�Ambitious� is one way of describing Rosetta�s debut, the two CD The Galilean Satellites. To release a double album straight out the gate is to court disaster, but this Philadelphia group pulls it off by the strength of their compositions. Rather than be a double album of the same style, The Galilean Satellites is broken into two separate entities. Disc one is the more straightforward of the two, with five tracks that fall into the Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, and fellow label mates Mouth of the Architect style. They�re densely layered epics that cram as many peaks and valleys as humanly possible within each song. What�s even better is that while technically impressive, Rosetta doesn�t lose the emotional quality to the music.

Disc two breaks free of the more conventional sound, offering five soundscapes of ambience, drone, and distortion. It is mesmerizing in its own right. �Ambitious� is a fitting description; �awesome� is another. Some may find issue with the similarities between Rosetta and their stylistic brethren, but I found The Galilean Satellites to be an amazing experience.

Rosetta's fusion of illbient experimental and doom/drone is a darkly marvelous thing to behold. The listener is carried through two discs of heady soundscape, with the music sometimes assuming traditional song structure, but densely so, with massive, grinding vocals that somehow stretch expansively into the ambient doom metal density surrounding and melding with them. Other times, one is exposed to flat-out experimental, noise atmosphericness that is equal to the metal segments in power. Rosetta's music is challenging, but rewarding to the diligent. Stunning.

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