A BEAUTIFULLY HORRIFIC ALBUM COVER

Israeli maestro, Eliran Kantor, crafted the cover artwork for Scalpture 's new album, "Landkrieg." This is the second collaboration (after the cover for the album, "Feldwärts") between Kantor and the German band.

"We knew we wanted to collaborate with Eliran Kantor again," Scalpture's members collectively comment. "In fact, the idea for the concept behind 'Landkrieg' was born while we were celebrating the release of Feldwärts—drinking, talking and already thinking about what would come next. From the beginning, we envisioned a beautiful, almost picturesque landscape painting that, upon closer inspection, reveals something truly horrific happening in the background."

The musicians say that "the central event in the artwork—a man killing another with an axe—went through several iterations before reaching its final form. Eliran was incredibly patient with us as we took our time refining the concept. The scene itself is inspired by an etching from Hans Ulrich Franck, an artist who lived during the Thirty Years' War. Eliran took this historical reference and transformed it into something truly stunning. For a Death Metal album cover, 'Landkrieg' is surprisingly colorful and, at first glance, even idyllic. Our initial stylistic direction was “Goya meets Monet,” and we believe Eliran captured that perfectly. His ability to blend beauty with brutality is unmatched, and we couldn’t be happier with the result."

"Landkrieg" is available through Testimony Records and through Scalpture's Bandcamp at https://scalpture.bandcamp.com/album/landkrieg

See more of Eliran Kantor's portfolio and purchase fine prints from his work at https://elirankantor.com/

THE PROPHET'S PORTRAIT

Polish Black Metal act, PATRIARKH (which basically is a new incarnation of Batushka) recently released the album "ПРОРОК ИЛИЯ" (“Prophet Ilja”) via Napalm Records. The cover artwork is a portrait of the titular character painted by multi-disciplinary Polish artist, Maciek Szupica aka Monsieur Zupika.

"Prophet Ilja is a historical figure who appeared in the Podlasie region during a time filled with unrest and mystery," Szupica reveals to And Justice For Art. "It was an era of self-proclaimed prophets who, in a rather sectarian manner, influenced uneducated groups of people, leading them into various religious rituals and practices."

Szupica had been "collaborating with the band Batushka for several years, which began when I was offered to create their first album cover." This naturally continued when he was offered to paint the artwork for "Prophet Ilja." He always works with vocalist, Bartłomiej "Bart" Krysiuk, "to best capture the mysticism of Orthodox rituals. I always strive to gather as much detailed information as possible to ensure I don’t miss any significant symbolic elements that are important in Orthodoxy."

The artwork was created "sing traditional methods, mainly as hand-drawn illustrations and graphics," the artist assures. "However, this cover is the first one painted in the style of oil painting. It may be less traditional compared to typical Orthodox iconography, but the entire artwork was painted by hand."

"Prophet Ilja" is available at https://napalmrecordsamerica.com/patriarkh

RWAKE's NATURAL OFFERING

American metallers, Rwake, are releasing "The Return Of Magik" (their first new album in over 13 years) on March 14, through Relapse Records.

The cover and layout artworks were created by Loni Gillum of Minerva's Menagerie. These graphics (including the cover shown below) were "all handcrafted using authentic natural elements, ethically sourced, of course," reveals vocalist, Brittany Fugate. "We wanted to build something real and then photograph it. Every stick, mushroom, flower and grain of sand were all hand placed. No computers were used except where Relapse Records added in the text. Even the pieces of metal were electro formed by Loni."

The band had been collaborating with Arkansas-based jewelry artist, Loni Gillum "on a couple of jewelry pieces," Fugate comments. "The way she crafted and displayed her pieces was always very inspiring, so we asked if she would work with us on creating the art for the record. After many conversations and a vision quest to both of our favorite spot in the Ozark Mountains, Loni conjured up these beautiful works of art. I photographed them and made some contributions, but all the credit belongs to Loni Gillum."

