Saturno Buttò: New Video by The Magus Anchors Multisensory Project ‘The Five Senses’

The upcoming release of ‘The Five Senses’, scheduled for 21 July 2025 via Rune Serpent Europa, brings together the work of Italian painter Saturno Buttò and an array of musicians from the industrial, metal, and experimental genres. Central to this release is a new video by The Magus for the track ‘Hymn to Lucifer,’ which forms part of a broader multimedia collaboration anchored by Buttò’s 15-panel oil painting series. Designed as a limited-edition art object, the project reflects an ongoing interest in cross-disciplinary formats that merge auditory and visual experiences for niche but discerning audiences.

Saturno Buttò, known for his technically rigorous oil paintings and reinterpretations of sacred iconography, frames this body of work around the human senses, structured into three distinct yet interrelated series. The accompanying music compilation features previously unreleased tracks from artists including Lisa Hammer, Ataraxia, and Schatten Muse. The Magus, led by former Necromantia and Yoth Iria member George Zacharopoulos, contributes ‘Hymn to Lucifer,’ a composition developed with Manos Six and George Emmanuel. Each track corresponds to the broader conceptual structure of Buttò’s work without relying on literal illustration.

The project is distributed through Rune Serpent Europa in collaboration with The Circle Music, both labels that have positioned themselves within the darker experimental and underground music spheres. The release is limited to 500 numbered copies and will be available in CD + Book and LP + Book formats, each featuring a 56-page deluxe publication that documents Buttò’s full artwork series. This format situates ‘The Five Senses’ not only as a musical and visual archive but also as a curated object aimed at collectors, archivists, and culturally invested audiences.

Saturno Buttò: An Artistic Profile

Saturno Buttò, born in 1957 in the northeastern Italian town of Portogruaro, has built a career defined by his distinct fusion of Renaissance-inspired technique with subject matter that explores corporeality, ritual, and erotic tension. A graduate of the Fine Arts Academy in Venice, Buttò developed his painting style through a rigorous study of classical methods. This foundation is evident in his precise brushwork, anatomical detail, and compositional symmetry, which reference the religious portraiture and devotional iconography of European sacred art. Yet Buttò departs from ecclesiastical reverence by embedding these elements within narratives that examine modern themes of transgression, identity, and physical experience.

Throughout his career, Buttò’s work has remained consistent in its stylistic precision while varying in the intensity of its content. He often situates human figures—frequently female models—in ritualistic, symbolic, or clinical settings, integrating medical instruments, fetishistic costuming, or sacred motifs. His paintings suggest a deliberate contradiction: the tension between purity and violence, divinity and flesh, control and desire. The use of chiaroscuro further amplifies this dialectic, bathing figures in stark light that isolates them within richly detailed but ambiguous contexts. His approach avoids abstraction entirely, preferring figurative realism that insists on the viewer’s confrontation with the subject’s gaze and bodily presence.

Buttò’s influence extends beyond the gallery space, with his imagery frequently intersecting with subcultural domains such as darkwave music, esoteric publishing, and performance art. His consistent focus on the body as a site of symbolic transformation—rather than merely erotic provocation—has positioned him within a network of contemporary artists and collaborators interested in exploring the psychological dimensions of ritual and representation. The forthcoming release of ‘The Five Senses’ amplifies this trajectory by integrating audio components with a curated series of new paintings, suggesting an effort not to rebrand his work, but to contextualize it within a broader sensory experience.

‘The Five Senses’: Conceptual Framework

‘The Five Senses’ comprises a structured body of fifteen oil paintings, conceived and executed by Buttò as a meditation on human perception. Divided into three distinct panels of five works each, the series uses the senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste—as conceptual anchors rather than narrative devices. The visual series operates in stages: beginning with compositions focused on beauty and sensuality, transitioning into a central suite resembling sequential frames from a film, and concluding with works described by the artist as containing “pornographic echoes.” Despite the escalating intensity across the series, Buttò maintains his characteristic focus on compositional discipline and aesthetic refinement, resisting gratuitousness in favor of control and symmetry.

In the first set of five paintings, each work features two models interacting in a manner loosely indicative of a specific sense. The interpretations are intentionally non-sequential and abstracted—visual cues suggest the theme without directly illustrating it. The second group, identified by the artist as “ritual,” depicts five different senses across five works, each employing five subjects arranged in formal, almost ceremonial postures. These pieces adopt a deliberate order and use visual repetition to evoke the solemnity of an initiatory process. The third set introduces a more explicit visual vocabulary, with three models per painting engaging in gestures or scenarios that represent a single sense each. These final works reflect Buttò’s interest in ritualized eroticism, but remain within the boundaries of symbolic composition rather than raw provocation.

