Rolo Tomassi burst back onto the scene with the final part of an unintended trilogy that began with 2015’s Grievances and continued with 2018’s Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It.
Where Myth Becomes Memory barrels on in the irreverent path of those heavy-hitters and delivers a few choice surprises along the way. Familiarly, the album’s composition consists of a cool mix of soulful, stripped-back pieces juxtaposed against heavy, mathy madness. Ever more refined, this balance of delicate introspection and filthy rage capitalizes on years of perfection.
Can we say the gang has seemingly stepped up their chops? If in their songwriting or their easy interplay of crushing post-hardcore assaults with improbably upbeat alt-metal carousing. One mode highlights the other by contrast and the application of proper proportions seems to distill a hopeful, yet cautionary, glimmer of tension between our dearest dreams and darkest realities.
Take the contrast between the delicate “Labyrinthine” and the single, “Drip”, a jagged slice of industrial-tinged brutality with, incidentally, some of the prettiest chilled out clean singing breakdowns on the record. Similarly, the contrast of the brutal “To Resist Forgetting” and the mixed but on balance airy and laid-back “The End Of Eternity”. Poignant layers of piercing synth-work give the affair an added flair.
If this isn’t everything and more than you expected from the new record, I cannot help you, but this one caught me straight away. It definitely has an edge that might have been held somewhat in reserve on previous outings, perhaps playfully, that on this album is granted full strength.
Meanwhile, again, the vulnerable resolve has gained glorious clarity. The finishing touches on Where Myth Becomes Memory were a product of time and distance, an album like many now constructed in isolation, as vocalist Eva is cut off from brother and bandmates across the sea. At least, this all afforded the band relief from the pressures of release-promote-tour business-as-usual constraints. As a part-time entity, Rolo Tomassi was in a unique position to endure through the global fuckery of our current predicament, but the chance separation was no doubt difficult on all involved.
Nevertheless, Rolo Tomassi deliver an excellent, impressive effort with Where Myth Becomes Memory, showing a range of chops encompassing the signature sound now championed by the likes of Jinjer and Spiritbox, and going wide.
Rolo Tomassi – still criminally unrecognized – round out a career-defining series of albums with a dense, vicious, beautifully crafted statement that not only impresses technically but, crucially, touches on a great wealth of emotional modes to leave you with a sense of invigoration, sadness, fire, or “…whatever you might need from it.”
Is it too early to eye short picks for AOTY because it is too early or because we are still recovering from 2021? At any rate, Where Myth Becomes Memory is incredibly impressive both within the context of the band and tied to this album series as well as completely apart. It astounds, yet makes perfect sense why it is as good as it is. We would be more impressed only if you didn’t fall in love with Where Myth Becomes Memory
