Rolo Tomassi are a Progressive Hardcore band from Sheffield, England. Their name is taken from the character in L.A. Confidential. They formed in 2005, consisting of Eva Spence (vocals), James Spence (vocals/synths), Ed Dutton (drums), Joe Nicholson (guitar) and Joe Thorpe (bass). The Joes left at the end of 2011 and were replaced by Nathan Fairweather (bass) and Chris Crayford (guitar)
Albums
- Hysterics (2008)
- Cosmology (2010)
- Astraea (2012)
- Grievances (2015)
- Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It (2018)
- Where Myth Becomes Memory (2022)
Rolo Tomassi provides examples of these tropes
- Band of Relatives: Type 1. Eva and James are brother and sister.
- Epic Instrumental Opener: The synths-only opening to their second record, Katzenklavier.
- Epic Rocking: Fantasia, the 14 minute long closer to Hysterics.
- They like long-ish album closers. Cosmology has Cosmology and Astraea has Illuminare, both of which are nearing on 8 minutes long.
- Genre Mashup: Their sound is mostly influenced by hardcore and metal, but there are also elements of dream-pop, jazz and prog.
- Lighter and Softer: The B-side to Old Mystics has Mesmerizer
, which has Eva only using her clean vocals. - Non-Appearing Title: Bucket loads. It's hard to think when they do mention the song's title in the actual song, except in Party Wounds and Scabs.
- Scary Musician, Harmless Music: Complete inversion; you'd assume from looking at them that they were a folk or indie rock band, yet their sound draws on mathcore, grind, harsh noise and hardcore. UK metal magazine called their early work more brutal than Dying Fetus.
- Shout-Out: Macarbe Charde is off of a line from Peep Show .
- Soprano and Gravel: Eva can both scream and sing sweetly.
- Unplugged Version: James's acoustic versions of Oh, Hello Ghost and Nine.
- Vocal Tag Team: Fofteen, Party Wounds, Old Mystic, Macabre Charade...
