With the new soundscapes of “Blätter und Steine”, ROME takes its Martial Ambient Series to a new level. What started with “Käferzeit” in 2019 and was later expanded on “Gärten und Straßen” (2020) and “Haus der Flieger” (2021) – the latter being exclusively available as a supporter edition to gather funds for the ongoing legal battle – has now been taken to new heights on the latest addition to the series: “Blätter und Steine”. These brilliant and frantic compositions are full of noble brooding and tormented ecstasy and invite the listener onto an uneasy, yet thoroughly rewarding sonic wandering.
ROME intuitively blends harsher industrial sound shreds with dream like organ-driven sequences, as the loops impressively transition from light sophistication to a sinister storm. Swirling into a dazzling hypnotic echo “Blätter und Steine” is full of dark grace and carries a forlorn, fragile ele-gance, but Reuter does not shy away from brute force. The album’s brief yet substantial themes run over darkly lustrous slopes and ominous loop-plains, with the blood of each landscape seeming to spill into the other. ROME evokes a wail at the edge where one world ends and another begins. Dream away, restless minds!