CALIBAN guitarist Marc Görtz comments on the art of Ghost Empire that was created by UK artist Chris Lovell:
“I have been heavily into metal since the age of 12. It’s always nice when a band I am a fan of contacts me with a brief for a project. I was stoked to read Marc’s ideas as post-apocalyptic imagery is something I have an obsession with. I grew up loving films like ‘Mad Max’, ‘Cyborg’ and the ‘Fist Of The North Star’ anime. There’s something about destroyed buildings and wastelands that stir my imagination and conjure up all kinds of haunting images in my head. It’s also much more fun and easier to draw ruined buildings than perfect ones!
Marc and I brainstormed ideas one evening and we came up with lots of elements we liked such as crows, scarecrows, rats, etc. I sketched out a very rough concept idea and layout for the basic image. The front and back cover is all in one, so I had a nice wide landscape to work with. I liked the idea of a road on the main cover, leading to what could look like a hive of collapsed skyscrapers and buildings leaning on each other and climbing into the clouds. On the left side, a cliff face leading down to stormy seas and a shoreline littered with shipwrecks and capsized boats. I wanted the image to look void of human life and haunting. I drew out the bulk of the main image in pencil, then used inks and acrylic paint to add depth and highlights. I then scanned the image in and coloured it with a graphics tablet on Photoshop. I drew a number of other elements like telegraph poles, crows, skulls and rats and scanned them in separately. I wanted to be able to experiment with placement and give the band the option to move elements around. I lost track of how many hours I put into the piece; it all becomes a blur. I like to stream horror movies or listen to music and just lose myself in the art I make. I have a bit of an obsession with detail and I tend to spend hours tweaking elements on an image people will probably never even notice. CALIBAN have been a pleasure to work with… it is an honour to have done the artwork for what will be an amazing album!”
Yet again the album was produced by Görtz in cooperation with Benny Richter. Ghost Empire will be out on the following dates:
Germany / Austria / Switzerland / Australia / NZ: January 24, 2014
Rest of Europe: January 27, 2014
USA / Canada: February 4, 2014
Stay tuned for more exciting news about Ghost Empire!
CALIBAN’s last shows in 2013:
12.13.13 (D) Anröchte – Shout Loud Festival
12.14.13 (D) Geiselwind – Christmas Metal Festival
CALIBAN online: