Artist: Rome
Title: The Hierophant
Genre: Neofolk
Release Date: 19th December 2025
Label: Trisol Music Group GmbH
Album Review
20 years of ROME - that was something to be celebrated in 2025. The anniversary was brought to a close with the parallel release of two albums, both conceived as sister works. While ‘The Tower’ presented itself as a deeply inward-looking record, ‘The Hierophant’ can be seen as its counterpart.
Yet “counterpart” in the context of ROME does not imply a sudden turn towards volume or speed. Instead, the perspective shifts outward - the journey moves toward transcendence, beyond the tangible and the concrete. It is a search for wisdom, as if within the temple of the Hierophant, not understood as a physical structure, but as a spiritual space of contemplation.
This idea can be traced as a clear thread throughout the entire album and is reflected in its musical gesture. From its calm and contemplative beginning, ‘The Hierophant’ gradually unfolds toward greater intensity and an increasingly optimistic undertone. Perhaps not in a strictly linear way, but in a manner that remains clearly perceptible.
Right from the outset, when Jerome Reuter opens ‘Secret Harbour’ with restrained Neofolk and a clear acoustic guitar foundation, an atmosphere of stillness and mysticism emerges. At times, ROME draw closer to the genre’s origins: the harmonically flowing ‘Days of Assembly’ evokes the spirit of ‘13 Years of Carrion’ by DEATH IN JUNE - not as a stylistic imitation, but in the emotional quality of what is presented.
This is not the only reference that becomes apparent. The opening guitar lines of ‘The Chalice and the Blade’ briefly recall the gothic rock veterans of THE MISSION, before Jerome Reuter’s vocals and a subtle synthesizer in the background firmly guide the piece back into a neofolk framework. At the same time, it becomes evident that the album is beginning to gain momentum.
‘The Hierophant’ develops an increasing inner drive - something that continues in the subsequent ‘When Light Be Gone’. Despite its dramatically coloured string arrangements, a sense of determination can be felt here, even a cautious optimism, ultimately resulting in one of the album’s most accessible neofolk compositions.
This sense of optimism also permeates ‘The Great White Hopeless’, which, with its numerous major-key moments, sounds almost unfamiliar by ROME standards. The same spirit remains present in ‘The Gods Are Slow to Forgive’, even if once again shaped more strongly by minor tonalities. Nevertheless, the movement is unmistakable. Not expressed through tempo, but through atmosphere, attitude and intensity.
The closing track ‘Apollo of Hyperborea’ ultimately carries a sense of release. The outward-facing album does not conclude in doubt, but in the possibility of insight. An ending that deliberately remains open. A compelling journey upon which ROME take us with ‘The Hierophant’ - and one whose destination will hopefully not mark an end, but the beginning of new experiences.
In this sense: here’s to the next 20 years of ROME!
Tracklist
01. Secret Harbour
02. The Harvest Is Not Here
03. Days of Assembly
04. On Sorrow’s Embankment
05. The Chalice and the Blade
06. When Light Be Gone
07. The Great White Hopeless
08. My Frail Ambassador
09. The Gods Are Slow to Forgive
10. Apollo of Hyperborea
Line-up
Jerome Reuter - Vocals, Guitar, Percussion
Tom Gatti - Bass, Synths, Modulations
Website
https://www.romepage.org / https://www.facebook.com/romeproject
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10
