I'm a big fan of the ongoing music scene "post___". There's so many genre titles so you can pretty much just fill in the blank. Post rock, post metal, post punk, shoe gaze, experimetal, blah blah blah. The scene is based off of the heavy and often expansive rocking of groups such as Neurosis, all the bands of The Peaceville Three, old Sabbath, and a few others. It's been made more popular by groups such as ISIS, Jesu, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It can be kinda broken down into two subgenres of Post rock, and Post Metal. Post rock is generally bands like Explosions in the sky, This Will Destroy You, Pelican, Sigur Ros, and Russian Circles. The music can be all instrumental, but if there is singing it's generally not the growls and screams attributed to metal. Post Metal on the other hand takes the expansive atmospheric noodlings found in post rock, but injects it with "heavy". "Heavy" can bring along with it guitar distortion of pants-crapping deepness, and down-tuned riffage reminiscent of eyehategod or Sleep. But, if there is to be singing, generally the groups will reach deep within themselves to deliver growls for further expression of the heaviness within their music. Growls reminiscent of death metal bands like Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, or even in some instances black metal bands like Burzum (black metal in itself sometimes being an influence to these post metallers as much as their death metal counterparts). So what the fuck am I getting at? The post-whatever genre kicks ass. And while not new, it is starting to churn out some great groups. Including Philly's own Rosetta. Rosetta is touring right now some-what fresh off their 2nd full length album Wake/Lift. If you're a fan of ISIS, Cult of Luna, Neurosis, or anything remotely close to them, you need to check out Rosetta. Their 1st album The Galilean Satellites is easily one of my favorite albums, finding rank amongst Tool's AEnema and Pig Destroyer's Terrifyer. Not an easy task as I am extremely picky in my taste for music. The album comes as a 2 disc set. The first disc is the actual "music" with four sprawling songs, the shortest of which clocks in at just over 8 minutes. The second disc could also be classified as music, but it's best described as atmospheric noise. Seperate, the two CD's are enjoyable in their own right, the first one clearly being the one you'll actually listen to, but together you have a masterful album that has added the chilling atmosphere of the second disc to the already epic songs on the first one. Fan-fucking-tastic would be the only way to describe the experience on a high quality stereo system, or headphones. Their next album, Wake/Lift may only be one disc, but it's still just as momentous. This time Mike Armine's vocals almost take the back seat to the music, instead of the foreground that we're all accustomed to with modern music, they settle in with the distortion of the guitar. What's really cool is the album's opener, Red in Tooth and Claw, starts off exactly where TGS left off. Not just with the "A Space Odyssey 2001" themed lyrics, but literally starts with the feedback and sampled noise that abruptly ends TGS.
I've had the pleasure of seeing the band perform twice, most recently in Baltimore with progressive and frekishly talented instrumental noodlers Dysrhytmia where I got a chance to sing with Mike Armine of Rosetta for approximately...2.5 seconds during their song Red in Tooth and Claw. Sheer badassery. They are a must in any post-metallers catalog in a genre littered with NeurISIS knock-offs. Get Any of Rosetta's albums now.
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