Behind The Artworks: Pyroclast - Fractured State (2026)

I wanted to see something that represented the internal and external chaos that threads throughout almost all of the songs on the album. Given the context of ‘Ozymandias’, with the face of the one who considered themselves to be king of all kings and whose likeness, of which he was so proud, became lost and forgotten in the landscape and buried in sand over time, I thought this would work well as our artwork symbolism, and perhaps include Earth somehow within the statue’s eye. And to not only pay homage to the souls lost on the Franklin Expedition, which is the subject of our album closer ‘Erebus and Terror’, but to also show that hope can also reign supreme when it appears that all is lost, I suggested that the back cover artwork be the same half-buried stone head but in an Arctic tundra and we decided to have the oak sapling represent potential and possibility.

Support independent metal journalism — Visit the official BTC store