The Idea
The project arose from the idea of creating an illustration for the band which they should
receive during their "The Black Finale" tour. A small gift for everything I owe to them.
One drawing didn't feel enough though, and so the idea of a small book came to my mind. A book containing
drawings and poetry for each track, worthy of the finale for this album.
The whole project was build upon the hope that they would be doing another Meet & Greet where I could hand
them over the gift. During a singing session, Eddie luckily told me that one is planned for this tour and so
I began working.
I started by sketching down the book concept and all my initial ideas for the songs,
including the three bonus tracks from the extended record. Some songs had visuals to go off from, many had
words to be inspired by and the instrumental tracks only had the auditory feeling they invoke within me.
The Artworks
One month was spent bringing all the artworks to life, including more and more breaks inbetween to get some ideas. The programs I used were Krita and Gimp, as always. The pressure I felt was intense, I wanted to do them justice and create pieces of art which truly represent my feelings. I also took some inspiration from classical art like "The Empyrean" by Gustave Doré for "Heaven Shall Burn" or "Tomb of a Suicide" by Wilhelm Kotarbiński for "Le Noir".
The Inner Struggle
The closer I got towards the end, the more breaks I needed, especially during
"The Black". This drawing broke me and I slowly understood why.
The album lit a spark within me to dig deeper into my psyche and uncover my own "Black". This led to my
darkest year mentally and the creation of [Signs] and Tombs. Problems and illnesses slumbering within me
surfaced with these songs as my soundtrack... and finishing this project now also meant finding a finale to
my own "Black", which I wasn't ready for.
Everything has changed but I stayed the same. It truly was like that... and now I need to start a new era.
One for myself. One born out of misery and hurt, with nothing left to lose anymore.
This project became way more personal than I ever expected but then again, I owe part of my life to
Imminence.
The Poetry
After the illustrations were finished and printed, I started writing poetry accompanying the imagery. It reflects the feelings of the individual songs while telling a loose, overarching story - just like the album itself. While doing so, I also gained way more insight and understanding for the indiviual songs and how they each reflect a slightly different state of slowly slipping downwards into a void. Losing hope, faith and sanity, resisting and accepting, dreading and loathing, pleading and surrendering... in a way, it's beautifully haunting.
The Book Binding
The last step was bringing everything together and binding the book. I wanted a black leather look with the golden symbol on the cover, fitting the overall visual language of the album. This was the first time I've bound a hardcover book and for that, it turned out great. Since it's a unique item, I also took some photos to keep it in memories and simultaneously created a digital version for everyone to read, while the original will stay with the band.
