When I read on the flier that came with V:28 disc “file under industrial metal” I could feel my pants gathering in a bunch. It is very rare that this combo style fits well on my mental platter. Somehow mechanical heavy programmed rhythms never seem to jiggle my fancy. This heavy but lifeless genre sniffs too much like Marilyn Manson and I just plain detest that artist. Norwegians V:28 have the right to call themselves whatever they want to call themselves, they are the creators of music after all. I only wish, however, that more industrial bands sounded like V:28, profoundly deep and out-and-out creepy.

SoulSaviour is the second installment by the band, and the second part of the conceived trilogy as tracks on the album are numbered 11 through 19. I am completely unfamiliar with the first part, and can’t attest to the concept behind SoulSaviour, but found the intro describing thermonuclear explosion intriguing and tried to comprehend between cryptic lyrical lines.

Unlike so many industrial outfits before them V:28 do not make the programmed drums the centerpiece of their music. If these rhythms aren’t produced by a man, what is the point? It does not mean that SoulSaviour lacks heaviness. Mechanical pounder The Purifying Flames and oppressive As the Sky Opens provide plenty of evidence. Rather than duplicating electrodance of The Kovenant V:28 opts for a much more disturbing vibe akin to post-black bands like Bethlehem. Unleash the Energy is amazing with its expansive guitar riffs and synthesizers bubbling to the surface. On top of it, or should I rather say on the bottom of the mix, rests the voice of Eddie Risdal, slightly processed and twisted as if coming from the Hellish voicebox. The spine-chilling feeling is periodically reinforced when Kristofer Oustad’s synths sound icy and static (A Prophecy Written in Uranius, The Purifying Flames). V:28 music is both symphonic and cavernous at the same time, Solid Structure Unknown utilizing both some string arrangements and female backing vocals.

Some tracks do burst out with crazymaniacal dance (Infected by Life), but most of the time the tempo is not fast. SoulSaviour is much more about sound layering, desolation and eerie calmness, the state of shock after nuclear or hydrogen device goes off. Dead Men’s Choir instrumental captures it perfectly. LRZ of Red Harvest has helped to produce the record and I would like to know how far off I am thinking that it is same man as Ihsahn’s brother-in-law.

I have to admit the album did not “come” to me easy. Trying to shake off the industrial label, listening to it on the run simply did not do it for me the first few times. Such avantgarde opuses usually require multiple listens, but if with Solefald the more I listened the more I could not stand it, V:28 is definitely a grower. For those who do not like their metal plain vanilla.