Rosetta was founded in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania by vocalist Michael Armine, bassist David Grossman, drummer Bruce McMurtrie Jr., and guitarist James Matthew Weed. The four were acquaintances in high school and had played in various bands. After only three practice sessions, they performed a last minute gig on August 20, 2003,
improvising the entire show. Their debut album,
The Galilean Satellites, featured two separate hour-long discs (one of more metal-oriented music, and one of ambience) that
synchronize together. This setup was inspired by
Neurosis' album
Times of Grace. The band's second release was a
split album with
Balboa. Titled
Project Mercury, it was released April 24, 2007 by
Level Plane Records. After a full United States tour in July, the band's second full-length album, entitled
Wake/Lift, was released through Translation Loss on October 2. The release of
Wake/Lift was accompanied by an ambient album,
The Cleansing Undertones of Wake/Lift, which came out the same day. To support the new records, Rosetta toured the United States before embarking on a June 2008 tour of Australia. Rosetta's third full-length album,
A Determinism of Morality, was released by Translation Loss on May 25, 2010. The release and was followed in the summer by the band's first full tour of the US in three years. In October, the band released a split LP with
Restorations on Cavity Records, featuring a previously unreleased track which had been recorded in December 2007. In 2012 Rosetta announced their return to Europe in July, followed by their second Australia tour. The tour was accompanied by a split release with touring partners City of Ships, released by Australian independent label Bird's Robe Records. After a decade on Translation Loss Records, Rosetta became a fully
independent band in 2013. They self-released their fourth studio album,
The Anaesthete, that same year. Guitarist and vocalist Eric Jernigan, who contributed guest vocals to the band's previous two albums, became an official member of Rosetta in 2014. Their final release on Translation Loss was the
Flies to Flame EP on October 14. A documentary film by Justin Jackson titled
Rosetta: Audio/Visual was released on Christmas day 2014. The following year, they released the film's soundtrack,
Rosetta: Audio/Visual Original Score, which was followed by their fifth studio album,
Quintessential Ephemera. Rosetta released a compilation album titled ''
A Dead-Ender's Reunion'' in 2016. It contained remixes, rarities, B-sides, and retrospectives spanning the band's career. In 2017, Rosetta released its sixth studio album,
Utopioid. Two EPs,
Sower of Wind and
Terra Sola, were released in 2019, as was a split with Labirinto and La Bestia de Gévaudan. ==Musical style==