82. Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005)
Genre: Post-Metal
Départe
Europa
Absent
Itinérant
Au Pays Natal
Deneb
Capella
Beta Aquilae
Ross 128
Sol
I have an admiration for ambition, and I don't think I've ever heard such an ambitious debut album in my entire life. It is a double disc album where the listener is suppose to listen to both discs simultaneously. If you only use CD's then you're probably sh
it out of luck unless you have a few stereos kicking around, so digital is the way to go for this album. The reason playing both discs simultaneously is because when played together, they create an incredibly dense and atmospheric sound that is only sampled when listening to just one disc. One disc contains the actual melodic sounds of the band while the other disc is mostly ambient white noise with a few hooks here and there, but add them together and you get one of the most impressive debuts I have ever heard.
Besides ambition, the band seems like a scrappy bunch of underdogs who show commitment to the music and not the image. Looking at pictures of the band they look more like a bunch of laborers than a metal band, which hints at a certain nostalgia going back to the '60's and '70's when metal was a working class genre. The rejection of what I'll call "the metal attire" is quite refreshing and it's something I notice with a lot of post-metal bands. While I'll never stop wearing my many many metal t-shirts, sometimes it is nice to just go out in a pair of cargo pants and t-shirt without becoming a walking billboard, advertising your commitment to a band.
Musically the band is incredibly deep, with heavy, sludgy, thick layers of sound, each contributing to a final product that is pure aural ecstasy. It definitely can be a bit brash to inexperienced metal listeners because of Michael Armine's harsh guttural vocals that are more reminiscent of hardcore punk than metal. The production is very reminiscent of '70's Pink Floyd and some of the techniques used for shoegaze. While I cannot guarantee that all shoegaze fans will like this, they will definitely be able to appreciate the complexities that go into create such a multi-layered and atmospheric sound.
As far as the lyrics are concerned, I have not delved too deeply into it because I become so entranced by the music that the barked vocals of Armine become lost in the onslaught of guitar, bass, and drums. I have read that the band has a fascination with space and astronomy, which would make sense.
The Galilean Satellites refers to the moons of Jupiter, even going so far as to name the song "Europa" after the smallest moon in the Galilean Satellites. The second disc with all the ambient sounds are all named after stars in different constellations. Again, the fascination with space creates all kinds of parallels between the progressive rock acts of the '60's and '70's, with the influences being quite easy to spot.
The Galilean Satellites is an amazing and ambitious first project for a band that will almost surely reach a level of fame on par with bands like Neurosis or ISIS. In only 7 years they have released three studio albums, an EP, and at least one split EP with another band, and show no signs of stopping or slowing down in the imminent future. Their music is definitely the kind of music you have to invest your time in and headphones are a must to fully experience what they have to offer. If so inclined shrooms are a great way to enhance the experience, but do so with caution.