ALBUM COVER STORY: SHRINEBURNER's "HYMNS OF DESPAIR"

Shrineburner is Sludge/Doom Metal Trio based in Chicago, United States. On September 11, 2026 they will release their debut album, "Hymns Of Despair." Its front sleeve will feature an illustration crafted by fellow countryman artist, Joshua Hondros. In the following interview, Hondros and Shrineburner's guitarist/vocalist, Peter Norman, talk about this arresting art piece. 

The album cover artwork depicts a menacing creature with multiple heads. It's an image that seems to have Asian influences. What inspired this ominous vision?

Joshua Hondros: The album cover is a direct result of pushing the energy and power of the album as is chronological in one illustration, without hearing it yet—along with the turbulence and unsettling time it was done.

Peter Norman: We wanted something that absolutely conveyed the title of our record without having to actually stick the title on it. Initially, we didn’t even want the band logo on it and wanted to simply let the painting speak for itself. But we ended up opting for some sort of recognition by putting a small logo in the upper left-hand corner. We’re big fans of 80s Metal artwork but we wanted something unique, so working with a painter as amazing as Josh, we gave him pretty much free rein to create as he saw fit, within a very broad general prompt. The idea was that another set of eyes outside of the band would add another layer to the artwork and record. The result is this visceral four or so headed devil sitting in a bloodbath. You could zoom in on it and find a new detail for the rest of your life. There are tons of cool hidden faces, snakes being eaten, etc. I think it vibes perfectly with the dynamics of the tracks on the record.

This image has obvious influences from ancient cultures' painting traditions, which is a constant presence in Hondros' work. Was the artist's signature style the main motivation to collaborate with him? 

Joshua Hondros: The painting is influenced heavily by old religious imagery back to the 1400’s, old lithographs, and other Old Testament imagery. I’m honored to be asked to have a small place on the album.  

Peter Norman: I’ve been a fan of Joshua’s artwork for years, he’s been a really prolific tattoo artist in Chicago offering a really unique twist on classic styles, and offering a level of detail and creativity in his paintings that I think is mind-blowing. He’s able to make something seemingly so simple pop in ways I don’t see often, or at all. The dude has vision! We were really stoked that he was interested in working with us.

Do you know what techniques/medium were used to create this piece?

Joshua Hondros: It’s drawn with a pencil, drawn on paper, painted with a brush, acrylic, water, coffee, India ink, gouache.

Peter Norman: Everything Joshua does is paint to paper. That was another huge draw for us. No shade whatsoever to digital artists. I have done the majority of our T-shirt designs and artwork in the past and we wanted to deviate from that, like I said earlier, to get fresh eyes and a different take on this. We really wanted a unique physical painting to use for the front cover, but something we could also hang in our studio as a reminder of the awesome time we had writing and making this record. We feel supporting local artists is of the upmost importance, especially in a sea of AI laziness, so working with an artist outside of the band was really awesome for us. We’ve been really lucky to work with some incredible artists as a band.

You mentioned that the band's logo wasn't going to be featured in the cover. But you eventually changed your minds. Can you talk about the logo's origins and design process?

Peter Norman:
Our logo has undergone quite a few iterations, all of them made by me. This current one was actually inspired by Joshua’s cover art—I wanted to add a chain element to our already existing logo. It seemed to my eye this subtle detail would fit well with the chains in Joshua’s artwork, but we weren’t interested in entering classic “illegible font” territory. 

The logo was created entirely in procreate on my iPad, with the first iteration making its debut on a poster for a weekend run in Iowa earlier this year—I believe. It is essentially a heavily modified version of the JSL Blackletter font. I did a bunch of different drawings until I reached one that I liked and then ran it through an image capture to add grit to it. The chains became a part of the design after receiving Joshua’s incredible painting. Like I mentioned earlier, we wanted to make sure the focus was on the painting, so we opted for a small logo and decided a title on the front cover would only take away from the immaculate detail in Joshua’s work.

"Hymns Of Despair" can be pre-ordered at 

https://shrineburner.bandcamp.com

See more of Joshua Hondros' work at

https://www.instagram.com/j_hondros/