We loved the artwork for Harbinger’s Human Dust EP and had to find out more!
Who designed the cover and what made you choose to go with them?
The art was designed by Robin Clarijs. We really liked his hand drawn style and he uses a lot of nihilistic symbolism which aligns really well with the concept of the record.
Did you go to Robin with a clear design in your mind, or did you give him free reign?
Our drummer Joel drew out a rough idea of what we wanted, and then style and colour choice was all down to Robin.
What’s the story behind the artwork – does it symbolise anything?
There’s a whole lot of symbolism in there. It’s all about the end of humanity, death, nihilism. The human skeletons represent the downfall of man, and the hooded figure represents the darkness inside humans which has caused the end of humanity. There’s also a raven which represents different things depending on context. In ancient Greece it was a symbol of hope, whereas in more modern culture it’s a symbol of death and distress. Also we wanted the art to feel royal, and the raven in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven is described with a lot of elegance and royalty. Finally the Wisdom Knot is present on the drapes in the background representing human wisdom, however they are all tattered and damaged, again representing the demise of humanity.
Did anything change about the initial idea when the final product was created?
Not hugely, Robin did a fantastic job in realising Joel’s original concept and it only had some minor amendments to shading and emphasis.
Buy Human Dust from here!
