Once again Pestilent Age has worked carefully with Indonesian artist Rudi Yanto of Gorging Suicide Studios to bring a visual representation for our newest singles. Rudi created the covers for Medieval Holocaust and Novgorod as well as designing our most recognizable Coffin Birth logo. Each and every time we’ve been blow away by his attention to detail. Each drawing starts with Pestilent Age sitting around talking about the song topics and how to mesh these varying themes into a single image. After a couple of hours of brain storming we send Rudi a detailed message describing what we decided on. Since none of us are artistically inclined when it comes to visual art like drawings and graphics we try to leave enough room for Rudi to work with. Weeks later Rudi will send us a work in progress. Though the rough draft is usually perfect, if we feel like something just isn’t quite right changes are requested. Within another week or two Rudi sends us the final draft of the image then once we approve, he puts our logo over it. The entire process takes about a month Rudi has always given us a visually stunning image that is sure to turn heads.
Before we start off we’d like to take a moment to thank everyone that purchased our first batch of T-shirts, albums, guitar picks, and stickers. This has helped get our name out into the underground scene and it’s hard not to smile when we see someone wearing one of shirts. With that being said it’s time we begin printing new shirts. Taking into account what we learned during our first merchandise launch we’re making just a couple of changes that should benefit our fans including the production of women’s shirts and XXL sizes. Now let’s talk about the art work that will be going on the new shirts.
Our first single “Nuclear Winter” is a pretty straight forward song about the after math of nuclear war. This is heavily themed within our newest piece of art. A mushroom cloud soars into the sky as corpses lay in the ruble of a post-apocalyptic world were nuclear explosions are no stranger. The concept of a nuclear themed song naturally attracted us after all the escalations between North Korea and the U.N. Gas masks symbolize our second single we’ll be releasing in October. Entitled “Chemicals of Annihilation” this song details the horrid effects of the chemical weapons used in Syria to murder innocent civilians. Both of these topics stray slightly from the other 6 singles we’ll be releasing because they talk about global problems rather than more localized problems. While nuclear threats can affect us locally it’s something the entire global community is understandably concerned with. The threat of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities could potentially launch us into a global conflict worse than anything we’ve seen since in the last 50 years. While “Nuclear Winter” deals with a global problem that could become a local problem, the use of Chemical weapons in Syria seems at face value to be something unlikely to ever happen or affect the United States. “Chemicals of Annihilation” is more of a reminder of what happens when a country submerges itself into all-out war. While the international community has set rules to war, these rules often go out the window when fighting get intense.
The next six singles we’re currently recording directly relate to things that happen in Pestilent Age’s back yard. Flint is just 20 minutes away from us and we frequently spend time there. Although it’s sad to say, there’s no city closer to looking like a dystopian wasteland than Flint, Mi. Industrial auto industry jobs leaving state, robot automation trimming down the workforce, these are not just song subjects but the very reason Flint has been left to rot. The lack of income and corporate taxes not only crippled Flint’s aesthetics, it destroyed it’s water supply by using cheaper less safe water sources corroding it’s outdated lead pipe lines. This mass poisoning is another song topic that can be depicted in our newest artwork. If you look closely you can see water bottles scattered on the ground, something most Flint residents relied on to drink, cook, and take baths with.
Flint might be no stranger to disaster but our hometown of Lapeer is no stranger to terrible situations either. Heroin has been in Lapeer for a long time but the last 8 years has been worse than ever. Everyone in our city knows someone who has died of an overdose, everyone knows someone that’s currently addicted, and everyone knows someone that was addicted to heroin. Kids have been taken away; people have spent themselves into homelessness and this problem deserved to be at the forefront of our music. A lot of our friends have fallen victim to this drug. It makes you ask yourselves if you can allow someone once called a friend into your home or around other acquaintances. A lot of us have had to cut off people we care about, it’s never easy but unfortunately it can sometimes be necessary.
Hopefully you can appreciate the subtle Nuisances that Rudi Yanto has so carefully crafted into this image. Shocking, provocative, and well thought out it is always a pleasure to see our ideas put to paper. It can be hard for us to visualize what we think up and working with the right artist eases our mind and lets us focus on what we do best; make music.
