Coming off the back of A Determinism of Morality, by far Rosetta's strongest, most cohesive, and most realised album to date, The Anaesthete feels somewhat lackluster on first listen. Sure, Weed is still playing through a daisy chain of delay pedals longer than Bill Gates' payroll, Grossman is still alternating between overdriven grooves and melodic meandering, McMutrie is still hammering his kit with all eight of his limbs, and Armine is howling and sampling to his heart's content, but the material here lacks the scale of The Galilean Satellites, and the cohesiveness and fist-in-the-air moments of A Determinism of Morality. The album definitely gets better with more listens (with Fudo and Hara as notable standouts, distracting attention from the closer Shugyo, which could well pass for an At the Gates riff slowed down 800%), but as it stands, in its desperation to escape the clutches of the dreaded 'post-metal' label, The Anaesthete doesn't quite live up to the stellar yardstick Rosetta set for themselves with preceding releases.
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