Behind The Artworks: Schreigarm - Mara Comes And Darkness Shall Reign (2025)

The new album “Mara Comes and Darkness Shall Reign”, to be released on Purity Through Fire Label on September 12, 2025, is a conceptual journey into the very heart of darkness, exploring its many manifestations: from cosmic void to ancient pantheons, from forest whispers to the ashes of war.

This is not merely a collection of songs, but a unified work in which each composition becomes a step along the path through death, myth, and the abyss within.

The visual shell of the album continues the concept. The cover depicts Mara, the ancient Slavic goddess of death and winter, whose presence symbolizes both the inevitability of the end and the eternal cycle of dying and rebirth.

Her pose is deeply symbolic: outstretched arms recall both an incantation and a ritual gesture of sacrifice. Shadows and smoke swirl around her, as if darkness itself flows from her body. A necklace of bones and sacred symbols emphasizes Mara’s connection with ancient cults, death, and offerings.

The palette of dark greens and crimson suggests decay, blood, and war, while the grim fire behind her back represents purification through destruction.

This cover is not an illustration, but a manifesto: Mara is neither enemy nor ally, but inevitability itself — a force that destroys in order to give birth to the new.

The concept, photography, decorative elements, and design of the artwork and booklet were created by Styrr, with his wife embodying Mara in the imagery.