Loni Gillum also created the back sleeve artwork and the layout/booklet images. See them above. According to Fugate, "the symbols on the back cover were hand crafted with metal and bone." She assures that "the artwork perfectly mirrors the music. It’s dark and evocative with elements of death, yet hauntingly beautiful and delicately soft at the same time. Both the artwork and the music are born from the earth, shaped by its rhythms, textures, and spirit. I believe that conveys to both the listener and the viewer."

Rwake's "The Return Of Magik" can be pre-ordered at https://rwake.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-magik and https://www.relapse.com/pages/rwake-the-return-of-magik

See more of Loni Gillum's work at https://minervasmenagerie.co/

LIFESICK's EXISTENTIAL CASTAWAY

The cover artwork of "Loved By None, Hated By All" (the new album by Danish Death Metal/Hardcore outfit, LIFESICK) was created by American artist, Andrew Durgin-Barnes.

"The album artwork encapsulates the entire lyrical universe of the album [which] features lyrics written entirely by vocalist, Simon Shoshan," explains guitarist, Nicolai Lindegaard. "The artwork envisions a person lost at sea. The sea represents something vast, dark, and uncontrollable. This person is being torn apart, dragged either up or down by demons with no intention of helping. It mirrors the way society, as described in the lyrics, it pulls in different directions without offering any real support. We shared these lyrical themes and ideas with Andrew, the painter, and he captured them perfectly in the artwork."

Andrew Durgin-Barnes says that the artwork was painted "in a traditional oil painting manner. The band told me what they wanted for the painting and were pretty specific. I first drew a couple compositional sketches to make sure where I wanted things to be. After that, I moved onto the larger piece of linen. I did it on flat linen rather than having it stretched on stretcher bars. This way it would be easier to have scanned and potentially mailed. I started the painting by filling the large areas with the colors that would kind of give the painting its vibe and then from there sort of just went back and forth refining things."

Barness assures that "the whole painting was done directly from my imagination as I pictured in my head given the bands description of what they were looking for. I’m a huge fan of Gericault’s 'The Raft Of The Medusa' painting which is engrained into my mind from studying it in books when I was younger. So, I’m sure a lot of the inspiration in my head came from that. The sky, and the way the bodies hang limp, dangling in the water were definitely motifs that lined up with what the band was looking for. The final touches were the good and evil spirits trying to pull the man in different directions. These were the most fun to paint because it added so much more visually by giving it that swirling composition and enhancing the motion of the wave. I had a really great time working on this album cover."

"Loved By None, Hated By All" is available through Metal Blade Records at https://lifesick.dk/products/lbnhba-cd

MAJESTICA's OTHERWORDLY TRAIN STATION

Jan "Örkki" Yrlund of Darkgrove Design created the cover artwork of "Power Train," the new album of Swedish Power Metal act, Majestica.

Exclusively for And Justice For Art, the artist reveals that vocalist/guitarist Tommy Johansson "had searched some artworks that depict steam trains and as I had done some he liked, so he contacted me. We got along right away, and I felt this was exactly the kind of stuff I like to do. There had to be magic in it, fantasy, science fiction even. He had great ideas for details. All kind of things I actually like myself. And he had crazy ideas for some easter eggs too, not to mention the actual band members being featured too."

Yrlund started the design process "with some reference photos of old locomotives and once I found a nice angle that I had in my mind I started to build this fantasy town around it. I actually used some miniature train set props for inspiration, you know those old wild west train houses, stations etc. I also used some 3D environment for the perspective, shadows and lightning as it had to an evening scene"

The artist confesses that "this was actually a very challenging cover to make. And there were a lot of trials and errors. There were so many layers, sometimes even a single window or a rooftile was a layer on its own. Once my composition was ready, I started coloring and drawing with my drawing tablet, which took a while actually. I made everything to match. So, it’s a combination of 3D, fantasy photos, drawing and painting, digital art if you like. In the end I just color graded everything."

