After waiting for about a year to get this album from finished to actually released, I am happy to tell you all that The Twelve Caesars is finally out! Here's what I had to say about it in our album advertisement, which sadly was just an hour too late to actually make it:
Suetonius' De Vita Caesarum, written in 121 AD, is one of the greatest historical sources about the first Twelve Caesars of Rome from the fall of the Republic. In great detail, it describes the rise and fall of famous characters such as the cruel Tiberius, fat Vitellius and the insane Caligula, in both their splendour and decadence. HERR pays homage to this seminal work by integrating their genre-redefining bombastic orchestrations with a more songlike approach to composition. Thirteen songs tell an exceptional tale of the fact and hearsay which Suetonius described. Frivolous baroque-like music describe the gossip of the King of Bithynia sodomising Julius, violent marching songs picture an image of the short-lived rebellion of Galba, steeped in violence and anger, whilst the victor of the year of four emperors, Vespasian, is greeted with themes that remind of HERR's early work, The Winter of Constantinople. As the final chord of the thirteenth song echoes and fades, one is left with an impression of contrasts surrounding the much-hailed Roman Empire that goes beyond the simple veneration of a genre that is often plagued by a formulaic, sword-and-sandal approach to music in general.
Of course this album can be ordered from Troy (post a message to his myspace) or me (post a message here) for 10 GBP or 12.5 EU.
Cheers,
Mich