Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics

Rating:

* * * *

Rolo Tomassi are heavy, arty, and at times beautifully brutal. The Sheffield quintet are like the Mars Volta if they were still like their old band At the Drive-In rather than being off on another planet.

Scabs

, the highlight off

Hysterics

, makes you wonder how many changes within one song is acceptable as it moves from sci-fi synth metal, Doors-style keyboard progressions, and frenzied stabbing riffs, with much more in between. Then again, when it's done as masterfully and seamlessly as this, you realise all the best rock'n'roll is not about acceptance anyway.

Sometimes the artiness gets in the way of a good groove developing, but this sort of music (think Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge) is more about twisted time signature changes, withering variations of pace, and in RT's case, scything synths.

Macabre Charade

is sweet until it erupts into a frenzied bout of dissonance;

Everything Went Grey

is smouldering noise;

Nine

lunges viciously into life with grandiose horror synth and singer James Spence's spewing voice propelling the song along; and 14-minute last track

Fantasia

is intense genius.

You'd think the cooing voice of Eva Spence would lend the band a more inviting side, but the way she rubs up against her brother's guttural, moody offerings and the discord of the music just makes things even more unnerving. And that's a good thing.

Scott Kara