Interview with Ballpoint Horror Noir Dennis Dread Dennis Dread is a self-taught artist who creates macabre and fantastically detailed drawings in a heavily shaded style he has referred to as “Ballpoint Horror Noir.” His work regularly appears on album covers throughout the world, including collaborations with such highly regarded musical luminaries as Darkthrone, Autopsy, Abscess,…
Interview with master of the brush Marc Sasso Among his clients there are companies like Lucas Arts, MTV, Warner Bros or Heavy Metal gods such as Rob Halford and the immortal Ronnie James Dio, among others. He’s Marc Sasso, a prolific American artist whose works are now part of recent popular culture via album covers, movies, clothing, video games and more.…
Interview with Malcolm “Scruff” Lewty Hellbastard seem to be very much back in action, tighter, more powerful and still annoyed. Hellbastard bring socially aware lyrics and an unclassifiable form of punk/thrash metal music to the international stage. Founding vocalist/guitarist Malcolm “Scruff” Lewty saw fit to reform the ‘Bastard in 2008. Over the past five years,…
Heavy Music Artwork catches up with infamous Dimmu Borgir front man Shagrath Tonight headline is at Maratona Rock with side project Chrome Division. Current lineup consists of him on rhythm guitar, along with Eddie Guz from The Carburetors as the vocalist, Ricky Black on lead guitar, Björn Luna on bass guitar and Tony White on…
Interview with master ink artist Justin Bartlett The Black Ink Warlock, a.k.a. Justin Bartlett, applies boundless visual style to depictions of the arcane. His developed portfolio representing clients of various trades exposes an illustrative language often derived from the occult, where theology and religion meet strife. Here he has mastered visual manipulation of his equally…
Interview with Daniel Valencia – Fenomeno Design Daniel Valencia born in 1981, also known as Fenomeno Design, is a designer/artist from Santiago, Chile. Known for his work with a lot of symbolism and full of darkness for bands such as Blut Aus Nord, Merrimack, Glorior Belli, Kill, Perdition, Inferno, etc. HMA: Heavy Music Artwork welcomes…
Interview with legendary Steve Krusher Joule Krusher first came to the public’s attention in 1982 when he became Art Director of the then Bible of Heavy Metal magazine Kerrang! Before that he was known as Stephen Joule who had worked as a freelance designer in the music industry since 1976, producing work for the likes…
Interview with Alessandro and Gian from Ashent ASHENT was formed in 2001 by two Italian brothers, Gianpaolo and Onofrio Falanga who play bass and guitar respectively. After few months, the keyboards player Paolo Torresani, the singer Max Zhena, the guitar player Thomas Giro and the drummer J.C. joined the band. The guys worked extensively during…
Interview with Metalcore Adept April this year has seen the release of Adept’s third album which has been making some tsunami sized waves so far in the Swedish metalcore scene. In the wake of their newest effort comes a winning formula crafted from a fresh look at their approach to song writing. Having had the…
Interview with Artist of the month Eliran Kantor Eliran Kantor, born in 1984 in Israel growing up in Bat-Yam and Gan-Yavne, currently living in Berlin, Germany for the last 3.5 years. Known mostly for creating album cover artwork for Testament, Sodom, Hatebreed, Anacrusis, Atheist, Sigh, GWAR, Mekong Delta, Evile & Master among many others HMA:…
Spanish graphic artist Luis Sendon speaks to HMA Luis Sendón is an illustrator and designer from A Coruña, Spain, who’s been working for bands and festivals for several years. He plays bass for the grindcore band Nashgul. Among his works are designs for Brutal Truth, Macabre or Looking for an Answer, as well as international…
William Bouguereaub La Rochelle, 30 Nov 1825; d La Rochelle, 19 Aug 1905). French painter. From 1838 to 1841 he took drawing lessons from Louis Sage, a pupil of Ingres, while attending the coll?ge at Pons. In 1841 the family moved to Bordeaux where in 1842 his father allowed him to attend the Ecole Municipale…
William Blake (born Nov. 28, 1757, London, Eng.died Aug. 12, 1827, London) English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary. He was trained as an engraver by James Basire and afterward attended classes at the Royal Academy. Blake married in 1782, and in 1784 he opened a print shop in London. He developed an innovative technique for producing…
Willem van de Velde was baptised on 18 December 1633 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic. A son of Willem van de Velde the Elder, also a painter of sea-pieces, Willem van de Velde, the younger, was instructed by his father, and afterwards by Simon de Vlieger, a marine painter of repute at the time, and had…
Werner van den Valckert (ca. 1585 – after 1635) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver. Though he was born in Amsterdam, he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in the Hague between 1600 – 1605. By 1614 he had moved to Amsterdam, because his daughter was baptized there. His earliest dated…
Japan’s Unholy Grave’s Takaho Interview Japan Unholy Grave play political and mind shattering grindcore. Taking their name from the song “Beyond the Unholy Grave” by Death. Their lyrics mainly focus on political and social issues. A common phrase appearing on the artwork of their releases is “Grindcore Against Terrorism!”. HMAW: Greetings! Heavy Music Artwork promotes Heavy…
Michael Bertoldini of the Secret speaks to HMA The Secret are one of the heaviest and most extreme bands to ever crawl their way out of Italy. Born and shaped in 2003, The Secret come to life as an output for rage, darkness and negativity. The band combines elements of crust/grind, primitive black metal, dark…
A number of painters in the Romantic period, and some before it, believed imagery should present situations, states of suffering, and outrage in forms that were extreme and compelling in themselves. These images, they thought, would stimulate the sympathy and satisfaction that were regarded as salutary and sublime – indeed they envisaged a situation in…
Mark Riddick: A fanatic of heavy metal music since 86′ A fanatic of heavy metal music since 1986, Mark Riddick launched his career as a freelance artist in 1991 when he began illustrating demo cassette covers, 7” EP record covers, and filler artwork for cut & paste underground death metal fanzines, bands, and record labels.…
Interview with Marcos Cabrera Illustrator Marcos Cabrera was born and raised in Tenerife, Canary Islands Spain and living in Barcelona for the past 8 years. Marcos like to design posters, art prints, album art full of unusual imagery with a penchant for monsters and the macabre. HMA: Thanks for joining Heavy Music Artwork with this…