#ericbecker

Harakiri for the Sky were the openers of the evening, with their brand of black metal they provided an emotional almost meditative experience. However, most of the audience were not that absorbed by the atmosphere and had probably attended for Draconian. This became even more obvious for Rome, though in a more polarizing fashion. Me and a few others at the front had clearly showed up for this unique project, while the back of the crowd had become noisier. The noises reached their climax with a few people who repeatedly shouted for “FanFanFan” (Which Rome has covered with partly english lyrics, since Reuter is a friend of Thåström), thankfully they stopped after a short while. Despite all this Rome put on a fantastic show performing as a trio consisting of Patrick Kleinbauer on percussions, Eric Becker on guitars and Reuter on acoustic guitar, additional percussions and vocals. Opening with “Clemency” - the closer of Hall of Thatch, they effectively set the tone for the concert, it felt as if we all had come to the end of a long journey and were just to embark on a new. Somewhat surprising “Blighter” ended up being the only other Hall of Thatch track performed. Musically Rome continued down their mellow neofolk lane and spaced this with two martial percussion tracks in the setlist. The amount of emotion and sensitivity dwelling in Reuter’s voice really came into full effect with “Celine in Jerusalem” and “The Secret Germany” (For Paul Celan), making them beatiful highlights. On songs more layered in their studio equivalent it became very apparent that the trio were doing an amazing job bringing the soundscapes to life, aided by effect pedals, electric drums and a wide range of percussions. The songs weren’t just on the sonic level of their studio versions, they were beyond. Another highlight of the concert was “One Fire”, being more uptempo and relatively speaking a ‘hit’ it managed to grab the attention of the whole audience, pulling them into the atmosphere we at the front were feeling.

Shortly after the show the trio that had performed as Rome walked into the bar, taking their time to sign merch and talk to those who had attended. I took the oppportunity to ask Reuter a few things, primarily about Hall of Thatch. After a one-off performance in Vietnam he ended up falling in love with the country and travelled back repeatedly. Together with a friend living in the country he begun a journey of his own, they went to sites and temples hidden from the grasp of tourists - practicing and learning about ‘the religious hinterland of Vietnam’. Reuter still has a long road ahead of him ‘It’s not the peak of the holy mountain, merely the base camp’ and he has sought to convey this on the album. Contrary to what several people believed when it was being made, he explains that it couldn’t be calm, because his current conclusion on the complicated matter is that ‘Zenbuddhism is pain’ and far from calming. Upon hearing this and later reading the lyrics I find it very reasonable that Rome only performed two songs off Hall of Thatch at Babel. It’s an album with every song intertwined into the other, be it conceptually or musically. It demands attention to detail and an effort to understand if the listener is not to reduce the songs to mere shells of themselves. With this realization sinking in and the first riffs of Draconian making their presence known at the stage I thanked the trio of Rome one last time for the evenening and headed towards home. I sincerely felt, both literally and figuratively, that I was embarking on yet another journey.