Finnish death/gothic/doom metal band Swallow The Sun's "Emerald Forest and the Blackbird" has two beauteous factors to it: First is the music, being very well orchestrated and laden with sorrowful and majestic melodies throughout. The second component would be the gorgeous artwork, done by Finnish graphic designer and illustrator Rami Mursula. This cover depicts the eye of a blackbird with a green eye, obviously sticking true to the album's title. Conceptually, this may seem to make way for a simple little illustration, but the extreme detailing of the overall picture completely negates that. The black and white that covers the majority of the picture, but the green in the bird's eye creates so much contrast between these two schemes that the color appears more vivid. This can also be applied to the black versus the white, and the focus of the cover is much more on the eye and the feathers as a result. On top of that, the lighting and shadowing of the feathers and the eye makes the picture stand out even more, rendering them appearing more realistic, and in addition to that, the green eye looks like a shiny emerald gem, once again staying loyal to its title. Along with these artistic elements, the picture has a somewhat emotional appeal to it, possibly due to the fantasy-like atmosphere of the bird with an eye holding a vivid forest, or the way the artwork was created overall. With great design, coloring, emotion, and shading, "Emerald Forest and the Blackbird" displays one of the simplest yet most gorgeous covers ever to mask a music album in general.
Rami Mursula's Website: http://ramimursula.prosite.com/
