Rolo Tomassi- Hysterics

So this is a blog. I'll probably be spending the majority of this blog doing music reviews, with maybe some other stuff. I might as well start with an old review.




Artist: Rolo Tomassi
Album: Hysterics
Genre: Mathcore, Experimental Rock, Electronic,
Rating: 8/10

What a schizophrenic record. Harsh screams quickly give way to soft, delicate clean vocals. Quiet, calm, piano pieces give way to sharp and chaotic mathcore guitars that give way to electronic parts. And yet it all works, coming together to create a demented masterpiece, a record that runs the gamut of emotion. By far, an incredibly fascinating album.

An example song would be "Abraxas." The song starts with a frantic, syncopated part, before quickly transitioning to a fast, syncopated jazz part, with builds that quickly collapse into themselves, all adding tension and passing through a large amount of emotions. The frantic pace is then kept up when it switches to a keyboard lead, before the song slows down in tempo a lot (who doesn't love chiptune breakdowns). In comparison, the keyboard part only speeds up, with the band revolving around it. For the outro, the guitars come in, playing much more relaxed riffs that still fit with the keyboards and the rest of the band, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. All of this happens in under 2:30.

Probably one of my personal favorites from this album is "Nine." This song starts off fast, with the guitars and keyboards working in tandem and fitting together perfectly. 30 seconds in and it transitions to a syncopated, beautiful clean part, with calm vocals that sharply contrast to the screeched vocals of the intro. The sudden heavy/soft switches that follow do a create job at creating conflicting emotions. As it transitions out of an aggressive part, it then transitions to an absolutely beautiful, clean part. This part starts off with just an unaccompanied guitar. However, more and more instruments are added, adding many layers that don't clash at all, only complement each other. Then, when you'd expect a return to a heavy part, the song dissolves into a beautiful unaccompanied piano part that fades out to end the song.

The album ends with the by far the longest track on the album, the 14 minute long "Fantasia." This track starts off slow, starting with a quiet, unaccompanied piano, before the instruments come in. The instruments here do an incredible job of creating atmosphere and tension,. Suddenly, the vocals come in, and the distortion is cranked up, doing a good job of catching the listener off guard. It then transitions to a much softer, unhinged, yet faster part, with clean vocals. The distorted part that follows is full of energy, with synths being used to add dimension to what could have been an uninteresting part. These different parts convey a wide multitude of emotions, from sadness to anger to unease. The song then goes to a long, experimental, atmospheric, electronic bridge, that gives the listener a feeling of unease and wonder. The song ends with a distorted guitar part playing the bridge, which, despite the tone, still evokes a strong feeling of sadness. This odyssey of a song is a phenomenal way to end the record.

Overall, this is an incredible album that presents a wide range of emotions. Though there are many changes per song, these changes are fleshed out and have substance, unlike some other bands, whose changes just come of as self-indulgent. The experimental parts themselves are masterfully executed, and to top it off, the lyrics are phenomenal themselves.

Selected Tracks:
Abraxas
Nine
Fantasia