Famous five arrive

AFTER taking their innovative post-metal sounds to the rest of the country a few times, US band Rosetta are set to make their Tasmanian live debut this weekend.

Matt Weed (guitar), BJ McMurtrie (drums), Dave Grossman (bass) and Mike Armine (vocals, keyboards) formed Rosetta in Philadelphia in 2003 and started writing experimental, spaced-out compositions that were quickly dubbed “metal for astronauts”.

The group’s first two albums — 2005’s The Galilean Satellites and 2007’s Wake/Lift — combined atmospheric sludge metal with elements of ’90s hardcore, drone and doom music, before focusing on more sophisticated melodies for 2010’s A Determinism of Morality

Rosetta sold their dark and unsettling 2013 album The

Anaesthete under a pay-what-youwant system and it became their most successful release to date, recouping their costs in 24 hours and remaining one of Bandcamp’s top-selling items for nearly a month. Their 2015 record Quintessential

Ephemera — their first release since adding Eric Jernigan as the second guitarist — then received widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike.

Rosetta have continued their search for “the intersection of heaviness and beauty” on their sixth album, Utopioid, which was released in September.

The band’s most concept-driven work to date, which was written as a four-part song cycle, Utopioid is described as “an unflinching study of human aspiration, frailty and betrayal”.

Rosetta recently completed their third Australian tour, supporting Sydney post-rock band Sleepmakeswaves.

Now they are set to visit Tasmania for the first time this weekend, playing two shows with Hobart act Departe: at The Greenwood Bar in Launceston tomorrow night (with local supports Atra Vetosus and Break Through); and at Hobart’s Brisbane Hotel from 8pm on Saturday (with Break Through and Melbourne “gloom lords” SUNDR).

Tickets to the Hobart show are $17.85, go to www.oztix.com.au for bookings.