Sunn O))) – Life Metal and Pyroclasts album art

Life Metal (April 2019) and Pyroclasts (October 2019) are two Sunn O))) albums with related cover designs. Both covers feature a Samantha Keely Smith painting and a tongue design with the band logo. The album titles and the tracklists are set in Sabbath Black. Some information like the credits is in Helvetica.

Sabbath Black is a typeface designed by Miles Newlyn and released by Emigre in 1992. The name obviously is inspired by the rock band Black Sabbath. Sunn O))) and Black Sabbath are both groups playing metal music. The style of Old English (a.k.a. textura) is quite common in rock and heavy metal, see e.g. the album art for Bathory’s self-titled debut from 1984.

Art direction by Stephen O’Malley.

See the Sunn O))) website for more info about Life Metal and Pyroclasts.