Album Review: Rolo Tomassi - ''Grievances'.
The stars seem aligned this time around for Rolo Tomassi; what with the current appetite for frenetic math cacophony and the rock/metal community presently passing 'Females Can Scream Too, Dickheads 101' with flying colours, the Nottingham noisemakers have God on their side. That being said, you can't help from believing that the band disagree; 'Grievances' is such a perpetually bleak and soul-searching record it sounds as though the studio sessions are being broadcast directly from Dante's Fifth Circle.
Rather than the sprightly eccentricities of earlier material, every song feels ached out; from the post-metal leanings of 'Raumdeuter' to the Mars Volta-channelling of 'Stage Knives', each musical decision has been mournfully deliberated and considered. The end result is that 'Grievances' is by far the most mature and accomplished album the group have ever released. Gone are the awkward instances of textures attempting to out-weird each other and time signatures transposing in to nihilistic oblivion; replaced with a cohesive vision, mood and intent. Yet, from this focus a newfound means of experimentation has manifested; the closer 'All That Has Gone Before' has explosions of hellraising discord that collapse in to moments of brittle beauty, all without forsaking its sense of atmosphere and coherence.
Rolo Tomassi have spent years boundary-pushing and breaking every conceived rule that has been thrown at them, but 'Grievances' is a symbol of their greatest achievement to date, their development as songwriters.
Words and thoughts of Lewis Cato.
Words and thoughts of Lewis Cato.