ALBUM REVIEW; ASTRAEA by Rolo Tomassi

Rolo Tomassi; ASTRAEA
8/10
Sheffield math-nutters find their sound in ambitiously polished space epic.

There is no denying that Rolo Tomassi are not, nor will they ever be, to everyone's taste. The same can be said for any band, in all honesty, but RT more so than the majority of bands. For years they have been an (in this reviewer's opinion) an underrated gem of Britain's rock scene, with great potential that they have come so close to delivering with their earlier efforts. And finally, with Astraea, they have come of age with an album that appeals to a wider audience, while maintaining their classic, quirky-x1000 strangeness.

As a record, Astraea develops their sound from the often unmitigated chaos they've been occasionally prone to, into a thing of genius that is still fundamentally said chaos at heart. Imagine, if you will, a piece of stained glass smashed into pieces and rearranged into a gorgeous mosaic - there's beauty at it's core, anarchy in the process and an eventual finished artwork made of the results of this entropy. 

Musically there are a lot of influences to be heard - riffs with hints of prog metal and djent (Gloam, The Scales of Balance), near-classical moments (Prelude II: Echolalia), take-note-Trent-Reznor post rock (a beautiful draw into the opener Howl) and haunting/mental synth-work littered throughout. Much credit is due for the new members of RT, following their reshuffle; new guitarist Chris Cayford and bassist Nathan Fairweather's influence in the creative process is distinctive, as both guitar and bass are pushed hard into being bloody awesome (the bass in the middle of Illunis is one of my favourite parts of the record). 

Vocal-wise, frontwoman/adorable banshee Eva Spence's screams are stronger and more powerful than ever, ably supported by synthman brother James. Yet in Astraea a more concerted foray into clean singing is evident, with Eva's voice utilised far more in the albums quieter/moodier moments - a microcosm of all this comes in lead single Ex Luna Scientia.

Astraea is an excellent album, hands down. My only criticism comes from one singular moment, the transition between Prelude II: Echolalia and my favourite track Echopraxia - it's the abrupt shift in tempo that sets RT apart, but it's almost too abrupt and violent for me. That said, it's one small blip in an album that crests and subsides in power and beauty, from the post-rock intro to the sweeping grandeur of closer Illuminare. 

The quintet's best work yet - a well-developed record that brings refinement to their classically gorgeous chaos, without losing their individual edge.

ALBUM REVIEW - BARONESS; 'YELLOW AND GREEN'

BARONESS; YELLOW & GREEN

★★★★★

Stunningly perfect progressive metal from Georgia's finest. 

n.b. I actually wrote this a month ago, when the album came out.  Yet for some reason, it has sat, with several others, as a draft for that month, unpublished, gathering internet dust. Until now...mwuhahaha. Ahem. On with the review, with those other half-finished ones on their way in coming days, including The Gaslight Anthem,'s Handwritten and Frank Ocean's Channel Orange. I don't just do rock.

The latest offering from heavy rock/metal quartet Baroness - or rather, offerings, as it is a double album - is a quite simply beautiful slice of music. Combining swirling melodies, stellar riffage from the more sludgy side of metal with psychedelic effects-laden oddity and strong vocals married to great lyricism, Yellow & Green  rhythmically flows from stonking song to stonking song. As it's a double album, I'll review Yellow and Green as two different entities. 

Yellow
Tonally darker in comparison to Green, we're led into this first disc amid echoing tones into the riff-heavy lead single Take My Bones Away - a good, proper rocky song, with its anthemic chorus, fuzzed up solo and riffage ahoy. That in turn flows into the more sombre sound of March To The Sea, which in many ways is a pattern that Yellow follows - sombre melodies into  more classic-sounding rocky affairs, all with a dark undercurrent running through it.  And underlying all of that is a style that Baroness have made their own, a uniqueness in their sound. From usage of unusual and varying time signatures that contribute to the changing flow of the record, echoing guitars, punchy and prominent bass - each element of the music is given its own time to shine. The song Twinkler, my favourite from Yellow, is carried by a brooding acoustic melody and what sounds like a baroque-esque flute - case and point of the distinctive sound Baroness possess.  

Green
Like Yellow, we begin with an instrumental intro track, but the Green Theme works on a different wavelength. It still has the echoing guitar, but bursts into a triumphant cacophony of an almost Queen-like solo, ebbs a little, then bursts back into life once again. It sets the tone for Green, with less of the inherent brood of the first disc and more lilting harmonies - not to say there aren't hints of that, but the overall tone compared with disc 1 is brighter - these hints come in the forms of things like darker lyricism to a more upbeat song (always a trickier combination, but it works well)  in tracks like Psalms Alive and Collapse, but songs like Board Up The House and Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor)  have the greater sense of positivity. There's more riffage, the best in the album, from The Line Inbetween, and instrumental tracks to be had in Green as well; Stretchmarker and closing track If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry provide echoey, resonating semi-acousticness that are quite lovely. The latter in particular is a frankly beautiful close, bringing the tempo right down, with just the faintest suggestion of Yellow to tie the two together as it finishes. 

All in all, I think this is a perfect album. It's incredibly well-formed - rather than just a collection of songs, each song carries on from its predecessor. I hate to repeat myself, but it really does flow. There are some excellent songs there; Back Where I Belong, Eula and Psalms Alive are just 3 but in reality they're all superb. Don't be put off by the tag of metal, because this transcends a lot of genres in establishing Baroness as a brilliant band with a sound that is distinctly them. It's too early to say now, but this may be my album of the year.

Tom Castle, Copyright THE NOISE August 2012

I'M ON THE RADIO, ONE LAST TIME

I co-present a rock show on UEA's Livewire 1350, and this Sunday evening will be the last instalment of The Simon and Tomfunkel Show until our hopeful return at the start of the 2013/14 academic year. 


So this is a shameless self-plug; www.livewire1350com, Sunday evening, 7.30-9pm. Do not miss it, we are going to be playing A LOT of good songs, among them Japanese Voyeurs, Pure Love, Deftones, Marmozets...the list goes on. 


TUNE IN! 


Thanks x