AMONGRUINS' "ADVENT OF CHAOS" ALBUM COVER STORY

Greek Death Metal act, AmongRuins, are releasing a new album titled “Advent of Chaos." The cover was designed by Nikos Stavridakis of VisionBlack. Below, the artist talks about the process of creating the artwork.

What inspired the cover concept and what is this artwork depicting?

Nikos Stavridakis: The cover concept is directly connected to the title, and it is my interpretation of the depiction of Chaos. Chaos is surely perceived differently by many out there. It is interpreted in multiple ways and expressed in even more. I have always perceived chaos as a pandemonic collage of various things telling a nightmarish story and even personified in one single entity. The band gave me the chance to realise my vision of those two interpretations combined. The Advent of Chaos here is personified as a "faceless" dark entity, directly connected and surrounded by the more obscure aspects of nature, the fierceness of the animal kingdom, and the fall of man. A redeemer Among the living, leaving the world of man behind, in Ruins.

How did you get involved in this project?

Nikos Stavridakis: I have been friends with the band for quite some time now. It is always a pleasure for me to work with Sverd and the guys on artworks because they give me total artistic freedom to deliver my own interpretation of their concepts. I am a fan of their music and we stand on the same page when it comes to artistic aesthetics, so our cooperation has always been smooth and enjoyable. Freedom in creating artworks is crucial and of huge importance to me. Of course ,I need to have an initial direction from the band, a title, a rough concept and where we are heading, artwork-wise. But from then on, I prefer to work with total freedom and produce drafts along the way. This "recipe" has worked perfectly with AmongRuins so far and I am very happy to have contributed to another album artwork for them.

What techniques/mediums were used to design the cover?

Nikos Stavridakis: The original centerpiece "butterfly" theme and various bits and pieces in the background are parts of photographs by amazing Russian photographer Sergey Vinogradov, of course used after his permission and transformed accordingly to match the concept. His work is amazing and worked as a canvas and a huge inspiration for the overall composition. Everything is done in Photoshop using dozens of layers, NO AI is used whatsoever; I never use AI in my work. Everything was meant to look like a chaotic collage of images, but overall, telling a story and matched the concept of the album to the maximum extent.

“Advent of Chaos” will be released on February 20, 2026 through Theogonia Records. Pre-order at https://theogonia-records.com/product/amongruins-advent-of-chaos-cd/

See more of Nikos Stavridakis' work at https://www.facebook.com/VisionBlackArt