Behind The Artworks: Iron Kingdom - Shadows And Dust (2026)

Leighton Holmes (Bass Guitar): This album posed a challenge when developing a cover concept. There was no one song that stood out above the rest story-wise, and only a thin through-line connecting them conceptually. The only line connecting the majority of songs was death, and in a smaller way, impermanence. The cover pulls directly from the story told in ‘Blood and Steel’, showing an army marching across an inhospitable environment as some of the soldiers succumb to the elements. The visual was inspired by a scene in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. In the series, an army has to march across a desert to steal a march on an enemy before the enemy knows they are there. During the march, many die, many lose hope, and many don't understand why they are doing what they are doing. The horrific gamble works, and the army is successful in getting into position in time, but success is often a small comfort to those who have to go through the trial. Life is often like this: we have to go through things that are uncomfortable, even dangerous, to reach the position we need to be to accomplish what it is we are trying to do. Often, we don’t know why until it's over.

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