Sunday 7 June 2015

Rosetta - Quintessential Ephemera (Album Review)


Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: July 3rd 2015
Label: Golden Antenna Records

Quintessential Ephemera - Track Listing:

1.After The Funeral
2.(Untitled I)
3.(Untitled II)
4.(Untitled III)
5.(Untitled IV)
6.(Untitled V)
7.(Untitled VI)
8.(Untitled VII)
9.Nothing In The Guise Of Something

Band Members:

Matt Weed - guitar;
BJ McMurtrie - drums;
Dave Grossman - bass;
Mike Armine - vocals, electronics;
Eric Jernigan - guitar

Review:

Rosetta are a band who don't really get the credit they deserve, somewhat overshadowed by the likes of Isis, Russian Circles and Pelican, they've got a solid back catalogue of full lengths, EPs and splits. 'Quintessential Ephemera' is their 5th full length and their 2nd that they've released themselves,gotta love the DIY ethics!

Album opener 'After the Funeral', which is more of an intro, lulls the listener into a trance with it's layers of delay and reverb drenched guitars that give nods to the likes of MBV and Mogwai. This bleeds into the first proper song, 'Untitled 1' where vocalist Michael Armine screams into action from the off. Guitars are thick and heavy although the reverb guitars and synths give a layer of other worldness.

The following 6 songs are also untitled with all 7 being the album's centrepiece. Untitled 3 is a personal highlight where nods to genre progenitors Neurosis, Isis and Cult of Luna are prevalent with heavy guitars and haunting synths as well as occasional clean harmonising vocals. Untitled 5 is another personal highlight where guitars crank up the delay and spoken word samples are thrown in.

The whole album is expansive and ethereal in it's delivery and production and by the time closer 'Nothing in the Guise of Something's last notes have rung out, the listener will feel emotionally cleansed. My only critique would be that the distorted guitars need to be louder in the mix...but that's just a personal preference. A truly solid effort from a brilliant band.

Words by Chris Bull

Thanks To Magnus at Creative Eclipse PR for the promo. Quintessential Ephemera will be available to buy from Golden Antenna Records, War Crime Recordings on Vinyl and CD from here. It will be available as a BandCamp Buy Now Download from June 22nd 015.

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