Throughout the series, Eros serves as an underlying thread rather than an overt theme. Buttò’s treatment of sensuality avoids allegory and does not offer resolution; instead, it constructs a contained world in which touch, sight, and desire intersect under tightly controlled formal parameters. The inclusion of multiple models within each work—a rarity in Buttò’s earlier portraits—shifts the viewer’s focus from individual psychology to relational dynamics. As a result, the series moves beyond depiction into spatial choreography, echoing the structure of performance while remaining firmly within the medium of oil painting. ‘The Five Senses’ is thus not only a conceptual project but a structural one, its format reflecting a conscious engagement with rhythm, sequence, and repetition.

‘The Five Senses’: Expanding the Sensory Experience

The musical dimension of ‘The Five Senses’ operates not as an accompaniment but as a parallel construct—curated to mirror, extend, and occasionally disrupt the visual structure established by Buttò. The project includes thirteen unreleased tracks from a diverse roster of artists operating within industrial, metal, and experimental music spheres. These contributions were not commissioned to sonically narrate the paintings but rather to inhabit the same conceptual space, offering distinct interpretive gestures toward the idea of sensory experience. The compilation, coordinated in part by Rune Serpent Europa, foregrounds sound as a form of spatial engagement—an echo to the static intensity of Buttò’s painted figures.

The selection of contributors reflects a deliberate cross-section of artists whose work shares affinities with Buttò’s aesthetic—rigorous, symbolic, and often confronting. Among them are Lisa Hammer, known for her work in gothic performance and dark ambient composition; Ataraxia, a long-standing Italian neofolk act with a history of mythic and ritual-based material; and Schatten Muse, who contributes a composition rooted in Germanic melancholy and post-industrial tonality. The presence of these artists, each with established reputations in their respective genres, situates the project within an alternative but coherent network of aesthetic production. Rather than seeking mainstream appeal, the compilation appeals to listeners attuned to sonic environments that privilege mood, symbolism, and abstraction.

The decision to pair each artist’s contribution with a release format that includes a 56-page deluxe book further reinforces the project’s multisensory scope. The book reproduces Buttò’s complete painting cycle, serving not as an explanatory guide but as a visual archive in dialogue with the music. Neither medium dominates the other, and no overt sequencing attempts to impose a one-to-one correspondence between image and sound. Instead, the compilation allows for interpretive multiplicity, where the viewer-listener may experience the two bodies of work separately or simultaneously. In this sense, ‘The Five Senses’ functions less as a unified concept album and more as a curated encounter between artistic forms operating under shared thematic constraints.

The Magus’s ‘Hymn to Lucifer’: A Notable Contribution

Among the thirteen musical works featured in the compilation, the new composition by The Magus—titled ‘Hymn to Lucifer’—emerges as a focal point due both to its authorship and its thematic correspondence with the broader project. Composed and performed by George Zacharopoulos (also known as The Magus), alongside collaborators Manos Six and George Emmanuel, the track engages directly with esoteric source material, drawing its lyrics from Aleister Crowley’s poem of the same name. The use of this text situates the piece within a tradition of occult literature frequently referenced in Zacharopoulos’s musical catalogue, while the arrangement itself departs from the orthodox structures of his earlier black metal work with Necromantia and Yoth Iria.

‘Hymn to Lucifer’ integrates layered vocal incantations, minimal percussion, and droning tonalities that lean closer to ritual ambient than traditional metal. The result is a dense sonic atmosphere that refrains from overt dramatization, relying instead on repetition and pacing to convey ritual cadence. Unlike other tracks on the compilation that operate within clearly delineated musical genres, The Magus’s contribution presents itself as a hybrid composition—its structure informed more by the rhythm of invocation than song form. This approach aligns with the framing of ‘The Five Senses’ not as entertainment but as experiential immersion, where the auditory and visual components invite a form of concentrated engagement.

The track’s positioning within the compilation, as the ninth entry in the sequence, is neither introductory nor conclusive, suggesting a deliberate choice to embed it within the arc of the listening experience rather than allowing it to dominate the release. According to promotional materials circulated by The Circle Music, the track has been described as “a real shock,” language which—while interpretive—points to its distinctiveness within the broader collection. Available for early streaming via YouTube, ‘Hymn to Lucifer’ has already begun to circulate within fan networks of The Magus, providing a preview of the project’s tone and contributing to anticipation surrounding the full release. Its inclusion affirms the compilation’s ambition to bridge individual artistic identities without collapsing them into a singular aesthetic framework.

