Rosetta -- The Anaesthete

6/10

Rosetta's The Anaesthete sounds like their previous album, the great The Determinism of Morality, if someone poisoned that album to death. All the shimmery guitar to violent, buzzing guitar dynamics are there, but instead of feeling triumphant or striving in the face of the immensity of the universe, there's a sense of darkness and defeat. The beauty is missing. Their vocalist still bellows like an angry bear, and the drummer still goes from skippy, roll heavy beats, to bludgeoning sounds of doom, but even in The Anaesthete's better moments, theres a disturbing lack of freshness. It's kind of like, if the Empire Strikes back was the same exact movie as Star Wars, except in the last five minutes, Luke fails to blowup the Death Star and everyone dies. Well, the "lack of freshness" comment is not entirely true: track five, "Hoku/Compassion" is a soft, chiming ballad, still a downer, but quite emotional in a different way from anything in the band's previous work. The closer, "Shugyo/Austerity" is also something new, but the inverse of "Hodoku/Compassion." I mean inverse in that it isn't good, just six minutes of two alternating, darkly bent notes. That final track is almost like a middle finger to the listener after how incredible The Determinism of Morality was.
Still, while The Anaesthete is a disappointment, Rosetta's core sound is so strong, the album is at least worth a listen, even if they've already done the good bits before. Maybe one day my opinion will flip, and I'll think it's brilliant. At least the album cover is cool.


2013 Self-released
1. Ryu / Tradition 10:22
2. Fudo / The Immovable Deity 4:39
3. In & Yo / Dualities of the Way 7:01
4. Oku / The Secrets 6:30
5. Hodoku / Compassion 5:47
6. Myo / The Miraculous 3:02
7. Hara / The Center 7:03
8. Ku / Emptiness 8:05
9. Shugyo / Austerity 6:13