When discussing the title of Biffy Clyro’s tenth album, Simon Neil explains ”Futique’ is an exploration of ideas, objects or relationships that exist across time – we are never aware when we do anything for the last time and there’s a beauty and sadness within that’.

Inspired by the way the always-on digital era has changed the way we cherish memories – you can find thousands of photos in a couple of taps rather than thumbing through tangible photo albums now – Simon started to look over his time with Biffy bandmates James and Ben Johnston. All the way from teenage Nirvana covers to festival headline slots and in-jokes, conversations and navigating the toughest of times with mutual, never-ending love and support.

Lead single ‘A Little Love’ opens the record in defiant fashion, Simon Neil roaring ‘We can conquer all’ in the chorus while stabbed proggy synths and Neil Young-inspired guitar hooks swirl around. It’s followed by another single, ‘Hunting Season’ – a snarling sound that finds Biffy going back to their roots in a way with stutters, shouts, stop-start moments and scuzzy bass: ‘Running out of ways to explain that this is gonna happen again’.

‘Shot One’ opens with vocoded vocals and samples, sounding like a distant cousin of previous Biffy favourite ‘DumDum’ – ‘It’s always touch and go to be something beautiful, you have to lose all control’ – while ‘True Believer’ is more restrained to start with, Simon talking about forgiving someone for the millionth time before it veers into an angular and wiry space and a change in tone: ‘Are you still so fucking, still so fucking proud?’

‘Friendshipping’ reminds us of Biffy’s old friends Sucioperro with its alt-rock riffs, effects and a healthy touch of the theatrical. This is all set against some stream-of-consciousness thoughts: ‘Friendships come and friendships go, some we miss and some we don’t’. The brilliantly titled ‘Woe is Me, Wow is You’ has a sparser, spacier sound in its into before morphing into a mathy John Barry sound as Simon sings about seeing through the cracks and people moving on, his words ‘I can see your bright light’ being responded to with chanted orders to ‘stick it out, stick it out’.

‘It’s Chemical!’ has a great use of an exclamation in its title and opens with a ‘woo’ – what more could you want? With ferocious drumming at its core, it’s big, bombastic and has plenty of trademark off-kilter quirks. ‘Dearest Amygdala’ brings back memories of Simon’s side project Marmaduke Duke (when will we get that third album?) with disco elements, Grandaddy-like effects and an avant-garde turn into a delightful ’80s soft rock sound towards the end, all backing up Simon’s nostalgic memories: ‘All of my dreams, I’ve been chasing since I was 17’.

The album closes with ‘Two People in Love’. This track begins with rhythmic, post-classical piano swirling around while Simon explains how ‘some mistakes are worth repeating. It doesn’t take long for the trio to let loose and play with expectations as embrace heavy riffs and wonderfully weird noise that brings to mind God is an Astronaut.

With ‘Futique’, Biffy Clyro look back with pride and emotion while also taking huge strides forward.