The siblings Spence have been at this for over twelve years now, and although all of their albums have an overarching “Rolo Tomassi sound” to The siblings Spence have been at this for over twelve years now, and although all of their albums have an overarching “Rolo Tomassi sound” to them, they were each very distinct from the last and definitely carried a few surprises. Album number five, Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It is the uplifting follow-up to 2015’s dark, wistful Grievances, marks another progression in Rolo Tomassi’s sound and is their most complete work yet.



Ambient opener “Towards Dawn” acts as a fantastic prelude (an interesting track in its own right, rather than a simple, throwaway intro) and segues deliciously into the luscious post-rock of “Aftermath”. Ending in a huge sing-along crescendo, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Rolo Tomassi were deliberately lulling new listeners into a false sense of security until they then unleash “Rituals”, a track which finds the quintet at their most fierce. Embracing blackened hardcore and, indeed, doom elements, “Rituals” is a brief and potent assault that has huge synths, intense riffs and vicious growls from Eva Spence. Ranging from serene, high pitched tones to throat-shredding rasps and back again, Eva Spence’s vocal performance on Time Will Die… is flawless, most notably on “A Flood Of Light”.



Rolo Tomassi have ditched the glitchy, Nintendo-core synth tones from their early days, James Spence’s synth work is now present as an atmospheric layer, similar to Cult Of Luna’s synths, sitting in harmony with Chris Cayford’s guitar playing. Used to emphasize particular moments such as the break on the magnificent “The Hollow Hour”, syncopated rhythms of “Balancing The Dark” and the huge, slowly building crescendo of album highlight “A Flood Of Light”.



The expansive Time Will Die… flows splendidly from start to finish and closes with two songs, “Contretemps” and “Risen”, that are respectively an exceptional example of epic, piano-driven post-rock (akin to Maybeshewill or Explosions In The Sky) and a dreamy shoegaze finale.



Going from strength to strength with each album cycle, Rolo Tomassi have really developed over the past decade and Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It, a beautiful, triumphant and innovative mix of post-rock, hardcore and dream-pop, is undoubtedly their best work yet.



For fans of: Converge, Between The Buried And Me, Deftones … Expand