THE GALILEAN SATELLITES

Rosetta make a very good debut with their double album The Galilean Satellites. Heavily influenced by Isis and Neurosis, Rosetta play post-metal with Michael Armine on sound manipulation and vocals, David Grossman on bass, Bruce McMurtrie Jr on drums, and J. Matthew Weed on electric guitar and violin. Disc One of the album resembles the most straightfoward post-metal, reminiscent of early Isis and later Neurosis. Rosetta, however, bring their own creative touches, and turn slightly more to electronics than Isis, while still keeping their post-metal sound. Disc Two is a little unfocused and more ambient than Disc One, and brings more original material. Though Disc Two is great, Disc One is by far the best in my opinion.

This is a great debut by this post-metal band. Four stars simply for being slightly unfocused in places. This band could go very far; I recommend this album for all fans of post-metal.

While "The Galilean Satellites" may not be destined to be one of the classic albums of progressive metal, Rosetta show that they have the power to compete with the best of the post-metal genre. They borrow obvious influences from Isis and Neurosis, and sometimes tend to follow the soft-loud-soft-loud pattern, but they also manage to work in a good deal of electronic and dark- ambient music. These obscure influences are evident on the albums second disc, which is far more ambient in nature when compared to the raw and powerful--yet beautiful-- metal sounds of the first disc.

Listening to both discs straight through is certainly an enjoyable experience. Each disc is great on its own, but each in its own way. However, I usually only carry the first (read: metal) disc around to listen to, and save the other for dark nights when the mood strikes. The lyrics of the first disc are interesting, at least to me, as they seem to be based on Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series (Michael Armine screams: "The Monolith is calllliiing meeee!"). Awesome.

You can enjoy this album this way for a while as I did... but then comes the day when you look at them and realize that the two discs are exactly the same length. That's right... they sync! The ambient disc, though good on its own, is actually meant to complement the heavier side of the album. Listening to them both together is a really mind-blowing experience and it really shows what great things experimental metal is capable of.

All in all, I give it 4.5 stars. Points subtracted because the disc 1 by itself is pretty standard, though well-done, post-metal. But, I'm bumping it up to 5 because any fan of the genre really needs to check this out.

Rosetta's The Galilean Satellites is best experienced with both the ambient and metal tracks played simultaneously - some editions come with the tracks pre-combined, otherwise you should be able to find some way to combine them if you are technically minded. Either way, I don't know what possessed the band to attempt this odd experiment of theirs - perhaps they were overly impressed by Zaireeka by The Flaming Lips? - because their full-throated, furious brand of post-metal is only enhanced with the ambient backing of the second disc tracks. An enjoyable post-metal experiment, provided you can get past the oddities of the way it was released, though it fades a little once you move past the gimmick and see how much of this territory has been explored before by other hands.

The Galilean Satellites by Rosetta is a landmark album in the Post metal genre, in my opinion at least. It helped establish Post metal as a genuine genre, along with Oceanic by Isis, Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna, Through Silver In Blood by Neurosis, and Australasia by Pelican. It not only helped establish the genre, it influenced many bands and musicians to go on and create their own music.

The album consists of two discs, each a little over an hour in length. They are intended to be played at the same time, in a similar vain as Times of Grace by Neurosis. The first disc are the band's regular Post metal, and the second disc is ambient tracks that fit in with the first disc. How apt. Musically, the album's sound is the classic, sludgy Post metal sound, but there are also the quieter, more atmospheric parts to balance out the sound. Lyrically, the album deals with themes of astronomy and space travel, similar to how Cult of Luna would eventually do on their album Mariner with Julie Christmas.

The Galilean Satellites has to be one of my personal favorite Post metal albums. Also, Europa, the second song, has to be one of my favorite songs of all - time, period. This album is essential Post metal listening, and it is key in the development of the genre. In my opinion, if you are a fan of Post metal, or you're getting into the genre, The Galilean Satellites is essential listening.