Showing posts with label cover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cover. Show all posts

12/18/2024

Seven Kingdoms talk about dangers on the road

Sometimes it may seem like touring is just fun all the time. In reality it is dangerous for musicians to travel that much. Just think of situations you all have been experiencing in day-to-day transportation.

Seven Kingdoms have recently travelled the road a lot, Photo credit Camden Cruz.

While this year has been a successful one for power metallers Seven Kingdoms with completing a North American tour and the release of a EP on the new label Reigning Phoenix Music they still put the mark on the dangers mentioned above.

The band comments the cover they did of a Mr. Misters song: "Kyrie translates to “Lord have Mercy” which when driving all around the world at all hours of the day and night, amongst responsible and non responsible people, we put our lives on the line every second we are on the road. I often refer to highways as “The river of idiots” which can be anyone at any given moment."

It's a wonderful slower track with high pitched vocals. The balance is set in a proper way and it feels like a piece of music written in thought without finally losing the faith.

Seven Kingdoms are going to hit the road again in February in Europe as support of Unleash The Archers.  

12.02 - Substage - Karlsruhe, DE
13.02 - Colos-Saal - Aschaffenburg, DE
14.02 - Live Music Hall - Cologne, DE
15.02 - De Kreun - Kortrijk, BE
16.02 - The Underworld - London, GB
17.02 - La Machine - Paris, FR
19.02 - Dynamo - Zurich, CH
20.02 - Legend Club - Milan, IT
21.02 - Backstage - Munich, DE
22.02 - Masters Of Rock Cafe - Zlin, CZ
23.02 - Barba Negra - Budapest, HU
25.02 - Szene - Vienna, AT
26.02 - Kwadrat - Cracow, PL
27.02 - Hellraiser - Leipzig, DE
28.02 - Rockhal - Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU
01.03 - Kronensaal - Hamburg, DE
02.03 - Patronaat - Haarlem, NL

9/21/2020

The Lonely Ones cover Queen's Flash massively

Normally I'm not into posting covers. I think there's so much great original music out there that we should focus on. Don't get me wrong. Playing a cover ain't easy at all but I love to see musicians adding something of their own to the cosmos of music. And a massive number of you guys out there does this indeed very well.

The cover quickly tells you what this is all about.

As of today this is a exception. The band The Lonely Ones created a cover of Queen's well known "Flash" in a way that is hard to beat. They must have taken massive efforts to get it all together. 

While the core of the track is left untouched and the soul of the track shines through it's carefully opened up to a powerfull level. At the same time some fine and harder to hear fine moments have also been put inside. Just follow the video carefully and you'll see and hear it.


 
Even Brian May (Queen) and Sam J Jones (Flash Gordon, The Highwayman) took note of the cover.
 
Brian May was quoted as saying, “What a fantastic cover ! I didn’t realise they were going to go into The Hero and the whole reprise ... magnificent !"
 
Sam J Jones adds, "This is one of the best covers I have ever heard and seen. What a gifted group - The Lonely Ones are for everyone of us, from the 1980’s to right now!"
 
"Flash/ The Hero" stream/download link: https://linktr.ee/thelonelyones
 
The band will be releasing a brand new song titled "Real Big Trouble" on September 25, 2020.  
 
Make sure to follow The Lonley Ones further on Facebook.

3/23/2020

Leftover Bullets underwent intense odyssey period

In times like this music gives me more strength than ever and I hope it does the same for you. Remember to stay home whenever possible and follow the guidelines of social distancing. You take care for yourselves and others as well.

Some days ago Greece rockers Leftover Bullets once again touched me more than ever with the half ballad for "Might be miles away" of the debut record "Virtue and vice". It's the mixture of sensible guitars touching the ground along with powerful drums and bass guitars laying the basics for the rough vocals transporting the message so intensively that I couldn't get it out of my mind.

The band used the time after the album release well for new compositions but seems to have undergone a long journey throughout this process.

As the band states, there are 9 songs loaded with hard rock emotion that emerged after an intense odyssey period that lasted from the beginning of the compositions until the end of the recordings.

The cover for the upcoming Leftover Bullets album was created by artist ViktoЯia.

The album "Tell mama we're doing ok" will be released in digital and physical form right from the beginning - CD & LP (vinyl will include the album on CD)
on April 27th under the seal of Soldout music records. Arrival of vinyl will be delayed due to worldwide conditions.

