We’re proud to announce “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN”, the blood-freezing second full-length album from Swedish black/death industrial beast V:XII (pronounced and read "Five Twelve") a magistral work which adds a new urgency and dimension to the infamous underworld of Scandinavian evil martial dark ambient/industrial made famous by the legendary legacy of Cold Meat Industry and affiliated acts like Brighter Death Now, Mz.412, etc., and later, by its contemporary bastions like Nordvarg and Trepaneringsritualen.
The release has been presented by legendary industrial outlet ReGen Magazine via an exclusive track premiere of the song “Cyclic Saturnial”, stating that “drawing sonically on the traditions laid down by Cold Meat Industry and affiliated acts, the track is an aural representation of the theory of reptilian beings enslaving humans through the subjugation of rational thought and instilling mass psychosis over many eons – a conspiratorial subject that echoes the wider scope of the LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN album’s themes of religious and ritualistic power leading to a world drowned in darkness and dread.” - you can check out their premiere and stream the song HERE.
This crushing new opus is a grueling listening experience that for thirty six minutes imposes complete submission upon the listener, drawing them into a wretched realm of majestic, deconstructed electronics and into an infernal dimension of utter darkness and dread. Perverse, violent and hallucinatory in its every aspect, “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” conjures a lightless abyss of paranoia and ritualized insanity, as it unfolds an ominous concept on the conspiratorial mind devolved into to its worst and most deteriorated form, the religious one. A sense of grim solemnity transpires from the album's ritualistic and almost liturgic pace, evoking a seething feeling of absolute evil as widescreen moments of abysmal dark ambience are violently lacerated by violent, spasmodic proclamations and by an onslaught of cold, bludgeoning martial rhythms and disembodied incantations.
The dark and obscure post-industrial bedlam of V:XII (pronounced and read “five twelve” - from Romans 5:12 of the New Testament) was first conceived in 2018 by long time Swedish experimental musician Daniel Jansson (also behind bands like Culted, Deadwood, Keplers odd etc), as a means to expand his dark sonic expression with a more beat-oriented and menacing approach to the Black/Death Industrial sub-genre compared to the more abstract and lengthy format of Deadwood. Taking inspiration from everything from Black Metal to Industrial bands spanning from Ministry, NIN and Skinny Puppy to Mz.412, Brighter Death Now and Trepaneringsritualen, Jansson started working on a new sonic canvas to summon an abhorrent and bludgeoning post-industrial specter of wretched incantations, crushing martial rhythmics and diseased ritualistic atmospheres. These bleak and perverse post-industrial conjurations conceived by Jansson soon began to assume a life of their own, deserving a dedicated project, and within a short period of time V:XII had became the main focus of Jansson. Thematically, V:XII examines and dissects both occult and political conspiracy theories, with an emphasis on the religious aspect of the conspiratorial mind. And with this conceptual backdrop to enhance and exalt the malevolence of the music V:XII started to grow into the entity it was meant to become. A punishing and disembodied sonic experience that must be suffered through to be appreciated. An auditory attack on the senses that bleeds you dry. The first album “Rom, Rune and Ruin” was released in 2020 and the self-released “CTRL” EP followed suit in 2021. V:XII’s monstrous new full-length album “LU-CIPHER-SABBATEAN” will see its wretched birth on Sentient Ruin Laboratories on April 21 2023 worldwide.