Behind The Artworks: Anakim - The Elysian Void (2021)

The artwork for 'The Elysian Void' perfectly captures the mood and ambience of the music as well as the lyrical themes and concepts rendered beautifully in the artwork. We knew we wanted to step away from the artwork style of our first album 'Monuments to Departed Worlds' which used a very digital style synonymous with many technical / brutal death albums released over the years. This was very well fitting for our raw and unrelenting debut. The guttural vocals commanded a detailed alien world to be the vision of our soundscape. With our second release, our composition and overall sound had matured, coupled with greatly improved production we opted for a different style of artwork to reflect this. Erskine designs was instantly shortlisted out of a few who worked in the style we wanted: a traditional painted style, digitally rendered with the course and heavy brushstrokes, and a vibrant almost chaotic colour palette.

We instantly sell in love with Erskine's vision of the world we created: The Elysian Void, a rift between consciousness and reality. Combined with our own input for the centrepiece: a portal between worlds, as a throwback to our debut linking the 2 pieces both conceptually and visually.  We decided to go for a Digipak CD format, to get the full effect of the original landscape piece across the front, with additional artwork added as an extension created by our guitarist Carl Hunting. The extension features a close-up rendition of the portal made from composited images.

Since release, we've received unanimous praise for the visually striking and downright beautiful artwork for TEV. Many have commented on how perfectly fitting the imagery is, as well as being a bold and refreshing use of colours. and much like our music; we would liken these statements! We'd also love to see this committed to a full sized vinyl cover at some point. Watch this space.