Tracklist:

1. Wasted Silence
2. Confused
3. Free Speech For Sale
4. Trailless Smile
5. Sleazy Vibration
6. Nancy
7. Really Not There
8. It’s Alright
9. Till Next Time

The cover has been drawn for the second time by artist ViktoЯia with a 100% handmade Daza (the heroine of the LB cover art) and the digital editing of the album by Nikos Kitsos.

In the near future all the contributors of "Tell mama we’re doing ok" will be announced as well as pre-order information for the album.

Check Leftover Bullet's Facebook page for constant updates towards the album release day.

7/11/2015

Interview with coverartist Andrej Bartulovic (AllThingsRotten.com)

Introduction

What have most of the releases that come out in common? Yes, nearly all of them have a cover that often is made of a artwork. Many of them come with a booklet that often also features illustrations with them.

The point for young and unknown bands is: who can they contact if they need such things? Sure there are the big names out there like Andreas Marshall (Running Wild), H. R. Giger (Carcass, Danzig) or Derek Riggs (Iron Maiden). But those are not affordable for those bands.

Happily enough there are freelance illustrators out there that can help bands to get a decent cover for a affordable price. One of them is Andrej Bartulovic, known as Maggotmaster and under the sign of All Things Rotten.

(c) by All Things Rotten, used with kind permission

Metal Underdogs would like to help bring all the people in the scene closer to each other and so we took the chance and had a talk with Andrej about his way into this job, his past band experiences, where he draw's inspiration for new covers from as well as his thoughts on today's modern and everywhere-present lyric-videos. If you're interested in setting up a interview please send me a message through the contact form at the right navigation bar or look my Email adress up in the Blogger profile.

Contact Data

If you want to get in touch with Andrej Bartulovic please use one of the links below:
 
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Rotten/158201837535762
Email: contact@allthingsrotten.com
Homepage www.allthingsrotten.com

The interview

Metal Underdogs: Could you please introduce yourself a bit to our readers? (who are you, where do you come from, what are the things you focus mostly upon with your work - cover art, logos, booklets, shirt designs etc.)?

Andrej Bartulovic: I'm Andrej Bartulovic, known as Maggotmaster around world wide web I guess. That has been my screen name since late 90s. And no, it has nothing to do Slipknot, it's the name of the song by Nocturnal Breed (album "Agressor"). Born and living in Croatia for 35 years already. Working for bands mostly, but also doing tattoo designs, book covers, was also a concept artist. I do everything, I'm gun for hire ;)



How did you become a cover artist? What were your first experiences especially with metal bands?

I'm metalhead since I was 13. Always into horror stuff, be it literature, music, video games or movies. I was artist for video games first. Then I decided to bring together 2 things I like the most, my love for everything horror and music. My first experiences were really cheap or even free cuz I've had no portfolio whatsoever. Some of the bands I worked in the beginning were Fury (uk), Hellhounds (Fra) and Snowy Shaw... that was 6 years ago, I think but I can easily be dead wrong. I'm bad with dates, years..

In the process of creating ideas for a cover: do you sometimes pre-listen stuff from artists and they ask you to come around with an idea? Do some even send text-material or something to give you a better idea of what the record will be about?

Depends of the band. Some provide lyrics only, that's perfectly fine. Some provide music, even better but usually it's about description, text description of stuff they would like to see. Then I'm onto sketching, rough shapes.. we go back and forth a lot so we can minimize repairs and mistakes that may occur later on. Everything can be done in timely manner and properly if feedback is on time.

Which sorts of painting techniques do you use/ prefer?

I prefer more comic book approach, but I also do classic digital painting and photomanipulations. Again, depends what band is after. I don't have time to work in traditional techniques sadly. I really, really wanna do more of traditional stuff. But it's slow process and I'd proly had to charge more.

Could you also imagine to fuse your paintings with photography or do you prefer to keep things mutually exclusive to one style?

Actually I do some paint overs from time to time. As I work digitally (drawing tablet) everything is possible.

Do you prefer covers that have a message or do you like to have it a pure fantasy way?

