Original Cover Design
- Sleeve 030/100: The Black Halo (2005)
- Studio Album by Kamelot
- Label: Steamhammer
- Genre: Power metal / Symphonic metal / Progressive metal
- Original Cover Artwork by: Derek “Dodge” Gores
Slow but steady I’ve arrived to cover 30 of my project #100albumsleeves 🎉
This is the continuation of last week’s album, Epica, where I briefly explained the story of Ariel, Helena, and Mephisto. After Ariel decides to leave Helena and continue his search for the truth, she’s left heartbroken and commits suicide by drowning in a river.
Ariel finds out about her death along with the fact that she was pregnant with his child. He’s stricken with grief and sorrow, and Mephisto takes this as an opportunity to exert even more power over him. Mephisto sees love as human’s greatest weakness and explains to Ariel how this pain he feels is just proof of it.
With Ariel’s will nearly under Mephisto’s total control, the fallen angel brings Ariel a beautiful young woman named Marguerite, who looks and speaks like Helena. Ariel seduces Marguerite and the two sleep together, which completes Mephisto’s manipulation of Ariel.
The morning after, Ariel regains his memory, breaking Mephisto’s control over him. He apologizes to Marguerite and explains his story, begging her to leave, but saying that they might meet again someday. One of the most popular songs from the album, “The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)” featuring Simone Simons, relates this moment.
Ariel denounces Mephisto as traitorous and evil and cuts his ties to him. Ariel resolves to live a good life as Helena did, even though his sins have damned his soul to hell anyway. Ariel has a sudden realization: that love is the ultimate answer to life, and that the true love between himself and Helena was thus a part of it, even before he left on his quest. He also knows now that his free will allows him to create his own meaning of life and his own destiny.
His questions finally answered bring into effect the contract that Ariel made with Mephisto, and thus his soul now belongs to the fallen angel. As Ariel’s soul begins to leave his body, Mephisto prepares to claim it. However, Helena’s soul intercedes to God on Ariel’s behalf. Since Ariel has rejected all evil, even in the face of certain damnation, he has redeemed himself, and God allows him to enter heaven with Helena. Mephisto, his bet with God lost, wails as he is cast into hell forever.
Plot twist: with the story over, in the last song it is revealed that Ariel’s tale is a playset for a New Year’s Eve festival.
Album Cover Redesign by franzmori. This is fan art, no copyright infringement intended.
I’m not fully satisfied with the result, but I’m confronting one of the fears I had before starting this challenge: Butchering an album that already has a beautiful cover. When I really like the original cover I feel a lot of pressure to create something great, and that pressure makes me underperform.
At least I like how this and the previous album look together.
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.
Go HERE to know more about my personal project and see the rest of the cover designs in this series.