#19: Rosetta - The Galilean SatellitesI think I got this album at just the right time to really get into it, but I probably would've gotten into it regardless as it's just a damn good post-metal album, one of the best I've heard easily. Never mind that it comes bundled with a pretty solid ambient/drone disc and that the two discs can be combined to make the first disc just sound even more atmospheric and dense.
Which is a pretty cool idea, really, the two discs are vastly different enough that they don't clash and there are some moments where they play off each other pretty nicely. I will say that the difference isn't massive or anything, it's primarily the first disc with the second only taking the forefront at a few select moments while mostly staying in the background, but it's pretty much unnecessary to ever listen to the first disc normally when you can just listen to them both at once.
The ambient disc, though, there's definitely some merit to listening on its own. It's the kind of album that you'd probably have to be in the right mood to really get, and it's far from perfect, as well; I definitely wouldn't have tracked any of the vocals to this disc like they do in Beta Aquilae and parts of the last two tracks, they sort of feel out of place here, but ehh. It's not just a pure, soothing album at its core anyways; there's a lot of distorted noise going on throughout the tracks that creates an unsettling vibe, but I think it works, it'd be a bit dull if it was just constantly pleasant.
Onto the meat of the album, though. This album is pretty dang intense. The way the songs flow and explode can be pretty damn captivating, especially. Départe opts for a more laidback feel, driven by a hypnotic bassline that plays throughout the entire track, exploding at a few moments throughout the song into a pretty heavy but lumbering atmosphere. Europa is vaguely progressive in nature, starting out with a locked 7/8 groove driven by the drums and guitar, calming down at around 4 minutes only to build up into an even more intense mood, dropping out again at 6:40 for a quieter break driven by a frantic drum line that builds up into an even more intense climax, the song speeding up and getting overwhelmingly heavy by the time it ends. Absent starts off quiet and uneasy, exploding into a really driving riff, the drumming staying pretty crazy the whole way through, even when the song quiets down just to build up towards its middle, calming down again just for another massive, absolutely visceral buildup peaking in a massive accelerando with crushing guitars and manic drums. Itinérant is the only real break from the intensity of the album, the first few minutes being really dreamy and melodic, a brief moment of heaviness before switching to a long, hypnotic build, reaching its peak intensity about halfway through the track, and at around 10 minutes fading out for a long, droning, noisy outro. Au Pays Natal starts out with a laidback groove, getting heavy for a bit and breaking in the middle, with the last 5 minutes being a sluggish wall of noise that peaks in some really frantic drumming and increasingly strained vocals by the end, maybe the least "unique" of the songs here but it's still pretty effective.
The vocals on the album are... pretty standard post-metal, really, no cleans at all, just the low growling you'd expect to hear on a post-metal album, and that's fine, they're used well enough here. The bass gets most of its work done in the first track with that locked groove, but there are other moments where it shines through, a bass lead in the first break of Europa, the bass providing the grounding for the gorgeous first few minutes of Itinérant, the straight groove of the intro of Au Pays Natal. It's definitely plenty present throughout, as well, even if it's rarely given the spotlight.
The guitar work on the album is pretty diverse, ranging from some nice cleaner moments during pretty much any quieter stretch of the album, though especially the intros of Absent and Itinérant, some solid riffing throughout, most notably the 7/8 groove of Europa, the chugging of Absent, and the first heavier riff of Au Pays Natal. There's a lot of dense, wall-of-sound moments too; pretty much every track has one, though the last 5 minutes of Au Pays Natal are probably the most drawn-out example of this, and there's a lot of lighter atmospheric moments; especially the long build in the middle of Itinérant. There's also some nice guitar leads in the middle of Absent, a bit of a strange moment for the album but one that ends up working pretty well.
As far as the drumming, well, there's a lot to like. The crazy and visceral speed ups at the end of Europa, Absent, and Au Pays Natal especially, of course, though the vast majority of Absent has pretty frantic drumming, even in its quieter moments. There's a good bit of intense drum work throughout though, the 7/8 groove and second quieter break of Europa both have a lot going on, and the long build in the middle of Itinérant has constantly escalating drums. There's also a good number of moments of more laidback grooves; the quieter moments of Départe, the intro of Absent, the line that comes in near the end of Itinérant and carries over into the first few minutes of Au Pays Natal. I think the drums are my favorite instrument here overall, they pull a lot of weight and drive the mood the most out of everything.
I'd be remiss not to mention some of the keyboard work and other miscellaneous things. Of course, there's the gorgeous piano and strings in the intro of Itinérant, such a weird and kind of out-of-place moment for the album that works so well. There's also the soundscapes at the end of the song that get pretty unsettling, really. The synths have a minor presence throughout the rest of the first disc, but they pretty well dominate the second disc, obviously. There's a lot of warmer sounds on Deneb and Sol especially, and the last few minutes of Ross 128 have a nice soothing sound as well, but there's just as many if not more weird distorted effects that really help create the atmosphere of the disc.
Odds are I'll probably keep spinning the combined disc over either disc separately, maybe play around with the volume of each of the two discs as I'm not quite satisfied with how it is now; by default it feels like the second disc ends up being crushed by the first quite a lot, especially Absent / Beta Aquilae, where the vocals barely come through the way I have them mixed. That's the cool thing, you can mix these however you want to create the experience that appeals to you the most. The whole "combine two songs/albums to make one super-album" thing isn't a unique concept or anything but I doubt anyone else has done it this well because of how different the discs are.
It's just a damn solid album overall, though; probably as intense as I'd ever want my post-metal to be, not overwhelmingly heavy all the time but with enough pretty crushing moments mixed with enough more laidback breaks and a good sense of buildup to keep things from ever getting boring. And of course the atmosphere is great, especially on the combined disc. I don't really think this sounds like the contemporaries of post-metal, either; this is way more intense than any of Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Pelican, whoever else; sure, they all get pretty heavy and crushing but I don't think any of them have ever come close to something like the ending of Absent, for example. Definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre, though, and really, worth checking out for any fan of metal in general.
Favorite Tracks: Absent, Europa, Départe, Itinérant
Least Favorite Track: Beta Aquilae
8.25/10DTF Addendum: I think I'd like this album a lot more if the last track wasn't a fairly meh way to end the album, sure it's alright enough but after the intensity of the first three tracks and the atmosphere of the previous it just... has nowhere left to go. That being said it's still great, totally worth checking out. Panopticon is still my favorite post-metal release but I'd probably but this at #2, for now.