Music
Plus One
The 11 best Biffy Clyro songs
Ahead of their new album Futique and an enormous 2026 arena tour, we unpick the best cuts from the Scottish trio’s sprawling back catalogue
UK festival veterans? Cult heroes? Rock legends? Whatever you want to call Biffy Clyro, the landscape of guitar music has been inherently better since Simon Neil (vocals, guitar) and the Johnston twins (bassist James and drummer Ben) played their first gig in January 1995 under the moniker Screwfish.
Ripping up any sense of convention in rock music with a knack for knee-jerk tempo changes, the trio quickly proved why Biffy Clyro had that killer instinct. Be it beefy grunge, majestic balladry or disruptive art-rock, Britain fell in love with these three lads from Kilmarnock. They’ve since headlined Download, TRNSMT and Reading & Leeds on multiple occasions, scoring three No.1s in the process.
Nearly three years on from their last extended UK tour, the Biff are back with nine arena dates across the UK and Ireland next January, in support of their forthcoming tenth record, Futique. Previewed by rosy lead single ‘A Little Love’, new material will certainly have to fight for its place in the setlist, contending with some of the following 11 songs that have defined their career.
11. ‘Many Of Horror’
(Only Revolutions, 2009)
Statistically speaking, Biffy Clyro’s biggest song is impossible to omit from this list. From the entrance of its delicate, gentle intro riff to the horsepower of its climax, this near-perfect ballad is effectively Biffy Clyro’s ‘Everlong’ or ‘Champagne Supernova’. One year after its release, a version by X Factor winner Matt Cardle reached Christmas No.1, injecting a second wind to the original version and helping seal its eternal legacy.
10. ‘Sunrise’
(Balance, Not Symmetry (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), 2019)
Perhaps their most underappreciated work is their audio companion to 2019 drama, Balance, Not Symmetry – which almost sounds like a typical Biffy Clyro album title in itself. After a skull-crushing riff breaks the jagged tension, the ensuing bittersweet melodic-rock journey acts as an epic counterforce, sealed off by its topsy-turvy bridge. In a five-minute nutshell, ‘Sunrise’ expertly bridged the gap between 2016’s Ellipsis and the direction Biffy would take on 2020’s A Celebration Of Endings.
9. ‘Joy.Discovery.Invention’
(Blackened Sky, 2002)
Crowning their debut album with its title through the lyric “Take me to your blackened sky”, there is no finer introduction to Biffy’s math-rock past than the first minute and 49 seconds of this track. When the post-hardcore sludge seamlessly takes over, perhaps this zero-to-100 approach helped pave the way for the dynamic tightrope between loud and quiet that Biffy continue to tread like no one else.
8. ‘Mountains’
(Only Revolutions, 2009)
To name a song ‘Mountains’, it has to do what it says on the tin. Bottling togetherness, love and that confidence to dive head-first into the unknown, it’s one of many ginormous songs off Only Revolutions, unexpectedly finding a home on the record after its initial standalone release. Through the black and white imagery of its music video, ‘Mountains’ brings some clarity to our cloudy lives, and a reminder that we can find that beacon of immortality in one another: “Nothing lasts forever / Except for you and me”.
7. ‘Animal Style’
(Ellipsis, 2016)
There’s always been an animalistic edge to Biffy Clyro, which they metaphorically lean into on this dark, cathartic rager from seventh album Ellipsis. Complete by an urgent, frenetic music video that takes us live and direct inside Neil’s clouded head (“My head’s a f*cking carnival”), the raw beauty of this song – more so than much of Ellipsis – is that it feels like it’s permanently hanging by a thread.
6. ‘A Hunger In Your Haunt’
(The Myth Of The Happily Ever After, 2021)
Helping introduce their sister record to 2020’s A Celebration Of Endings, the second single from The Myth Of The Happily Ever After (2021) captured the catharsis of the pandemic (“It’s been dark a while so where’s the fucking dawn?”) through an absolute battering ram of momentum. With riffage that sounds like a tiger ripping its prey apart, this song epitomises why – nine albums in – Biffy Clyro have lost none of their primal, explosive edge.
5. ‘Bubbles’
(Only Revolutions, 2009)
The bubble machines that characterised their recent performance of this song at Glastonbury might match the innocent, happy-go-lucky vibe to the start of ‘Bubbles’. But, a few Josh Homme-assisted riffs, stadium-like choruses and one earth-shaking outro later, we have one of the most expressive, magnificent songs in their history. Fundamentally instinctive but still structurally sound, this song was made to headline festivals.
4. ‘Stingin’ Belle’
(Opposites, 2013)
Initially envisaged as a double album, the second disc of Opposites begins with this high-octane juggernaut. It takes a few listens to wrap your head around the opening rhythm, which fires bullet after bullet. Then there’s bagpipes to contend with, administering a homely dose of the grandeur that Only Revolutions ignited. Unpredictable but cohesive is a combination that suits Biffy Clyro, and this is a track that crafts those layers ever so sharply.
3. ‘That Golden Rule’
(Only Revolutions, 2009)
Top and tailed with opening lyric “Son of Henry, I’m the first in line” and a harsh, theatrical string section, ‘That Golden Rule’ could fit on the Game Of Thrones score, soundtracking a battle for the ages. Indeed, Sky Sports stole its gritty, stoner rock riff (which Neil somehow plays while singing) for its Rugby League title sequence, while live strings and pyro ensure it remains an instant call to arms at their live shows. There’s few scarier sights than seeing a topless Neil hovering around that 12th fret.
2. ‘Biblical’
(Opposites, 2013)
It’s maybe a term that Liam Gallagher might have popularised in recent years, but a couple thousand people singing “You gave me magical / I gave you wonderful” is up there with some of Oasis’ finest choruses. Admittedly a soul-baring love song that was penned about his wife, Neil’s emotive vocals are otherworldly throughout, with this cut arguably eclipsing ‘Mountains’ or ‘Many Of Horror’ as their quintessential stadium-rock song. Butterflies – every time.
1. ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’
(Puzzle, 2007)
Jam-packed with existential lyricism, a choir and their most identifiable intro of all-time, the end result of this song represents the boldest challenge that Biffy ever set themselves. Grappling with dread for the future and the inevitably of mortality (“I met God and he had nothing to say to me”), it captures Neil’s songwriting at its most impulsive, leading to its delightfully restless structure. There’s a reason it hasn’t (and probably never will) budge from their setlist, because – ironically – its message never dies.
