Metal for astronauts? This way to the launchpad.
Call it post metal, call it metal-gaze, you can even call it ambient metal if you please. It’s heavy and it’s going somewhere. Rosetta really set a high standard with their first release, the ambitious double-disc The Galilean Satellites. The band has a sound that’s reminiscent of bands like ISIS, Cult of Luna and Neurosis except that Rosetta has a more experimental vibe to their sound. I was waiting patiently to see if they could surpass that album or if they would just retread the same ground. Wake/Lift floored me from the moment that it started.
The first thing that is heard when starting up Wake/Lift is a dissonant synth-type noise that stabs once and fades off into the distance, setting the stage for what’s to come. Rosetta is heavy, but they are heavy in a way that many other bands just don’t quite manage. Rosetta has atmosphere on their side. This is not plodding, stomping heavy music, this is heavy in a much more cerebral manner. Echoes abound throughout the whole record. It’s nothing to get completely lost inside the swirling eddies of guitars and samples that are the back ground and sometimes the foreground of this disc. The three part “Lift” is simply epic with part two being the proverbial “eye of the storm,” as it’s the quietest section. Part one starts off innocently enough with some quiet guitars and light drums only to have everything kick in like a tidal wave. It swirls into part two and the calm slips over the listener, only to be pounded mercilessly again by part 3. The track “Temet Nosce” almost sounds like a less meandering Explosions in the Sky. The closing track is my personal favorite on the whole disc: "Monument” is just that, monumental. It opens like a ton of bricks and just continues to pummel the listener into submission. The moments of respite are few and far between. Even when the music lets up a little bit, vocalist M. Armine continues his barrage.
The whole band is in top form over the span of the entire disc. I am very thrilled that Rosetta took what they did well on The Galilean Satellites and expanded on it. This disc is engaging and addictive. It has been in the CD player in my car since I got the promo copy and it’s not going anywhere soon. I really think that the tagline that Rosetta had been using really suits them best: This is metal for astronauts.
| Reviewer: Dave Warren Added: September 28th 2007 |
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