Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005)^{Release ID: 973}

It is extremely difficult for an artist or band to be as eclectic from the word go as Rosetta were in 2005, and not be seen as pretentious. Most artists wait until they are at least three or four records in before saying "you know what? Fuck it, let's break some rules!" The problem with Rosetta is that were not intending on breaking any rules around the time of The Galileans Satellites. In fact, the band actually seems quite contempt with hanging out with the big boys like Cult of Luna and Neurosis in the post-metal mold (or the more dubious title of "atmospheric sludge metal") in creating a heavy, claustrophobic environment that focuses on instrumental texture as opposed to riffage and solos.

And from the word go, you can tell that Rosetta are not changing any rules. In fact, I would say that The Galilean Satellites is one of post-metal's least influential of the genre's most important albums. I had only just recently listened to this record, while bands like Neurosis, ISIS, Cult of Luna, and even The Ocean Collective had already released their first LPs, and Rosetta borrows heavily from all of them. Most notably, The Ocean and Cult of Luna's intense songwriting. These grooves are pummeling and there is very little room for a breather. When you do receive a moment of reprieve, enjoy it for as long as it lasts because that cacophony of sound will be back soon.

Which brings me to a very interesting point about this record's songwriting. It is remarkably simplistic, but immensely captivating by its gargantuan forms, which allow for ideas to develop slowly and methodically. The gradual crescendo that takes place on the track "Absent" is one of the best displays of dynamic development I have ever heard on a metal album. The reason it is "simplistic" is that the main motif rarely changes. It almost reminds me of a minimalist classical piece from a Steve Reich or a John Adams, where the texture builds intensity and emotional drama.

Of course there is a catch, and that is if the tunes don't develop in a reasonable manner, they get very monotonous very quickly. "Itinerant" is the albums longest track and yet it does nothing. I think Rosetta were aware of this as well because right around the ten minute mark, you begin to hear the tune fade away ever so slowly into an ambient feedback loop with quiet sampled vocals overlayed in the mix. If this was the case, why not make the first section shorter? You would not even need to cut down the second half of the track, which would still make the triumphant return of percussion on the closer of disc 1 "Au Pays Natal" hit with dynamic force.

Since this is a metal album, I would feel inclined to stop here, but i would be remised if I didn't at least mention disc 2. This record consists of ambient/drone tracks that are incredibly synth heavy, minimal leads, and lots of distorted feedback as the closing of "Itinerant" did on the first disc. There lone vocals that appear on this disc are on "Beta Aquilae", and those are heavily distorted and compressed as well. It is kind of interesting at least to hear Rosetta use the second disc as an opportunity to flex their atmospheric muscles in a different environment than executed on disc one.

But that brings me to the elephant in the room that I can no longer ignore: The Galilean Satellites is meant to be listened to simultaneously. Both discs contain five tracks that mirror each other in duration and compliment their sister songs. And while this is a cool idea in concept, the execution is lackluster. The ambient synths and distorted feedback loops of disc two are absolutely caved in on themselves when both discs are played at the same time. Disc one is overwhelming and chaotic at its heaviest, and even during its quieter passages, whatever growth/texture that disc two added is immediately shot down. Here is a question: if disc two was so important to the narrative of The Galilean Satellites, why not just overlay disc two from the start? It might have sounded like pure audio hell, but it couldn't sound much worse than listening to two albums simultaneously!

As it stands, The Galilean Satellites is a very good, bordering on great, dose of post-metal that splits the difference very well between claustrophobic and ethereal. And the way Rosetta shows off their chops from a heavier doom/sludge side, to a more meditative ambient/drone side is commendable. But combined, these two ideas do not work together as well as the band may have initially thought. It isn't the best record in this style, and does not resonate with me personally as much as Panopticon or A Dawn to Fear do, but it does show a band using space efficiently and created a new world from it.

Thanks to Daniel, I now have the final remaining piece of the post-sludge elemental star, Rosetta! If you wanna know what this album, The Galilean Satellites is about, the nearly blank booklet explains it all in one sentence... "These songs are about a space man."

If you wanna know more than just a simple sentence, just press play and you'll find yourself as an astronaut eternally stranded in space with no other surrounding lifeforce. The Galilean Satellites contains two discs; one filled with monolithic dirges of spacey post-sludge not for the faint-hearted, and the other filled with desperate ambient tracks of strange beauty. And when you time both discs to play at the same time, they fit like a glove! A bit like Neurosis' Times of Grace and its ambient counterpart.

Disc 1 begins this space-doom venture with "Départe" (Departure), starting clean on the guitar and keyboards. Then the buildup comes, warning you that the space adventure is gonna be life-risking. Then the vocals of Michael Armine crashing in with the crushing music of both chaos and grace. "Europa" continues the helplessly great framework.

"Absent" sees you travelling through a space dimension, and midway through, the guitars do a bit of soloing. The vocals are mostly ambient until Armine does some screams in the last-minute climax. "Itinerant" is a 16-minute epic that's mostly piano-based. It's great, but the epic I prefer is "Au Pays Natal" (The Homeland), 13 and a half minutes of the best isolated post-sludge madness ever heard!

Disc 2 is the ambient counterpart where the space-man has already died from lack of food, water, and air as if floating through the infinite universe alone. Both that scenario and the ambient sound sculpture can be enough to give you agoraphobia, which fortunately I don't have. This creepy reverb can give you feelings of loss, and it's a nice effect that would be nice if you're in the mood for that. It's interesting how I, a heavier metalheads who's not usually into ambient music, feel more immersed by this disc than the first. It's an aural adventure well-crafted!

Whether one of the two discs or both at the same time, the listener has to be absolutely determined. Clearly, it wasn't made easy with all tracks going over 8 minutes, but it sure looks like it was. The Galilean Satellites is no easy task. If you're driving while listening to the album on your radio, it's not for a small errand trip, it's for a cross-state road trip made epic. But it's better to listen to the album at home on your computer or MP3 player if you really want a perfect post-sludge trip out of reality!

Favorites: "Europa", "Absent", "Au Pays Natal", the complete Disc 2