Rome - Masse Mensch Material (2008)

One of the biggest names and most innovative forces in the worldwide neofolk scene, Rome is the project of Luxembourgh-based musician Jerome Reuter. His new EP, Hate Us and See If We Mind, is available for purchase here.

Masse Mensch Material, his third full-length, can be heard as a full realization of Rome's early sound, a densely layered synthesis of martial industrial and neofolk enlivened by Reuter's keen ear for melody and swooning hooks. His lyrics, written in English and delivered in a rich, somewhat resigned baritone, deal exclusively with the deepest of human concerns and emotions -- war, love, betrayal, mortality, etc. Of particular significance is "Der Erscheinungen Flucht," an aching, heart wrenching composition that finds Reuter at the height of his musical and lyrical powers and points to the more accessible direction that he pursued on his equally sublime fourth album, Flowers from Exile.

Track listing:
1. Sonnengotter
2. Der Brandtaucher
3. Das Feuerordal
4. Der tote Spielmann
5. Wir Gotter der Stadt
6. Die Nelke
7. Der Erscheinungen Flucht
8. Die Brandstifter
9. Kriegsgotter
10. Wir Moorsoldaten
11. Neue Erinnerung
12. Nachtklang

A rose for the vanquished
A kiss on the neck to be hanged
We're all doubled up with love
A traitor's love
A guardian's love