Make your mistakes while you can - you’re still fucking breathing

Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts

26/09/25 : Futique - Biffy Clyro

Our fourth visit with Biffy - I generally quite liked their stuff so far, so I'm expecting this to be bearable.

Yeah, it's definitely bearable. It generally conforms to their "start slow and build to a rousing chorus" formula, with just enough variety (for me) to carry the album. I like the general sound but I’m not sure I feel the need for any more than a couple of Biffy albums - where this ranks in their canon, I'm not the man to say. I do have a suspicion they could churn this stuff out in their sleep which I kinda mean as a compliment, but it feels like a very back-handed one. I do imagine they're a load of fun live though and they also got bonus points for calling a track "Dearest Amygdala" - I'm wondering what the album title means though.

We're at #1 with a new entry in the chart this week and the rest of the top five are Sabrina Carpenter, Lola Young (another new entry), The Divine Comedy (and another one) and Ed Sheeran. And those are just the first of a load of new entries we have to consider this week...

Lola Young (#3)
She's one of those shouty young lasses with a whole load of opinions and troubles, although it's a lot more interesting musically than I was expecting it to be. I'm not sure if I actually like it - but it’s certainly not aimed at me, so who cares what I think?!?

The Divine Comedy (#4)
This gave me hints of Bowie or Nick Cave - I was expecting more wryness and sly winks and nods, but it felt to be played with a straight (if somewhat earnest) bat. Maybe he doesn’t do that sort of thing any more - I quite liked it but didn’t feel I’d love it. #4 feels like a pretty good effort though and interestingly ahead of Ed, as well as being considerably more interesting than his offering.

Buckingham Nicks (#6)
Yes, it’s officially a new entry but it’s actually over 50 years old having been released in ‘73, before Lindsey and Stevie joined Fleetwood Mac. It's interesting as a historical oddity, but hardly feels like something the world was crying out for.

Nine Inch Nails (#12)
This is the soundtrack for Tron: Ares and it sounds exactly like you’d expect it to - you'll already know whether that's something you'd go for.

Joy Crookes (#13)
This is jazz-infused R&B and she's got a lovely voice. It reminded me of Raye and I quite liked it - I'd be tempted to go and see her live.

Sammy Virji (#21)
This is some old school garage/dubstep - it's not generally my sort of thing but it’s well done and it was nice to hear something a bit different.

Cardi B (#26)
She would have been expecting a higher placement than this, wouldn't she? What she shouldn’t have been expecting was for me to listen to 71 minutes of her waffling on in a screechy fashion. No thank you!

Newton Faulkner (#27)
Is he still around? I expect he's pretty pleased with #27 - I had low expectations for this but it was actually a lot more interesting than I remembered him being.

Newdad (#43)
I'd never heard of this lot, but it's shoegazey indie with a female vocalist so it's right up my street. I liked it.

Paradise Lost (#54)
And I'd never heard of this lot, but it's growly-shouty metal so most definitely not for me. But they've been going since '88 and this is their seventeenth album, so I really should have heard of them. 

Kojey Radical (#59)
This is kitchen sink hip hop with everything thrown into the mix - it's not dreadful but I’ve no idea what I’m supposed to do with it.

The weirdest re-entry this week is Sleep Token (#82) - this has spent fourteen weeks in the chart now, so it really must have something I missed when I listened to it. Last week I said that Ed would be at #2 with Sabrina at #1 and I got the order right, but forgot to allow for new entries (although I'm quite surprised they all did as well as they did up against Sabrina and Ed) - I reckon Biffy will just about hang in there, so let's go for #63. And this week's Taylor stats are none in the top forty and six in the entire chart - not long to go now before things all blow up for her again.

Wikipedia tells us that it's their tenth album (and their fourth #1) and the title is "a portmanteau of "future" and "antique", which vocalist and guitarist Simon Neil described as "an exploration of ideas, objects or relationships that exist across time"". There's no word on the critical reception but it's done well commercially in Europe, getting to #10 in Austria and Germany. 

discogs.com only has one copy for sale - a deluxe, gatefold red and black corona vinyl version for £50 which is probably a bargain if you're looking for it. As I suspect quite a few people were because they feel like they've got a pretty strong fanbase - I wouldn't go as far as to include myself in that number, but I can certainly understand the appeal (at least for a couple of albums). The album of the week for me is obviously Newdad, but I can understand that all the new entries hit the spot for those who have an interest in such things - Joy Crookes and (surprisingly) Sammy Virji are most likely of the others to get a second listen from me.

19/09/25 - Very little of interest here
03/10/25 - Far too forgettable