✦✦✦✧ As ever, this band has two modes: sumptious gorgeousness and feral mathcore aggression. What’s new and noteworthy is how well those two threads can be woven together, and in how many different combinations they work in tandem, not quite as relegated to their separate corners as before. I’m hardpressed to think of another band that can pull this off so effectively.

✦✦✦✧ This new Rolo Tomassi album operates in two modes fairly equally: interestingly jazzy post-trip-hop and chaotic mathcore, like DEP meets Lamb meets Norma Jean. The beautiful thing here is that neither mode feels like filler against the other. It’s all internally consistent, cohesive, and compelling. And in a further evolution for the band, the album’s emotional range is almost cinematic in scope.

★★★☆ This is a stunner, and really hard to do justice with a simple description… but, here goes anyway: imagine if Dillinger, Emperor, Evanescence, Sigur Ros, and Glassjaw were warring nations; this album would be the uneasy peace accord between them. One of the most original albums of 2015, without a doubt.