Heard It Yet?: Rosetta – Wake/Lift

Artist: Rosetta
Album: Wake/Lift
Label: Translation Lost Records
Released: 2007

I haven’t long been into Rosetta, but I’ll be damned if I could find any other band to soundtrack an apocalyptic nightmare, probably involving some really morbid things like rape, and loads of animals being butchered. This album is colossal.

Sharing similarities with the likes of Cult of Luna and ISIS, with strong, commanding vocals layered deep within the mix of crushing guitars and thunderous drumming, Wake/Lift is an album that manages to achieve an emotional reaction that is nigh on impossible. Every time I hear it I curse the world and everyone in it, as the oppressiveness of each track drags me down into a sombre and dangerously angry mood. But conversely there are moments here where you are lifted into a state of bliss, with moments that stand out with such crystal clear beauty among the dark swamp that it could bring you to tears.

Ironically, the band chose the name Rosetta as they felt it was a name both “feminine and beautiful” and it’s a near perfect summation of the tracks concealed withing the album’s hour long running time. ‘Lift Pt.1‘ begins with a soft guitar, before bursting into a guttural beast of a song, made all the more powerful by Michael Armine’s incredible roar. There are moments when his vocal chords are screaming for some form of retribution, which, whilst not very feminine, still shake the earth with a tender emotion that is hard to describe.

The band shy away from any mainstream attention.

In fact, the steady flow of the three parts of ‘Lift’ runs like a long river. It incorporates quiet village streams, and evolves into the gigantic crashes of waterfalls, never rushing, but always gradually moving onwards never taking a moment to pause. The overarching melody of the Lift trilogy sparkles among the discordant background noise, and holds the songs together before they fly off into space.

It’s no surprise that space is just one of the images that Rosetta instill into your mind whilst you get lost within the album. The band members are self confessed lovers of astrology and the deep unknown, and take a lot of inspiration from what is, or could be out there.

Like I said, I haven’t known Rosetta long. But the first time I heard this album it tore me apart, and never before had I felt such an overwhelming sense of power as I did when the songs gripped you in their rapturous climaxes. It isn’t music for the faint of heart, that is for sure but Wake/Lift is a wonderful example of a group of intelligent people coming together and creating something that, despite its dark and heavy roots, still maintains a sense of effortless beauty. By the end of ‘Monument‘ you are left with such a sense of catharsis that you can no longer hate the world, but embrace every damn thing about it.