Rosetta

Rosetta are a post-rock and metal group from Philadelphia, United States, active since 2003. Their sound spans ambient, atmospheric sludge metal, drone, math rock, post-metal and post-rock, and it also draws on post-hardcore, progressive rock, noise, shoegaze and space rock. The band is associated with Translation Loss Records.

Style and themes

Rosetta describe their music as “metal for astronauts”, and astronomy and space travel are recurring interests for the group. Their work is marked by heavy use of noise, sampling, feedback and layered textures, with songs that often reveal more detail on repeated listening. Their influences include Neurosis, Isis, My Bloody Valentine, Frodus and Stars of the Lid.

Line-up

The group includes Mike Armine, David Grossman, Bruce McMurtrie, Jr., Matt Weed and Eric Jernigan. The earlier core line-up is Michael Armine on vocals and sound manipulation, James Matthew Weed on guitar and violin, David Grossman on bass guitar and vocals, and Bruce McMurtrie Jr. on drums. Eric Jernigan joins as a second guitarist and clean vocalist, adding a more melodic and shoegaze-influenced layer to the band’s sound.

Releases

Rosetta’s first album, The Galilean Satellites, is a two-disc release with one disc of metal and the other of noise, ambient and drone material, designed so that the discs work separately but also create a third, denser effect when played together. The album is inspired in part by Neurosis’ Tribes of Neurot companion release.

The follow-up, Wake/Lift, is more restrained and emphasises songwriting. It has an ambient, drone and noise companion release called Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift. A song called “Lift” is originally a single long piece in demo form, but appears as three tracks on the album version.

A Determinism of Morality shifts towards shorter, faster songs with more technical playing and compositional structure. Clean vocals begin on this record and remain a regular feature afterwards.

The Anaesthete appears as a pay-what-you-wish release through the band’s own Bandcamp, with separate CD and vinyl arrangements for different territories. It combines elements of the Wake/Lift approach with the shorter, faster, more uplifting style of A Determinism of Morality.

Flies to Flame is an EP that is mostly ambient and drone before building to a final post-metal track. Quintessential Ephemera is more compact and streamlined, with a melodic, short-song approach. Utopioid brings together heavy, melodic, ambient and drone elements and uses both harsh and clean vocals.

The group also releases a number of split records, including Project Mercury with Balboa, a split with East of the Wall and Year of No Light featuring a post-metal version of The Cure’s “Homesick”, a split with Restorations built around a long build-and-release structure, a 2011 split with Junius that includes a cover of Soundgarden’s “4th of July”, and a 2012 release with City of Ships that revisits the Project Mercury material. Other releases include an audiovisual soundtrack in an ambient and drone style, a compilation of demos, remixes, alternate versions and live acoustic tracks, a live Audiotree session, Sower of Wind, which reworks Utopioid material in ambient and drone form, and Terra Sola, which includes one full post-metal track and two quieter pieces.

Recording approach and release pattern

Across the sequence from The Galilean Satellites through The Anaesthete, the band often uses intros and outros that flow into one another, creating a connected run of albums. That cycle is broken by Quintessential Ephemera and Utopioid, which stand apart as separate entries in the catalogue.

Place in the scene

Rosetta are identified with the post-metal scene and are also linked to the wider development of post-shoegaze, through the combination of post-metal and shoegaze elements on later releases. Their discography shows a continuing movement between heavy and atmospheric material, with clean and harsh vocals, acoustic and live documents, and repeated collaborations and split releases around the core project.