Behind The Artworks: Frusen Sorg - Smärtpunkter (2026)

I work as a graphic designer and visual artist; it’s my first thing, music comes second. So all the record covers I make for my own bands are very special to me.

 

This record is extremely introspective, and one aim we had was to really, really make it dark and uncomfortable. Not so much escapism via religious symbolics and fantasy elements, no fairy tales, but rather plugging our cables straight into our fight or flight centers. This meant going as personal and as naked as possible, and basically mixing desperate lust for life with desperate deathwish. Basically, no filters musically and lyrically. Basically, no filters musically and lyrically.

 

In one of the songs, I found a line I liked a lot, because it is so unhinged in its scary honesty. I almost don’t want to spell it out, but here it is: Om jag var fri, skulle jag släcka mitt eget ljus (If I were free, I’d blow my own candle out). The point of it being that if no one loved me and I was truly alone (free), no one would be hurt if I died. Which, in my darkest moments, felt like a pretty comforting idea. It’s not the only thing I felt, but it’s a valid feeling, and it needed to be listened to before I could get rid of it. That song didn’t end up on the album, only on the EP released last year, but the image of a candle being blown out stuck with me.

 

Tweaking well-known visual elements is something I use a lot in my work; it lends itself well to triggering moods and ideas. So I added blood coming from the candle as an uncanny twist. It looks quite iconic, and has a stillness which speaks more about sorrow than rage, which I thought was ominous and iconic. It’s like when you go to a hardcore show, and the band looks like accountants, you know, people are going to get pulverized.

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