It’ll be a bit of a Holy Roar-themed week as I’ve decided to review a few of their recent-ish releases – although this first one is a co-release with Hassle. I mentioned this 7″ in my 2009 Best of the Year round-up among the “hon. mention” EPs. It’s clearly not an EP, though, offering just two tracks even if one is a medley.
It’s a split based on the classic concept of two bands covering songs by each other. There’s a risk of these records becoming an exercise in pointlessness if bands sound too much alike, or their covers are too slavishly devoted to the original, but this is not the case here. Rolo Tomassi’s stop-start dynamics, creepy and distorted keyboards, and dirgey feminine roars, set them apart from the unstoppably brutal hardcore onslaught of Throats’ crushing, riff-heavy approach.
Both bands approach one another’s tunes determined to imprint them with their own personality. Rolo Tomassi combine ‘Headclouds’ and ‘Reign of Low’ (both from their split with Maths) into a single track. It starts similarly to the original version with loud and low distorted strumming, but soon kicks into something more Rolo-flavoured with staccato keys and dual vocals from Eva and James singing and chanting respectively. From there it launches into a comparatively clean lead guitar riff with guttural growls before seguing into the brutal drumming frenzy of ‘Reign of Low’. The heavy metal riff that sees that song out is mostly unchanged, which is no bad thing.
Throats, for their part, cover ‘I Love Turbulence’ from Hysterics. The sinister synths and keys are gone, retained is the breakneck pace and violence – ramped up to 11 in Throats’ inimitably aggressive, confrontational style. The guitar lead at the end is a nice change from the original, and I’m not usually much of a fan of widdling; elsewhere Rolo’s haunting electronic breakdown is replaced with a guitar-based segment. It’s a more faithful cover than their counterparts went for, but hearing a Rolo song played entirely on strings and skins with everything sounding louder and heavier is impressive in itself.
Rolo Tomassi | Throats | Holy Roar | Hassle