If you’ve yet to truly investigate HOWL‘s Bloodlines cover art, you’re missing out. A stunning, goretorn blood feast of skulls, bones, impalements, hungry wolves, plotting vultures, nooses and sexy side boob, Bloodlines was created by Ryan Begley (Pelican, Kvlertak, All Pigs Must Die, Cave In, etc.) and visually captures the metallic, lead-footed brutality of the music contained within.
Comments Begley of his work: “I was asked last year to illustrate my third record cover for Providence-based metal band HOWL. I’m really stoked that they’ve stuck with me since their first EP. They’re really good guys and I love doing work for them. Early on we batted around record title ideas and once Bloodlines was introduced as a possible title, the concept came together pretty easily. All the visuals were inspired by lyrical content and both the band and I wanted to have an image with a lot of elements that would take time for the viewer to soak in. I tried to have all the characters and elements interacting and overlapping as much as possible. The blood was one of the more difficult but fun elements to draw for the cover. Figuring out how it would flow and move throughout the frame and around the characters took a while to sketch out. The band wanted a bright and vibrant cover and I thought it would translate best if we kept the colors in the same family. Once I settled on a specific red for the blood the rest of the palette was pulled from that. Thank you HOWL and Relapse.”
Adds the band in a collective statement: “We are incredibly excited to feature Ryan Begley’s art for the new album. The inspiration for his work was drawn directly from our album’s music and lyrics, and he did a tremendous job capturing the brutality of Bloodlines.”
Check out some rough and final pencil sketches of the cover as well as the mammoth gatefold layout, hosted by No Clean Singing at THIS LOCATION, where you’ll also find the band’s latest video for “Demonic.”
In related news Bloodlines entered the Billboard Heatseekers Chart at #50 upon its first week of release! In addition, the record landed at #57 on the Billboard Hard Music Chart and #173 on Billboard’s Indie Music Chart.
HOWL‘s Bloodlines douses listener with 40 relentless minutes of maniacal dirge and continues to reap critical accolades from fans and critics alike for its thunderous riffing and primal urgency. Dubbed, “deliciously vicious” by MetalSucks, Bloodlines was recorded at the infamous Planet Z Studio in Hadley, Massachusetts with Chris “Zeuss” Harris (Soulfly, Crowbar, Municipal Waste, 3 Inches Of Blood et al) and is currently streaming in its entirety at the band’s official BandCamp page HERE. Order your copy of Bloodlines HERE and stay tuned for Summer tour dates to be announced shortly!
“… the type of galloping, growling, grot-filled effort you expect from a Motörhead shirt wearing metal band.” – Decibel
“HOWL plays with a power and energy that is hard not to admire, with influences that go beyond a single sub genre; to simply label HOWL as pure doom is to potentially limit their appeal. I’ve no doubt if you’re a fan of High On Fire or Electric Wizard, this would be an excellent addition to your library. That said their sound should equally have the heads of Iron Maiden fans and corpse painted true metal warriors banging alike.” – Ave Noctum
“…if you like imp shrieking, wah-imbued stunt guitar, sludge chugs, and lyrics about demons, Bloodlines just might be up your alley.” – Mxdwn
“…a fantastic way to spend an afternoon waxing philosophic or a night getting beaten to death by a group of angry Rhode Islanders…” – Dead Rhetoric
“Bloodlines features enough powerful riffs and angry attitude to sate the mainstream, while the underground will dig the overall feeling of doom and hatred. Did I mention the utterly stellar songwriting?” – Ghost Cult
“…the equivalent of being punched repeatedly in the gut with brass knuckles and then pushed down the mouth of an active volcano.” – American Aftermath
“If [debut album] Full of Hell was a tsunami, this album is a sniper attack.” – Alternative Control
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