MUKESH AMARAN
ALBUM
ARTicle
RUEBEN
BHATTACHARYA
Visual Amnesia is Indian born artist Reuben Bhattacharya
known for highly conceptual art in the rock and metal
circles. Coming from a design background he forayed into
the independent music scene when roped in by Rock Street
Journal as Creative Head & Editor to design India's first full
color rock glossy. Starting out as a musician and independent
artist Visual Amnesia quickly became one of the pioneers of
illustrated album art from India in the past 12 years. He has
created art for Demonic Resurrection (Dashavatar), Bhayanak
Maut(I Am Man, Pindakaas), Joint Family (Hotbox), 1833 AD
(My Dark Symphony), Zygnema (What Makes Us Human Is
Obsolete), Chaos (All Against All), Kryptos, Providence, BIG
69 Metal Festival, Bangalore Open Air and a host of bands
and gigs from the subcontinent. Not to let only metal cred do
the talking, Reuben also created art for Delhi electro rock
artist Fuzzculture's debut 'NO' on Universal Records, Pune
synthwave producer Dreamhour's debut 'VLLNS' on New
Retro Wave Records and Melbourne synth producer Future
Fate's futuristic album "Mechanism". Recent years saw him
foray into the international metal scene by creating art and
prints for Slipknot, Black Sabbath, Skyharbor, Monuments,
Textures, Aliases, Allegaeon, Underside, Sleep Terror and more.
Visual Amnesia is also the chief artist for Aussie metal icons
Twelve Foot Ninja and handles all design duties for the band. ideology that acted as a catalyst and led to "The Legend
Of Thraat" dark fantasy folk tale for the new album.
1. Tell us your experience with Dymbur
and what you feel about their music? - Well, this is the only second Indian indie release i have been
involved in this year. Mostly been busy with my regular gig
of being the designer at Twelve Foot Ninja. There's album art
coming out for Seattle tech-death act Sleep Terror (includes
members of Animosity, Six Feet Under) few releases of some
previously shelved stuff for a couple other bands that I often
work with, plus a print for what is arguably the most shred
heavy death metal release of this year on Metal Blade. What
I'm also really excited for is my new art book set to come out
later this year. Can't give away any more details but stay
tuned on my Instagram for exclusive previews and releases.
- Dymbur have been working with me for a long time now
and we have struck up a great friendship based on mutual
respect and creativity. I was first commissioned a couple
of years ago by the band, to design their logo based around
the English meaning of the band name, which is "fig tree"
to signify the band ideology. I work with a lot of bands
in the tech / djent / prog metal space including some top
names and it's refreshing to see these guys try and do
something with their roots. In fact, it's that very same
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2. What was the most challenging part
about creating this artwork?
- The art itself is some of the most detailed work i have done,
there's a lot of dense natural elements because its set in an
ancient rainforest, a lot of intricate traditional inkwork
and atmospheric feeling as well as fantastical characters
to balance. The bigger challenge was coming up with the
story and tie together the different shades of the album
into a single concept album. We were dealing with songs
written over lineup changes, older and newer material,
there was a certain evolution in sound and ideas. I went
back to my own childhood and the Khasi folktales and lore
heard from my mother, grandmother and her ancestors.
"The Legend Of Thraat" is a work of fiction of course, but
it's rooted in these Ri-Khasi tales that have been passed
through generations. I'm really proud that this first time
that a band from the region has had the guts to go in this
direction of reinventing its own folklore in a modern metal
sphere. The mission was to set a new standard here.
3. What are some of the projects that you
are involved in at the moment?