As we put the finishing touches on our new album art for 2015 I can’t help but think back to putting the art together for our 2011 Vices and Virtues album. The raven you see on the front cover and throughout the album art is named Smeagol and he’s actually quite a famous actor from the UK. Tim Flach was the mastermind photographer behind the photo shoot (also from England) and found the bird and trainer at our request. Our goal was to recreate our beloved logo with a living, breathing raven, but when Tim and the trainer began to experiment with different positions, especially in flight, the shoot really started to take off! (No pun intended!)
It was a two day photo shoot in London and the results speak for themselves.
The album cover went on to win an award in Lürzer’s Archive Magazine. And Smeagol has won the hearts of Art of Dying fans across the globe.
Part of our mission as a band has been to combine fine art and music, to execute visual projects in reality that began in our heads, just as music starts inside and finds it’s way into the physical world. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel when limitations collide with dreams, but anything is possible. I love this Nelson Mandela quote: It always seems impossible until it’s done.
I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve come up with for our 2015 Album Art!!
Check out these clips from the 2011 photo shoot:
