It's an odd beast this one. From the title, the description in the glowing press release, and the song lengths, I thought I was going to be in for some expansive, epic space rock. From the cover artwork, on the other hand, it looked like I was going to be listening to some hardcore punk instead. To my complete and utter surprise, both of my predictions were right at the same time, which leads to an album that is as interesting as it is peculiar.

One of the fascinating things about this album is how the band have managed to fit two gimmicks onto the same actual album. Firstly, there is the genre-defying mixture of space rock and hardcore punk, which is actually pulled off quite well. Witness opening track Départe, which opens up with some fairly conventional spacey guitar work, with lots of feedback and hiss in the background, before some harsh, guttural screaming, courtesy of vocalist Michael Armine hits the song like an out-of-control freight train.

The screaming wouldn't be a problem if it were limited to the initial outburst in that first song, which catches you by surprise as it is so unexpected. Unfortunately, Armine doesn't seem to be able to help himself, and there are encore vocal performances throughout the rest of the album. Granted, they usually come in the heavier moments, where the music becomes dense and textured like something from Isis or Red Sparowes, but generally these moments would have a bit more impact without a bunch of generic, tuneless shouting slathered all over them.

The second gimmick, and one that's been tried before to very little success lies in the way that the music has been mixed. "The Galilean Satellites", consists of two separate CDs, but instead of just being a normal double album (which would have been forgivable), you're apparently supposed to play both discs at the same time on two different stereos. I'll concede to the band that this does actually sound alright, mainly because the lyrics tend to get drowned out by the guitar noise, but if this is the way that the music is supposed to be listened to, why not just mix a single CD that way? If it's not the way you're supposed to listen to it, then why bother with the gimmick, which is neither clever nor witty enough to really justify the purchase of the album?

Rosetta promise a lot with "The Galilean Satellites", but they bungle the delivery. Armine's vocal delivery wouldn't be objectionable if he were fronting a pure metal band, and when he keeps his mouth shut, the instrumental work of the band is really quite good. With a few cleaner vocals, and a more professional production job, this album could have been a real winner. The good news is that the band are still young, and they've got plenty of time to get their formula right, but in the meantime, give this one a miss.