This is Biffy’s ninth album and possibly the most approachable: all the early roughness has gone, along with most of the pomp and theatricality of the later stuff. It’s just (just!) a classic melodic rock album; some heavy moments, but more reliance on melody.

It’s a positive and upbeat album, too, and pretty well instantly likable. There’s still plenty of riffage, but also a lot to hum along to. Perhaps they’re just playing the songs as they wrote them, without any studio finery added.
“The title is about seeing the joy in things changing, rather than the sadness,” singer Simon Neil told us via a press release.

North Of No South opens and it’s a minitour of what to expect: slick opening, big and typical Biffy riffs, melodic verses and chorus. It’s a song that makes you warm to the album.

The Champ appears to be a love song, although the line “Don’t give me that b* catchphrase ‘it was better in my day’” could be heard as a comment to people who don’t like the band’s new music. It’s a tight song and perhaps a bit Muse-y.

Space is a more gentle love song and there’s something great about it; a band that’s got song-writing down, even when moving away from their more typical sound. Opaque is another slower one.

Best song title is the melodic Tiny Indoor Fireworks, a joyous arena pleaser. Closer Cop Syrup is also good; possibly the encore song, almost screamo in places but with a profanity-laden singalong, melodic sections, a quiet bit and a huge string section for fans to get teary to as the show ends. If you like rock, you can’t really go wrong with this.