Majestica's "Power Train" is available through Nuclear Blast and can be pre-ordered at: https://majestica.bfan.link/powertrain-album.fpo

See more of Jan "Örkki" Yrlund's work at www.darkgrove.net

A VISION OF PAIN

American artist Caelan Stokkermans Arts illustrated the cover artwork for “Punishment," the new album of American Brutal Deathcore band, Crown Magnetar.

"We wanted to go with a bleaker and darker composition than the previous releases," Stokkermans says. "[We wanted] to capture a feeling of desolation and pain. Brutal punishment in a forgotten place, lit by a cold sun."

"Punishment" will be released on March 7, 2025 through Unique Leader Records.

See more of Calen Stokkermans' work at https://www.caelanstokkermansarts.com/

TYR's NORDIC TALES

Faorese metallers, Týr, recently released their ninth full-length studio album "Battle Ballads." Its cover was designed by Gyula Havancsák of Hjules Illustration and Design, who has designed most of the band's album artworks.

"The idea for the 'Battle Ballads' cover was born during a conversation with [singer] Heri, when he mentioned the title of the album," Havancsák says. "I immediately thought of the Viking singers who sang these heroic epics at celebrations and feasts. Around them, the members of the tribe: the elderly listen to the singer with a smile, the children are amazed and interested, while the warriors are filled with pride when they hear the heroic songs. My original concept was that only the faces of the listeners are visible as the fire illuminates them and the stories rise above from the flames. Since I made a cover with a similar composition for the Swartsot band a long time ago, I started zooming out of the image (to reach a totally different composition) and added additional details and characters to it."

The Hungarian artist placed the members of Týr "in the center of the picture, they are the singers. With cold and warm colors, I sharply separated the outside world, the fairy tale depicted in the upper half of the picture, which takes place in the world, and the lower half of the picture, which is the interior of the Viking house. These two worlds (real and stories) are connected by the smoke rising from the fire."

The artwork also features "the Midgard Serpent Jörmungandr (Miðgarðsormr in Old Norse) as the edge of the known world. The Viking ship crossed and leaves the 'border,' emerges from the smoke while the wolf Fenrir is absorbing the sun at the 'twilight of the gods.'"

"Battle Ballads" is available through Metal Blade Records athttps://metalblade.indiemerch.com/collections/tyr

Follow Týr at https://www.facebook.com/tyrband

See more of Gyula Havancsák's works at https://havancsak-art.com/

Follow And Justice For Art's Facebook at www.facebook.com/andjusticeforart/

MAJESTIC WATERFALL: BOKRNAGAR's NEW ALBUM COVER

Norwegian Black/Prog Metal legends, Borknagar, just unveiled the cover of their upcoming new album, "Fall." Its cover artwork was designed by Israeli master artist, Eliran Kantor.

"We wanted to portray the grandeur of nature," Kantor comments. "I went through the lyrics and immediately found several references to what I felt when listening to the music. It takes you to being alone and witnessing the loud pulse of nature, and since I wanted to portray something that won't repeat the mountain of [the band's previous album] 'True North' or any old Borknagar covers, I thought about the thundering thump of water. I thought about standing at the bottom of a waterfall, looking up at the evening sky when the rays of light color the sky in unique tones for a brief moment just before the sun sets, and all you can hear is the constant force of the water crashing down. Streams and drops hitting against the rocks, and below, we see a hint of wooden wreckage, clearly man-made, and nature takes its time to overcome it, drop by drop with the years it break down man's proud creation."

Borknagar's "Fall" will be released through Century Media Records and can be pre-ordered at https://borknagar.lnk.to/Fall

See more of Eliran Kantor's work at https://elirankantor.com/

Kantor and Borknagar are featured in the book series "And Justice For Art: Stories About Heavy Metal Album Covers," exclusively available at www.andjusticeforart.bigcartel.com