Behind The Artworks: Final Coil - The World We Left Behind For Others (2019)

Getting the artwork right for this album was essential and full credit to Andy Pilkington of Very Metal Art for bringing it to life. For me, one thing was crucial, and that was that the echoes of military conflict that appear in the album (in flashback) not be emphasized in the artwork, as it would necessarily skew the audience’s expectations regarding the themes the record addresses. I think that, for Andy, it was quite a challenging brief and we had a number of discussions around the themes of the lyrics and the overall direction of the record before we got to the final piece. 

It’s a much more subtle piece of work than Persistence of Memory, the cover of which grabbed people from the start, but in many ways, I actually think it the better piece of work. The image that adorns the cover, the lone figure sitting on the bench looking back across the vista of their life, is incredibly affecting. Andy initially gave the character a face, but I felt that a more oblique image would work better as the listener will inevitably fill that void with whomsoever they have in their head and heart at the time. I think that kind of open-interpretive element is a common theme in both our art and our lyrics, and I like the idea that different people will hear (and see) the music in their own unique way. Of course, there is meaning there, but I prefer not to make it too obvious because music should always be a shared experience between the artist and the listener. 

One thing that I am really pleased about is that, when you open the cover-up, the image spread out into the booklet, expanding upon the themes of the lyrics. With images of loss, religion, redemption, and love all woven into a coherent, if ethereal, tapestry that I think really underpins the music on the album. Once again, though, there’s just enough there to stimulate the senses, but not so much that the listener is being forced to view a given track in a specific way. I hope that, when people get hold of the album, it’ll be the sort of cover that they’ll take pleasure in opening and looking at because I think it does inspire and excite the senses and that’s exactly what I wanted to achieve with this record.