Release Format and Label Collaboration

The release of ‘The Five Senses’ is managed through a partnership between Rune Serpent Europa and The Circle Music, two labels whose catalogues reflect a shared commitment to experimental, esoteric, and niche cultural productions. Rune Serpent Europa, in particular, has cultivated a reputation for curating multidisciplinary projects that extend beyond conventional music publishing. Its involvement in this release emphasizes a strategic alignment with works that combine visual intensity with auditory experimentation. In this context, Saturno Buttò’s art—anchored in sacred aesthetics and corporeal symbolism—offers a visual counterpoint to the sonic material curated for the compilation.

The production format reinforces the project’s dual identity as both an audio release and a collectible art object. Limited to 500 numbered copies, ‘The Five Senses’ is offered in two physical releases: a CD accompanied by a 56-page deluxe book, and an LP edition featuring red vinyl housed in a printed inner sleeve, also paired with the same book. Each version foregrounds tactility, echoing the project’s conceptual concern with the senses and reinforcing its resistance to digital ephemerality. This decision situates the release within the collector culture of physical media, where scarcity, packaging, and visual design hold intrinsic value beyond the content itself.

The design and layout of the accompanying book follow a gallery-style presentation, reproducing Buttò’s complete fifteen-panel painting cycle with high-resolution fidelity. No explanatory commentary or artist statement accompanies the images, a deliberate omission that allows the viewer to engage directly with the work on visual terms. Distribution is handled via Rune Serpent Europa’s direct channels, including Bandcamp and selected physical outlets, and supported by The Circle Music’s online infrastructure. The strategy avoids mass-market retail or streaming platforms, aligning instead with boutique circulation models typical of underground art and music publishing. In doing so, it reinforces the project’s alignment with a cultural space defined not by scale, but by specificity of interest and curatorial intent.

Audience Response and Cultural Positioning

While ‘The Five Senses’ has yet to be released in full, early indicators suggest a strong response among the overlapping communities that engage with dark visual art, industrial and experimental music, and limited-edition publishing. The advance release of The Magus’s ‘Hymn to Lucifer’ has drawn measurable attention on digital platforms, particularly within black metal and occult music circles where George Zacharopoulos maintains long-standing recognition. Pre-orders for the compilation, hosted via The Circle Music’s distribution page, have positioned the project as a sought-after collector’s item within a saturated market of ephemeral digital content. The decision to limit physical production to 500 units has further intensified interest, reinforcing the sense of the release as an exclusive archival object rather than a standard audio product.

Within the visual arts, Buttò’s ongoing exhibitions and strong online presence—particularly through Instagram and his official website—have maintained his relevance across generations of collectors and curators interested in figurative realism with transgressive overtones. The integration of his newest work within a multimedia project represents a notable development in his practice, situating his paintings within a new circulation model that bypasses traditional gallery networks in favor of direct cultural engagement. Though not unprecedented, this model—merging fine art with underground music distribution—challenges institutional separations between visual and sonic media while preserving the autonomy of each form.

Given the specificity of its content and the curated nature of its distribution, ‘The Five Senses’ is unlikely to generate broad commercial coverage. However, its reception within independent press outlets, specialist radio programs, and academic circles focused on ritual art, transgressive aesthetics, or sensory philosophy is likely to be significant. The project may also serve as a point of reference in future discussions about hybrid publishing formats and the use of physical media to reframe artistic practice. Rather than reaching audiences through traditional promotional pathways, the impact of ‘The Five Senses’ will be measured by its resonance within tightly knit networks of cultural producers, archivists, and critical audiences committed to the preservation and contextualization of limited-edition works.

Conclusion

‘The Five Senses’ stands as a deliberate convergence of visual and auditory disciplines, shaped through the collaborative contributions of artists who operate at the margins of mainstream cultural production. Rather than presenting a unified narrative or closed interpretation, the project maintains a structural openness—offering viewers and listeners an environment in which sensory engagement is encouraged through curated juxtaposition rather than prescriptive explanation. This methodological restraint allows the project to function not as a thematic artifact but as an active site of interpretation, shaped by the interplay of sound, image, material form, and conceptual rigor.

Saturno Buttò’s work, deeply rooted in historical technique and visual symbolism, finds in this project a new form of circulation that does not dilute its integrity. By positioning his paintings alongside sonic compositions from artists across the experimental and underground music spectrum, the release locates itself within a broader conversation about the role of form, ritual, and sensory perception in contemporary art. Each component—visual, musical, and material—reinforces the others without collapsing into a singular or reductive identity. The result is a carefully framed encounter, designed not to entertain but to provoke sustained attention.

The release strategy adopted by Rune Serpent Europa and The Circle Music reflects a recognition of this intent, favoring curated scarcity over widespread distribution and allowing the project to reach its intended audience without distortion. In doing so, ‘The Five Senses’ reasserts the relevance of physical media and cross-disciplinary dialogue in an era defined by speed, fragmentation, and digital saturation. It offers a model for future collaborations that value depth over reach, experience over access, and coherence without simplification.