November 11, 2026

Rome’s ‘Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit’ turns 15 on 11 November

Rome released the trilogy “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” through Trisol on 11 November 2011. The three-volume album turns 15 this year.

Rome "Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit" album cover art
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Luxembourgish neofolk act Rome released the three-volume album “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” through Trisol on 11 November 2011. “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” turns 15 this year.

Jérôme Reuter, Rome’s sole constant member, built the record as a 36-track trilogy split into three twelve-track volumes: “Aufbruch” (“A Cross of Wheat”), “Aufruhr” (“A Cross of Fire”) and “Aufgabe” (“A Cross of Flowers”). The lyrics draw on the writings of Bertolt Brecht, Pablo Neruda, Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Gustav Landauer, worked through Rome’s mix of neofolk, martial industrial, dark ambient and chanson. It was the first Rome album recorded with analogue technique and minimal post-production.

Trisol issued the trilogy as a limited box set in November 2011, then released the three volumes separately on CD in 2012. Side-Line covered a three-LP vinyl reissue of the set in 2017, and COP International currently offers a signed, limited clear-vinyl 3LP edition capped at 500 copies worldwide. All three volumes of “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” stream on Spotify.

About Rome

Rome is a neofolk project from Luxembourg, formed in November 2005 by Jérôme Reuter as the main outlet for his songs. Reuter recorded Rome’s first release, the EP “Berlin,” in December 2005 at sound engineer Patrick Damiani’s studio in Germany. Rome signed to the Swedish label Cold Meat Industry in early 2006 and released the debut album “Nera” that year, followed by “Confessions d’un voleur d’âmes” (2007) and “Masse Mensch Material” (2008). Damiani became a full-time member of Rome in 2008, and violinist Nikos Mavridis joined in 2009, the same year Rome signed to Trisol Music Group and released “Flowers from Exile.” “Nos Chants perdus” followed in 2010, before “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” arrived as a trilogy box set in November 2011.

Rome continued with “Hell Money” (2012), “A Passage to Rhodesia” (2014), “Coriolan” and “The Hyperion Machine” (both 2016), and further albums including “Hall of Thatch” (2018), “The Lone Furrow” (2020), “Parlez-Vous Hate?” (2021) and “Hegemonikon” (2022). “Gates of Europe” followed in 2023, and Rome released “Civitas Solis,” “The Tower” and “The Hierophant” in 2025. Fifteen years after its release, “Die Æsthetik der Herrschaftsfreiheit” remains Rome’s largest release to date, at 36 tracks across three volumes.

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