… And Justice For Art

Veteran metal/rock journalist Ramón “Oscuro” Martos has unveiled the cover artwork for his upcoming revelatory book “…And Justice For Art: Stories About Heavy Metal Album Covers“.

“…And Justice For Art” (softcover edition) is a one-of-a-kind collection of stories, stunning graphics, and  revealing interviews about the making of some of the greatest album covers in the history of Heavy Metal music. It includes all the particulars behind artworks as iconic as Slayer’s “Reign In Blood,” Morbid Angel’s “Blessed Are The Sick,” Metallica’s “And Justice For All,” Death’s “Symbolic,” Carcass “Heartwork,” Black Sabbath’s “13”, Cormorant’s “Dwellings,” At The Gates’ “Slaughter Of The Soul,”Testament’s “Dark Roots Of Earth,” Opeth’s “Heritage,” Mayhem’s “Grand Declaration Of War,” and dozens of others. 

After three years researching, interviewing musicians and visual artists, and securing the rights to showcase the 400+ graphics featured in the book, “And Justice For Art” is ready to be printed… Now, I would like to share with you a great opportunity to make history together, to become partners in this effort that is aimed to change the way the world looks at Heavy Metal album covers.

Your contributions would make a tremendous difference in the outcome of this project, that—according to Morbid Angel’s frontman, David Vincent (who wrote the foreword)—has all the potential to become “a historical document about the importance of Metal album covers.”

Ramón also says:

“And Justice For Art” is the result of my 3-decades-old obsession with album covers. This started at a very early age when I was growing up in Cuba, as a Metal fan.  In my youth, I basically relied on 3rd generation tapes, usually obtained from the black market. These cassettes didn’t feature any kind of artworks, so my friends and I had to create our own graphics in order to give some visual context to the music we were listening to.

Many years later, after moving to United States, I started developing the online series “And Justice For Art” and its companion Facebook community. Both are dedicated to promoting the works of many talented artists and the artworks accompanying the hundreds of Metal albums that are released every month.

This book is an extension of those online efforts. It’s also a space to coherently compile the 100 exclusive interviews I conducted with  Metal icons like Jeff Walker (Carcass), Charlie Benante (Anthrax), Max Cavalera (Soulfly, ex-Sepultura), Fenriz (Darkthrone), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Maniac (ex-Mayhem), Paul Masvidal (Cynic), Chris Adler (Lamb Of God) David Vincent (Morbid Angel) and celebrated visual artists like Michael Whelan, Eliran Kantor, Dan Seagrave, Joe Petagno, Travis Smith, Arik Roper, and Paul Elledge, among many others.  

The campaign is now fully funded, however, it does (at the time of publishing this) still have 23 days left to run and some cool packages are left. Click here to go to the Indiegogo page.