England’s Wayward sons and daughters Skyclad is a British heavy metal band formed in 1990 in their hometown of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Combining heavy metal/thrash metal with British indie/post-punk and folk influences, they created a highly original and influential sound; today SKYCLAD are widely regarded as one of the originators of folk metal. The band’s lyrics are…
The band have been very much involved in the process of making this album artwork. And they tend to have a lot of ideas in which direction it all should go but was an organic process. So everybody is pitching in with stuff… so normally it starts off at in one direction and ends in…
The art of being yourself Most of all I’m self-taught. I did finish the Academy of Fine Arts, I also did take some art lessons back when I was a kid and all that was helpful, but I spent more time on learning, training and developing my skills by myself. Reading books, training, exploring the…
‘This is the Sound’ by Anna Murphy After their split with Eluveitie, Anna Murphy, Ivo Henzi and Merlin Sutter quickly realized their musical journey was far from over. What quickly developed was a unique and fresh combination of grand and heavy riffs, powerful drumming and a unique voice along with the signature folky, earthy tones…
Man at work Like most people, I always drew as a kid and I simply never stopped since. I did study some art in my teens and early university years but it was mostly my family and the surroundings in which I was raised that influenced my tastes and triggered my curiosity for various expressive…
Phantastic Realism I had studied graphic arts at the university of applied sciences in Düsseldorf/Germany. I also worked for 3 years as a technical illustrator for the Ford car company in Cologne. Meanwhile, I am teaching illustration and drawing at several art schools and academies in Germany. My start was actually not for a heavy…
I have known most of the guys in SikTh for quite a long time, I grew up in Watford, the same town that SikTh came from, and was playing in several bands at the same time as SikTh back in the early 2000’s, so would have supported them a few times locally as well. It…
Bright Wide Colder by Benjamin Schenk After the release of our first Album ‘Fake Lights’, we continued with writing songs without any break. Sascha and I wrote the songs… We wrote the full songs including all instruments on a first demo, Sascha for his songs, I for mine. The most songs had no definitive lyrics…
Music is my everything by Federica Faith Sciamanna 2017 marks the great return with a new full-length of one of alt metal’s most unique, fast-growing bands of the Italian wave. With their first two albums ‘A New Horizon’ and and ‘The Darkest Hour’, the band started building up their profile as a strong live act…
Living beings I graduated The School Of Fine Arts in my home town Bydgoszcz than moved to study painting at Universitas Nicolaus Copernicus in Toruń. The visual arts became my life. I work with traditional techniques like drawing and painting. Being in a multimedia culture I also became interested in mix media techniques like digital…
The idea for ‘Inked in Blood’ was developed by the Tardy brothers and me, based on an early suggestion sketch, when the band decided to move visually in a different direction than in the albums before. In my recent artworks for Obituary, we always worked with the dragon creatures that were established in the band…
Reach into the ether and let it speak through you Forefather is the recording project of myself Wulfstan and my brother Athelstan, founded in 1997. We blend elements of traditional, black and death metal with lyrical themes based on English history, myth, nature and more. We have released seven studio albums, starting with 1999’s ‘Deep…
Passion for Science Fiction Ever since I was young I was enamored by the work of Frazetta, Boris, and the various card art used in the game Magic: the Gathering. I was determined to pursue illustration as a career from a young age. I graduated from the New England School of Art and Design in…
The art of E-Kunst Mostly known as the founder of the record label Season of Mist, Michael S. Berberian has been using metal festival for years as an alibi to visit the world and its museums. E-Kunst combines those passions. HMA: How the idea developed in creating a store dedicated to metal related artwork? I…
The power of perseverance I was born in Santa Monica, California and grew up in a small seaside town called San Clemente, in southern Orange County. I’ve always been an artist from the day I was born it seems, and I never stopped working since then. I started painting in oils with my Mother and…
Six by Pete Pain We began writing songs maybe a year after releasing In The Night, and we were about to start the recordings in the autumn of 2013 but then we got Mark Black back so we put the recordings to rest. We threw out some songs and wrote new ones and planned to…
DarkIcon studio profile All of Killswitch Engage’s album artwork and tour merchandise is designed by Mike D. Through his design studio DarkicoN design, he produces artwork for bands such as Shadows Fall, Unearth, All That Remains, New England Metal and Hardcore Fest and Crowbar. HMA: Okay. Can we start maybe if you could tell me…
Amber Galactic by David Andersson ‘Amber Galactic’ is a concept album in a way, although it doesn’t have a straight narrative. It’s more a collection of stories that take place in the same universe. ‘Amber Galactic’ is set in a future where humanity is exploring and conquering space, but all the space commanders are women,…
The demons and the good side I studied graphic arts in Colombia graduating with a technical degree in Graphic Arts. When I came to the States in 2002, I finished an associates in arts and did some more classes at DePaul University in Chicago. I started my own graphic design business and on the side…
Camden Rocks Festival, established in 2009, is an exclusive festival held in London’s notorious Camden Town bringing you the best selection of rock, indie, metal and alternative music. Camden has always represented the reality of London’s alternative music scene and it is the only place where you can still feel the impact of music in…