Gabriel Artwork

"We felt that as much care needed to go into the artwork as we were putting into the music. We wanted to give fans something substantial in terms of the whole package.

We worked very hard with Roz of Eye Level Studio to select the right photos from the Gabriel photo shoot and make the best use of the available space within the insert.

What we ended up with is a stunning 16 page booklet containing additional photos from the album cover shoot as well as full lyrics and production credits. " – Jeff King

Guest Commentary by Michael Rosner (Roz) of Eye Level Studio

As a heavy metal loving burn-out teenager, I bought Believer's - 'Extraction from Mortality' in 1989 (on cassette) and during the first listen, had my mind (and eardrums) blown. I have considered myself a fan ever since. After a 16 year span between albums and 16 years of anticipation - they’rrrrre baaaAaack! ...and that means soon after this release comes out my tinnitus will probably be returning also. There’s a very small list of bands for which I would willingly wager the potential loss of one of my 5 senses. Believer is one of those bands. Even as an adult, it’s nearly impossible for me not to play them way too loud.

The Early Stages

After a bit of hard work, good timing and good fortune, I was more than thrilled to find myself searching for the visual compliment to what would be the Gabriel release. Working from nearly opposite sides of the country, Kurt Bachman and I started with broad strokes- exchanging draft versions of digital composite illustrations online for the (then) raw unmixed versions of the new studio tracks.

A Change of Plans

We were still in the early stages -playing with color theory and the general direction and feel of the cover when I noticed that Metalllica released the ‘Cyanide’ single on iTunes with cover art that had an uncanny resemblance to an idea we had been working on. It involved an innerspace/outerspace image of a baby still in the womb with it's eye's sewn shut -a slightly disturbing image inspired by some of the lyrics.

Here the earliest treatment of the cover as compared to the Metallica cover:

It was a form of a creative short circuit that was just what we needed to scrap the whole composite approach and look elsewhere for content that was as original as the band itself. Kurt got back to me after a band meeting and asked me to consider using one of my body paintings as an option. In retrospect, it seems odd that we didn’t start there -drawing influence from a series of body paintings I had been working on for almost 3 years. (For more on this, check out: www.eyelevelstudio com.) However, at the time, I had multiple projects running with gallery shows, 2-D painting on leaves and a variety of animal skulls, body casting and a book in the works- the body paintings were just an option among many and at the time didn't seem as obvious a choice as it does now.

The Gabriel Painting Session

With a new emphasis on the need for original art that reflected the character and complexity of the music, we scheduled a painting session specifically for this cover. The thought was, much like the the release itself, to offer something new and something familiar at the same time.We condensed our 15 hour session into a 3 minute video that can be seen here.

We started recording video during the early body painting sessions in 2006 as some of the feedback suggested that they didn’t look ‘real’. I have heard reactions that speculated that our images were generated using everything from ‘PhotoShop’ to ‘projections’. In some way, I take all this as some sort of back handed compliment in response to the precision of this style.

The Role of PhotoShop

To be clear, (aside from the text) the imagery on the cover and throughout the Gabriel release (there will be a 16 page book inside) was real -real paint, real model, real stylist, real photography. The only digital post production involved cropping the images, dropping in logos/titles and color conversion to make them ready for press. The head piece was made of real horns and weighed around 7 pounds. This doesn’t sound like a lot but after several hours it weighed down on our model who suggested that it felt like she might be "wearing a small Volkswagen on my head." I share this little fun fact with you to illustrate what an amazing group of studio artists I had the privilege of working with/torturing. We would all enjoy reading your feedback (good/bad!)

The Eye Level Studio Crew

The artists on this project included Tim Engle - Photographer, Mike Killen - Stylist, Heather Killen - MUA, Danielle Asher - model. ... and a special thanks to the art guy from Metallica for the sideways inspirado.

Look for more from Eye Level Studio/Believer collaboration - we're only getting started.
~Roz