“When Death wants to kiss you and you want to kiss Him back…”
original album cover art
- Sleeve 047/100: Silence (2001)
- Studio Album by Sonata Arctica
- Label: Spinefarm Records
- Genre: Power Metal
- Original Cover: Cover art and logo by Eric Philipp
This post is part of the 100 Sleeves: One hundred Album Covers Re-Designed project, a personal challenge I created for myself at the end of 2020. The goal is to create 100 album covers, a new one every week, inspired by the music I’m enjoying at the moment.
Slowly making my way to the 50th album cover art (that also looks really cool as a poster). Silence is one of my favorite albums by Sonata Arctica ever since I discovered them as a teenager.
Poster design by franzmori, inspired by the song “Sing in Silence” by Sonata Arctica.
I specifically, and a bit textually, drew inspiration from the lyrics of “Sing In Silence” – one of my favorites for the story it tells and the amount of emotion it has. I interpret it as follows:
A girl falls into a drug addiction she can’t get rid of (that’s the monkey on her back). She feels she can’t ask for help, hence the title of the song “sing in silence”, and why I drew the monkey holding her mouth. And, as she loses hope of doing better, she surrenders to the idea of dying by an overdose (death wanting to kiss her).
Album Cover Art Redesign by franzmori. This is fan art, no copyright infringement intended.
The monkey slowly climbed on her back
Sing in Silence, lyrics by Sonata Arctica
Offering an aid for her pain
Giving love and care
No-one cared, no-one cared…
Once again I forced myself to work with a limited color palette. I wanted to work with flat shading only, but couldn’t help it and added some gradients here and there. I’m super happy with the final result, and I feel I must add this illustration to my shop.
Would you like your own Album Cover design?
I’m available for commissions!
Listen to the art! I’ll be adding a new album each week to this Spotify playlist HERE.