#14. Rome - Uropia O Morte
Sometimes it's not what you know, but whom. It was actually my wife who introduced me to Luxembourg's Jerome Reuter, aka Rome. She was quite obsessed with him when we first started dating, and while i didn't quite understand his sound or style, I've come to appreciate him more and more with each passing release. The man is quite prolific - he generally seems to release an album every year. Most have a similar theme - maritime war, sociopolitical commentary, love and loss. I've read interviews with him where he says he's not trying to be political, but he cannot ignore what is going on in the world. It's difficult to describe his sound, but Wikipedia calls him "experimental neofolk and martial industrial". Yeah, you figure it out. What I do know is that he has an amazing voice and a clever eye to the world going on around him. "One Lion's Roar" was the first song released for the new record and for a while I thought that was going to be the song that made it to the Countdown this year.
And then I heard "Uropia O Morte". Heavy percussion and acoustic guitar, two mainstays in Rome's music, open the song before his brooding voice sings about what seems to be the decline of a man or country destroyed by war. I have scoured the interwebs trying to find what "Uropia" might be, but it seems to translate loosely to "the death of Europe". I saw one critic say that "Uropia" is probably a mash of Europe and Utopia. Rome writes his songs in several different languages and often uses German as a secondary to English. The entire record is brilliant, but this song seems to have the more heartfelt passion and longing behind it. Having seen Rome live, I can tell you that he pours himself into his craft. We drove 9 hours to see him perform at a festival last year and his performance alone was worth the trip.
Favorite Line: "You said we didn't bleed enough, are we bleeding enough for you now?"
Title: Uropia O Morte
Artist: Rome
Album: Le Ceneri di Heliodoro
Previous 14s
2018: Solar Fake - The Pain That Kills You Too
2017: DREAMCAR - Kill for Candy
2016: Chvrches - Leave a Trace
2015: Spoon - New York Kiss
2014: Weird Al Yankovic - A) Foil; B) Handy
2013: Atlas Genius - If So
2012: Metric - Clone
2011: Crystal Castles - Not In Love (ft Robert Smith)
2010: Nevermore - Moonrise (Through Mirrors of Death)
2009: Red - Out From Under
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