on 2009-07-20 dscanland Said:

I've heard of Rolo Tomassi but never actually heard their music. Your review may be just what I need. Nice review too!
Not Rated

Review:

on 2009-07-19 no_death Said:

Beyond the film LA Confidential you may not have heard of Rolo Tomassi. There are no suspicious Irish policemen in this band that I'm aware of and they haven't enjoyed a similar level of success as the Oscar winning film, unfortunately. What there is here is ear decimating riffs and the surprising and powerful screams of diminutive lead singer Eva Spence. Sounding like a cross between Dillinger Escape Plan and Melt Banana they're an often confusing but always rewarding listen.
Utilising the aforementioned glitchy hardcore with the addition of 8-bit keyboard notes blasting out over the top, they luckily never go too far down the road of making thrash for the sake of thrash. First song Oh, Hello Ghost is a perfect opener, drawing you into what could be any other rock album. It's a slow burner and the bass doesn't belay the destruction that's about to come in the form of first single I Love Turbulence. Massively loud, the guitars crunch and the drums smash through a stop start intro before dropping you into a disjointed verse with Eva screeching at you again. Up until about halfway through you could close and say this won't be for everyone's tastes; its experimentalism advances on what Dillinger had created but it still stays within those parameters. You could say that and walk away and probably give the album a blast on an angry day. But then halfway through something strange happens.
They don't completely lose the hardcore thrash that assaulted you in the first part of the album, but more experiences are afforded to you. When the relaxed electro of Everything Went Grey and An Apology to the Universe appear you can start to draw more comparisons to bands like Fuck Buttons or the work of Richard James. This adds weight to their original statement about wanting to move more into the progressive area of rock. It also allows listeners put off by the destructive first half a chance to be involved, though with that being said if you can't make it through the first part you probably won't last through the second.
Feeling sometimes more liking a boxing match than a record this album has massively advanced on their initial E.P's and is a thrilling listen, always with a twist that you wouldn't expect. While still relatively fresh this effort shows tremendous promise for future releases hopefully, if not completely engaging with the prog-rock genre, continuing to play around with hardcore and give it a bit of something different.

Rating: 7/10