Number Eleven: Rostetta - A Determinism of Morality

Great album art.  Enough said. 

I'd hazard the guess that every music fan has that one artist who made that one album that is held to a standard higher than all else.  That one album that despite how many time you spin it never gets old, and yet no matter how quality their subsequent releases you'll judge everything they do to that absurdly fantastic album.  It's an unrealistic expectation to keep for any artist, but I had unquestionably fell in to that trap with Rosetta, thankfully though A Determinism of Reality broke me out.  

If you've never listened to Rosetta I'd have a hard time accurately pinpointing their sound.  Their earlier albums cribbed quite a bit from bands like Neurosis and Isis (and they'll admit as much) in their song writing and sludge-y undertones to the point that they were one of only a could bands you could really classify as space metal.  Their past couple albums though have them going in to more Explosions in the Sky territory.  I still think they're too sludge-y to be post rock, but too post-rock to be sludge so they're (as far as I'm concerned) out there in their own space.  

Of course the question now is "what broke me out of said trap?"  The best answer I can honestly manage is "I don't know, but I think a flip switched."  Rosetta has always inhabited a place for me as a sonically massive, deeply emotional band.  Rosetta's music is the sound of solitude amongst everything.  They've never been a band I can put on at the drop of a hat and start working or doing whatever, listening idly but when I'm in the mood for Rosetta I know I'm in the mood for Rosetta.  That  being said despite owning all their albums I continually come back to their first album, The Galilean Satellites, which is a hugely powerful album and possibly my favorite album of all time so that may skew my perception.  

I think what A Determinism of Morality may have done for me is detach my connection with Rosetta as Big Emotional Music Time music to more terrestrial Great Band I Love Listening To music.  This is still immensely powerful music, but I think I've found my place with.  I can sit down with A Determinism of Morality and get work done and I'm more excited than ever to go through their older albums again.