If you’ve seen the 1997 crime drama LA Confidential, you’re already familiar with the cryptic words Rolo Tomassi. It’s the name that the film’s protagonist – idealistic policeman Ed Exley, played by Guy Pearce – gives to the faceless criminal that murdered his father. “No one even knew who he was,” the detective divulges to his stoic sergeant. “I just made the name up to give him some personality.”
A similar mystery hangs like noirish fog around the band of the same name. On a musical level, they’re unclassifiable; arguably the most inventive heavy band currently working in the UK, who have made a masterpiece nearly two decades into their career. New album Where Myth Becomes Memory flits between seemingly incompatible genres: opening track Almost Always commences with shoegaze guitars, framing the silken singing of lead vocalist Eva Korman, then follow-up Cloaked plummets into a twisted metal riff as Korman snarls and screams. Post-rock, hardcore punk, piano pop and synth music all ensue before the LP has struck its final chord.
