THE ART GALLERY: Cephalic Carnage - Misled by Certainty (Orion Landau)

2010 marked the release of "Misled by Certainty," the sixth full-length record by pioneer metal Cephalic Carnage, who gained a large following resulting from their tumultuous mix of death metal, grindcore, technical death metal, sludge metal, thrash metal, and plenty of other subgenres. In this wondrously gruesome record, this fusion is displayed not only in musical form, but in the form of some bizarre album artwork as well, credits to American artist Orion Landau, who has also created artwork for other Relapse Records bands such as Obscura, Rwake, and Buzzov.en. 

As you can see, the cover shown above is quite possibly one of the craziest yet artistically spectacular pieces of artwork one could possibly find in the metal genre. It defines the amalgamated sounds of the band's death-grind onslaught perfectly, because it has a portion of everything, from the massive animal skull to the horns to the mushrooms to the war robot at the top left corner to the spaceship at the top right corner. These elements also mash well together, appearing as a visually destructive masterpiece full of bits and pieces of things as opposed to a jumbled mess, parallel to how well Cephalic Carnage stitches together different genres to create a metallic wonder. As a result, not only does the audience view this crazed, visual spectacle as a fine work of art, but it also captures the sound of the music itself incredibly well.

However, not only does the album represent the music perfectly and visual form and is overall great to look at, but it also could have some intriguing message behind it. Hence the album's title, "Misled by Certainty," if one were to give a first glance at this bizarre cover, they wouldn't be too sure what to make of it. They could, at first, think that it is simply some decomposing animal skull, marking the certainty of the viewing audience. However, when they look a little closer, they find a number of many different things, including the mushrooms, the grassy mold, and the horns, and they realize that it is not what they saw at first. Things are not what they seem, and this artwork seems to portray this concept quite well, and it is a delightfully destructive sight to behold on top of it.

Orion Landau's Tumblr: http://orionlandau.tumblr.com/