SOUND BITES

  Absolutely massive in Europe and criminally underrated in North America. Such is the continuing narrative for Scottish genre-hopping stadium rockers Biffy Clyro, and their eighth official album (ninth if you count last year's scattershot soundtrack Balance, Not Symmetry , which most outlets are wont to do despite A Celebration of Endings being given the working title Opus 8 during production) isn't likely to change that momentum on either side of the Atlantic. If anything, the more accessible and pop-leaning tendencies that started coming more to the forefront over the past few albums have been clawed back with only a couple of exceptions. Instead, Biffy Clyro seem to have recaptured some of the adventurous, unpredictable spirit that set them apart from the legions of post-grunge/indie also-rans during their slow and steady rise. Sure, there are reminders that they've developed a knack for big hooks, most notably on lead single/red herring Instant History and current s...

Biffy Clyro deals in threes. A trio themselves, their discography leading up to Ellipsis is neatly divided into the prog-alt beginnings of their first three albums and the star-making stadium rock of the three that followed. So, perhaps by default, their seventh album marks a new beginning that would presumably set the stage for the next six to eight years of their career. The question, then, is "what Biffy era are we entering into here?" From the sounds of it, it's the glossy and modern era; Ellipsis is rife with studio trickery, from synths and vocal effects to electronic drums and children's choirs. It's a noticeably slick affair, especially when they're digging for radio gold, such as on the syrupy pop ballad Re-arrange . It's also a much more groovy, rhythm oriented record than we're used to getting from them, as evidenced by my uncontrollably tapping feet on the desert-soaked rocker Animal Style and the quasi-disco anthem Flammable . That said...

BIFFY CLYRO Victory Over The Sun From: Opposites Released: January 28 The main criticism for Biffy Clyro in recent years is their increasing reliance on radio friendly stadium rockers, but that's an overreaction on critics' part; radio friendly stadium rockers are what Biffy Clyro is good at, as evidenced by the material on double album Opposites (released as a butchered 14-track single disc in North America). Yes, it's streamlined, but the tunes are solid; besides, when you're packing European stadiums like Biffy Clyro do, you need big tunes like these.

Usually, this is the time of year when the reflections on the twelve months that were are complete and this place becomes a ghost town for at least a couple weeks because there's nothing interesting being released until April. In fact, if you noticed during my chronologically ordered nominees rollout, you'll find that only 7/50 came out in the first quarter of the year (with five of those being in March, and none in January). Maybe the labels are panicking to get their properties out there before no one cares about albums anymore, maybe my music addiction's spiraled too far out of control. Whatever the case, the first three months of 2013 are logjammed with potentially and guaranteed awesome albums alike. So, we took a look back, and will remember 2012 fondly; now let's dive into 2013 and start devouring more tasty riffs! After the jump are my 15 most anticipated releases coming in the early part of 2013: