Album artwork for Gothick

ZOSHOUSE was recently commissioned to create the artwork for Gothick‘s new album Zodios. This was an exciting opportunity to work together with a creative client to realise their own vision and create striking design.

The artwork required photo shoots in London, Prague and New York. Prague’s history of alchemy and magic were the perfect backdrop and the famous astronomical clock exactly what the interior CD background required. A shot of Manhattan was taken from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck at the historic Rockefeller Center and compliments the shot of the Great Court of the British Museum. The first is a reference to the song All Ov These Cities and the second to the song Walworth Road Surrealist. The album features these together with 10 other original songs including Poh Teck Tung, in memory of Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, founding member of Industrial bands Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil.

Finding the right location in New York was difficult, a few shots were taken at Times Square and outside The Dakota but the sweeping skyline panorama and obelisk of the Empire State building were chosen. A number of locations in London were considered, including the famous time-machine of Brompton cemetery, the interior of the Templar church on the Embankment and some of the previous abodes of Aleister Crowley. In the end the Great Court was chosen for its proximity to the artifacts of John Dee, Sumeria and to Museum Street where the original painting of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers can be found. The initial location scouting in Prague began with the Golden Lane, the legendary home of alchemists and haunt of John Dee and the Old New Synagogue, legendary home of the Golem. As the album concept initially dealt with an exploration of the 12 signs of the zodiac, the clockface from the astronomical clock tower was finally selected.

The cover itself is a painting by Sean Woodward entitled Eye Ov Nuit commissioned for the album and 3D graphics were used to tie together the front and back designs. The artist explained some of the symbolism behind the central lamen eye as incorporating the ten Sephirah of the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life and the outer circles representing the four elements of the quarters. Between the Sephirah lie the paths of the zodiac which are represented in the outer spaces. Whilst the painting is called the Eye Ov Nuit, named after the Egyptian goddess of infinite space it is also a fitting talisman of Zodios, which Gothick have called a personification of the Holy Guardian Angel, a concept attributed to Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.

Released by Quartier23 in Berlin on May 23rd 2011, the album can be purchased here.