Category: Personal Thoughts

In this post, I will review about an album leaflet in three steps: a description, the context and a short analyse of the leaflet.

This is a four pages booklet of Ghost’s album “Prequelle”. The artwork was designed by the artist Zbigniew M. Bielak. The font cover represents a pope sat on the throne that turns into a rat-like gate to hell. Gigantic wings and cathedrals tops surrounds the pope. The drawing only uses grey and red tones. On the back cover, all the song are listed with a triptych of hellish scenes, monsters, saints and the three popes of the band. The booklet also contains the lyrics of all the song written in a gothic font, and a photography of the band, introducing the new “cardinal”.

“Prequelle” is the fourth studio album of the Swedish metal band “Ghost”. The band has a strong visual identity and concept composed of anti-clerical or satanic imagery. The singer dresses as a “demonic anti-pope” and all the musician, or “nameless ghouls”, wear masks. The band aesthetic goes against the catholic church and seems to preaches a satanist message, though, this is just the iconography not an actual belief from the band. The artist Zbigniew M. Bielak worked with the band since their second album “Infestissumam” and designed most of their artworks (from album covers to the stage design). In the story arc, “Prequelle” introduce Cardinal Copia, the replacement of Papa Emeritus III, as new blood was needed (check out the youtube channel). The album centres around the black plague that strike Europe during the middle age. It hints on how now beliefs and lies spreads and contaminates people like an illness.

The artwork of the front cover is clearly inspired by paintings from Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel. The artwork contains a lot of biblical references, like the three cross on the right side, or the churches. But the nightmarish vision of the rat’s mouth and fiery colours reminds of hell more than heaven. We see dead people being carried away by skeletons with is a classical representation of Death during the middle age. In gothic art, there are multiple representations of religious figures, sometimes defeating the forces of hell, and multiple monster, like the gargoyles. The image uses religious undertone but turns them inside out. On the back, there is triptych, which is often use to represent saints, or holy subject. The disproportion of the characters and the building reminds of the medieval religious art. The lyrics are written like bible verse, using a gothic front, like the first printed bibles. The photography puts Cardinal Copia in the foreground while the nameless ghouls watches over him, which serves perfectly as an introduction for him. Overall, the leaflet really shows the visual identity of the band, and especially what the album is about. It is sure not for people easily shocked or offended by religious subject. The artwork correspond to the genre, as you would expect to find this album at the Metal aisle of HMV. The long lasting collaboration between the artist and the band created a recognisable imagery that suits the band and its concept perfectly.

More info and references:

Home

https://www.behance.net/zbigniewbielak/

Roberts, K. (1971) Bruegel. Phaidon, Oxford.

Fisher, S. (2016) Hieronimus Bosch. Taschen, Spain