hooks with kinetically aggressive rock arrangements. It's a sound they brought to fruition on 2009's
Only Revolutions
and one which they've continued to hone. In a post-millennial streaming world of individualized tracks,
are somewhat of a throwback to the album-oriented alt rock of the '80s and '90s. Which is to say that while there are stand-out songs here, not every track is meant to play like an immediately gratifying three-minute earworm. There are those kinds of cuts here, including the propulsively galloping "Weird Leisure," with its crackling guitar leads and
Queen
-like harmonized falsetto backing vocals. Equally compelling is the rollicking "Tiny Indoor Fireworks," with its head-rush chorus about conquering obstacles, real or imagined, in which frontman
Simon Neil
sings, "I fire it up then blow it out/I build it up then tear it down/Summit the ocean, scale the lake/And I'll pray for the better days." Primarily though, on tracks like "The Champ," "End Of," and "The Pink Limit," they take a more sonically circuitous route, indulging in pummeling guitar riffage, off-kilter drum grooves, and Teutonic fuzz-tone bass bombast. There are also more languid moments as they expand their sound with orchestral flourishes, as on "Space" and the acoustic ballad "Opaque." Ultimately,
fits with
's long-standing knack for combining stadium-sized rock uplift with an undercurrent of wry post-punk thrills. ~ Matt Collar