I always prefer covers with symbolism over straight to the point art. But, again, it's usually not my call. If band has a specific vision I have to follow it. I think that symbolic elements lift the whole art to another level together with the music. But it also depends of the mood, sometimes you just wanna work on gory fucked up scenery. Really depends on numerous things. But the band has the last vote. I'm just a tool. Someone who's job is to make band's vision come to life.

Have you ever thought of setting up your work in a gallery for exposition / printing a book with a selections of artworks or an exhibition on events (think of open airs, festivals or shows)?

Well, I've had some exhibitions in my hometown...but that was, oh god, like 15,16 years ago, while I was working traditionally, for myself. One was called "Abominations - a tribute to trash", another was "Copycat". I'm actually planning to do an exhibition soon, but not sure exactly when. Those things require money and extra time. I wanna do it badly, I have a lot of things waiting to be printed. About festival/show exhibitions; well, if someone would call me I'd gladly accept the opportunity to come and show my stuff.

Do you also work on lyric videos? Some of them have a quite impressive "living" coverart in them.

Nah, takes too much time, at least it WOULD take much time from me because I didn't do any of lyrics videos ever. So I'd have to lear the software first. Personally, I don't like them, there's something really lazy about them. I totally understand that music industry is fucked and artists don't have the money to release video with every single. But dammit, I'm sick and tired of lyric videos. It's like screen is slaping you every 3 seconds and forcing you to read stuff.



Which other artists are amongst your favorites? Would you count these as sort of influence for you?

I always mention Greg Cappullo. I love that guy. He was an influence for sure. Others would be Ashley Wood, Giger, Bosch, ...heck, many more.

Are you still playing music? Which instrument do you play or did you play back in a day?

Nope. I was bad at it, really bad. I played rhythm guitar in a band. I was lazy as fuck, never practiced at home. Back then I thought it was perfectly fine, but man, I sucked ass so hard, haha!! Again, that was 16,17 years ago.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer the questions.

Thank you for showing interest, your approach and the opportunity. Appreciate it! Stay naked!

If you want to get in touch with Andrej Bartulovic please use one of the links below:

Contact Data

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Rotten/158201837535762
Email: contact@allthingsrotten.com
Homepage www.allthingsrotten.com

4/25/2015

A Light Within reveal cover and tracklist for upcoming EP 'Body Matter'

After being in the makings for some time A Light Within have finally announced the title and tracklist for the follow-up EP to the 2013 release "Preface".

The new record is entitled "Body Matter" and will see the digital release on July 7th, 2015 through Static Tension Recordings. It will feature six brand-new tracks from the Shoegaze/Post-Metal formation. Check out the full tracklist below:

1. Torn Page #21
2. Page #22 _No Charge
3. Page #51 _Between Shores
4. Page #29 _World Through the Window
5. Page #13 _To Have; To Hold
6. Page #47-48 _Glaso

The label along with the band gave a little insight on the new output with the following describtion on the labels website:

"(...) Step into the gloom, feel its warm embrace. Close your eyes and let the ambience wash over you, the music unfolding into a wave of shoegazing post-metal. Distant, pained clean vocals appear in the haze, drawing the words from pages in a diary and turning them into a catharsis. The guitars flip from fragile melodies to thundering riffs at a moment’s notice, and the bass accentuates the deeper recesses of this stellar - in every way - sound. You are experiencing A Light Within, who have an upcoming EP entitled 'Body Matter.'

"Whether in the mournful dirge of 'World Through The Window' or the swell that engulfs the latter half of lead single 'Between Shores,' this Kansas City-based group embody the notion of emotionally charged music. Drawing comparisons to bands like Junius or Deftones,  they nevertheless carve out a niche that is wholly their own within ambient post-metal.(...)"

They also showed of the cover of "Body Matter" which is totally beautiful and shines like a diamond in my eyes:
(c) by A Light Within, used with kind permission

The band is going to do a couple of shows in the upcoming months, the next chance to see them live is already today. Here are the dates:

Apr 25 The Riot Room Kansas City, MO
May 08 Jackpot Music Hall Lawrence, KS
May 16 recordBar Kansas City, MO
Jun 19 The Riot Room Kansas City, MO

For more details about the band make sure to see the band's Facebook page.

If you still did not have the chance to listen to the first single of "Body Matter" I'll include the video for "Between Shores" right here. Besides the fine video with a outstanding visual exposure it features the full album version of the song.