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Night and day coincide in this atmospheric Split release.-
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| Junius/Rosetta: Split |
Post Rock, Progressive Hardcore
Translation Loss Records
September 27th, 2011
Junius:
- A Dark Day with Night - 8:06
Rosetta:
- TMA-3 - 9:55
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| Review Information |
Release length: 18:02
Review posted on September 3rd, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
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| Junius Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist (2009)
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| EP(s): |
Forcing Out the Silence (2004) • Blood is Bright (2006)
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| Split(s): |
The Time of Perfect Virtue (2010) • Junius/Rosetta (2011)
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| Single(s): |
The Fires of Antediluvia (2007)
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| Compilation(s): |
Junius (2007)
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| Rosetta Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
The Galilean Satellites (2005) • Wake/Lift (2007) • A Determinism of Morality (2010)
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| EP(s): |
The Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift (2007)
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| Split(s): |
Project Mecury (2007) • East of the Wall/Rosetta/Year of No Light Split (2010) • Junius/Rosetta (2011)
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| Demo(s): |
Demo (2003)
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| Review |
Translation Loss Records has brought two of the more impressive underground "Progressive" acts together for a two song split EP release. Junius hails from Boston, Massachusettes, and has issued a number of releases since 2004, and falls more on the Post Rock side of music, but their sound compliments this Split EP nicely when working with Rosetta, a Progressive Hardcore act based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also with a number of recordings since their demo in 2003. But, does this two song EP really put the band's best feet forward and make this an effort fans of atmospheric and Progressive recordings need to add to their collection?
First up is the song "A Dark Day with Night" by Junius. There is a strong Rock vibe in the music, but there's a pretty heavy atmosphere one might find in a Between the Buried and Me album. The song really does have a dark feeling to it, but more in a stylish manner, as if staring at the night time sky with the only light sources being the distant stars as you travel throughout the cosmos. The guitars really capture this feeling well with the clean, modern sound they emit, and a very strong bass that matches them perfectly to complete this rather soothing sound that is matched by the clean singing. The drums cleash loudly in the mix with rich snares and strong bass kicks that have a nice click. This audio quality is similar to the offering from Rosetta, except the bass kicks have a more distant sounding click to them, and the vocals are screamed instead of cleanly sung. Junius does a fantastic job of holding the listener's attention throughout the entire track and, really, due to it's soothing Progressive sound mixed with clean singing, this track really stands out as the more impressive of the two.
Rosetta does a good job with "TMA-3" though, but it just feels a little rougher in comparison. The atmosphere tries to reach a similar astral atmosphere as Junius does, but it feels weighed down from the production quality. The audio here is not quite as clean and stylish, but rather feels thicker, more like a brick wall in comparison to the fluid soothing sound that came before it. During the slower parts, this isn't too much of a problem, but when coupled with the screaming background vocals, it does affect the outcome. The main draw to this release is that the song does build up, allowing the music to become heavier and better suit the deeper screams, and there are some bridges here without the vocals that do feel lighter and sleeker, sort of abandoning that atmospheric brick wall fory quite some time, such as the longer passage that follows that first build up to louder material. This section does slowly bring things back to that louder, heavier section, and the transition here works well to introduce some more technical-sounding guitar work that goes hand in hand with that slower, sleeker sound that stood out. The variations between the soothing sound and the more in-your-face passages are executed well throughout the track, and you do walk away feeling the band put together a solid song by the end.
If you happen to be a fan of this kind of Progressive Rock or Hardcore sound, then this Split release with Junius and Rosetta is well worth looking into. While Junius puts on an impressive performance you can lay back and slip away into a world the music inspires, Rosetta does quite achieve that but puts a good Progressively building track together you can't help but open your eyes and pay attention to once it kicks in, and that's where this coupling ends up working so well together. This Split offering has a consistant enough atmosphere and sound from start to finish, which is how the bands end up working so well together, but at the same time it's as if you are venturing into a musical interpretation of night and day, which is simply fantastic. It may not be on the most spectacular Split releases to ever come out, but it's well worth taking notice of and checking out when you get a chance.
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Junius
Rosetta
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Translation Loss Records.
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