Philadelphia-based Rosetta is a Progressive Hardcore act that is quickly gaining a lot of attention thanks to the group's ability to create heavy passages, but still bring in an Ambient atmosphere to their works. A Determinism of Morality marks the group's third full-length release, and it's quite an enjoyable one indeed one, standing out thanks to it's haunting ambient filled passages that lift the listener away, only to crush his or her spirits with commanding vocals, and the hard hitting music that often accompanies the spacey atmosphere. With a style that is just being cluttered at this point with bands that either fail to accomplish their goals horribly, or do so but sound like many others in this style, Rosetta manage to stand tall near the top with their signature sound.
At first, A Determinism of Moralty may not seem much more then a straight forward Hardcore sounding album similar to an early Between the Buried and Me release. However, as you progress through the release, you'll start to pick up on the group's more impressive traits, more then likely on the group's second track, "Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin". While "Ayil" is a good track that hammers away at the listener, "Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin" picks the listener back up after the beat down with it's beautiful atmospheric guitars that give off a feeling as if you are being lifted into the late night Heavens themselves while still retaining a sound with teeth that accompanies the deep shouting nicely. "Release" is about the same musically, maybe not quite as atmospherically rich, but the song does include some strong clean singing that works in it's place to create an addicting song that, in the long run, you can simply lay back and unwind to, possibly even just slip away to given the right circumstances.
In a sense, the tracks "Release", "Revolve", and "Renew" seem like they are part of some kind of series, as the music doesn't really seem to differ too much as far as the ambience goes. While they have dead air between each other to seperate the songs, it almost feels as if they are connected thanks to the continued similarities, and even though the music itself not being too different from one track to another, but still retaining enough unique traits to make them different entities all together. The most stand out element of these, however, would appear on "Renew" about a third of the way through, where the guitars just sound completely different and offer a more outer space feel to the music with more technical guitar work then anything else that appears on the release, all coming together with a rather big climax that works well to put an end to this possible three parter by incorporating some of the heaviness that hasn't been seen since "Ayil".
Unfortunately, it seems that none of the songs on here can compare to "Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin" as far as the ambience goes, with exception to the title track "A Determinism of Morality" due to how well it's composed, as well as it's slow nature mixing well with the ambient guitar work that is just as effective, but each does manager to pull off something remotely close, and for the most part rather effective. However, of all the songs on here, the only one that isn't too effective is "Blue Day for Croatoa". This track is simply a slow paced instrumental, which typically would be great for this style of music, but there just isn't much to it. While there is some ambience thrown into the guitars that is complimented by how the cymbols are utilized, it just doesn't do much and isn't as strong as other tracks on here, such as "Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin", which is a bit of a letdown in the long run for such a strong release. Instead, the track just comes off as an instrumental that continues along, but seems to be dragging it's feet. Aside that, there is, of course, "Ayil", which starts the album off on an intense note, but the song seems focused moreso on the intensity then the ambient-rich musical passages, working in a different manner by having the music not really change much from the start of the song, almost as if the song is something tribal in a sense.
A Determinism of Morality makes for a very enjoyable release, though it does get off to a rocky start. Fans of this style of music will easily see the stand out traits of the band, and notice how well everything is done. Granted, this release does have some material that is less then impressive here and there, but they lie solely on "Ayil" and "Blue Daw for Croatoa", and both are still enjoyable for what they are, the first moreso then the latter. If you enjoy music that offers more then just intensity, or just looking for something that you can escape your troubles and get lost with, then Rosetta's A Determinism of Morality is easily worth your time, and is one of those releases that will grow on you more and more as if it were a fine aged wine.
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