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https://www.facebook.com/Here-With-Gargoyles-As-My-Friends-104297641341746/

Thanks for your support.

Doomed - "Doomed to Death and Damned in Hell" 2010

I'm a sucker for ornate gothic stonework, and this is a great example, used on the 2010 collected work compilation of US band Doomed (a side-project of Autopsy).

The front cover features a pair of fine roof-bosses, one in an ornate 8-pointed floral style, plus another with a skull design, probably in the ceiling of a British or European cathedral. I'm currently trying to pinpoint the exact location.

The back cover displays an excellent bearded grotesque known as the Russell Head, which is located in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the corner of Provost Skene's House. It was originally located on a bakery in Ragg's Lane; the baker (George Russell 1810-1899) had a dispute with his neighbour, and carved the face so that his neighbour would always see it sneering at him. It was moved to its current location after Ragg's Lane was demolished in 1959.

Castle - "In Purple Visions" demo 1992

Stone angel statues are a staple image of doom metal covers, and are exactly the kind of thing that this blog celebrates. Here we have two different covers for the same demo by Dutch doom/death band Castle, both of which feature images of stone angels (one with a trumpet, one without). Both are in colour, which is a bold contrast to the usual black and white offerings.

With a bit of research (and lucky guesswork) I have discovered that both photos come from the Bredaseweg cemetery in the band's home town of Tilburg, Holland. The angels are among many other statues that adorn pillars along the outer fence of the cemetery, and the height seems to add to the imposing feeling of the photos.

Warning - "Revelation Looms" demo 1996

Another great demo from the UK doom scene of the 90s, Warning's first demo "Revelation Looms". A fine looking Celtic cross crucifix statue, or gravestone, location unknown.

Ashen Mortality - demo covers 1993 & 1994

Although hand drawn rather than photographic in nature, these two demo covers from UK doom/death band Ashen Mortality are strikingly simple and atmospheric, and made a great impression on me back in the day. The first is probably more the work of imagination rather than based on an existing cross, but I suspect the second image may be based on a real church window.

Wojnar - "The Book of Veles" 2004

More pagan ambient, this time from Poland's Wojnar. The image is probably a wooden carving of Perun, the chief god of the Slavic peoples,

Wejdas - "Į Tamsą" demo 1994

An nice obscure offering here from Lithuanian pagan ambient act Wejdas. The image is a neolithic figure carved into Baltic amber, found in Lithuania and currently housed in the Göttingen museum in Germany.

November's Doom - "Her Tears Drop" demo 1995

Another of those simple-but-effective black & white photocopied demo covers from the early 90s, this time from US Death/Doom band November's Doom. A gravestone with an angel clinging desperately to a rough-hewn cross, location unknown.

Dark Opera - "Calling the Legend"

Polish Doom/Death band Dark Opera used this enigmatic fellow on their "Calling The Legend" cassette album. Although I'm no expert, I'm willing to place a hefty bet that the carving is South American in origin, possibly Mayan. Any info gladly appreciated.

Grave -- "Soulless"

Swedish Death Metallers Grave give us this excellent cover, interestingly using two images we have seen used before, on the Dark Passages compilation.

Cover image: Green man from the Lady Chapel, Ely Cathedral, England.

Back image (main): from the façade of Orvieto Cathedral, Italy, sculpted by Lorenzo Maitani.

Deicide

Ah Deicide, the band that lured me into the realms of demonic darkness all those years ago... An iconic image, whatever your feelings on the band itself. I'll research the image more fully in time, but I have a vague recollection of reading that it was a pendant or belt-buckle owned by Glen Benton.

Mortem

Two great examples from Peruvian Death Metallers Mortem. These highlight a side of gargoyle imagery that I hadn't fully considered -- that of portraying a fierce or bestial quality, as opposed to the sad/sombre feeling of the more Doom/Gothic orientated releases.

Be'lakor -- Stone's Reach

A lovely image of "Perseus Holding The Head Of Medusa" by Benvenuto Cellini, which stands in Florence Italy. Strangely, despite the album title, the statue is actually made of bronze not stone.

Ecstatic Fear -- Somnium Obmutum

This was recommended to me on the Metal Archives forum. I like the ruinous condition of the statue, plus the green leaves in the background give it a colourful element that goes against the usual monochrome trend.

Unholy -- From The Shadows

Finnish Doom/Death kings Unholy next, with their debut 1993 album "From The Shadows". The cover is of an Oriental-looking statue of a man, apparently holding what could be a fish? Answers on a postcard please...


EDIT:

Found it! It's the Las Limas Monumet 1 from the Olmec civilization of Mexico, dating from between 1000 to 600 BC. The thing in its arms is in fact a half-human, half-jaguar baby, or were-jaguar. Obvious, really...

Count Raven -- High On Infinity

Another Doom classic, this is Swedish band Count Raven's "High On Infinity" album. Quite a fierce-looking carving, presumably of Satan/Lucifer/random Devil. Origin as yet unknown.

The same image was used by US Black Metal act Lurker Of Chalice on their self-titled album.

Chapel Of Rest -- Memorium Grief

A classic example of the sort of thing this blog is celebrating; early 90s Doom/Death, church-y band name, black and white photograph of sombre-looking statue, Old English calligraphy, flowing script. It doesn't get much better than this.

Origin of image unknown.

Thanks to Matt Witchclan for the scan.

Hybernoid

Two releases from UK Industrial Doom/Death outfit Hybernoid.

The "Well of Grief" demo features a great statue of a lady (angel?) who's obviously having a very bad day. From a graveyard somewhere in North Manchester, UK.

The cover of "The Last Day Begins?" features 4 different images, carved by the band's guitarist Dave Evans. The top left image is inspired by a Celtic statue from Boa Island, Upper Lough Erne, Ireland, and the bottom right image is (presumably) inspired by the stone heads of Easter Island.

Thanks to the band member who commented below.

Misanthrope -- Miracles: Totem Taboo

This startlingly cheeky contribution comes from French avantgarde Metallers Misanthrope on their 1994 album "Miracles: Totem Taboo". Needless to say, I NEVER spent hours staring at this cover as a teenager. Not once.

The image originates from the Visvanatha temple at Khajuraho in India, which is covered in erotic carvings such as this.

Hate Forest -- Battlefields

Another non-Doom act here, Ukrainian Black Metallers Hate Forest, though this awesome album was slower-paced and doomier than their other albums. And I love the cover so much, I couldn't not include it here.

The image is the gravestone of the Cossack military leader Ivan Sirko (c. 1610-1680), located in the village of Kapulivka in the Dnipropetrovsk Region of the Ukraine.

I have a T shirt of the first image, though it has been pointed out to me on a couple of occasions that it looks from a distance like a rolled-up condom...

Current 93 -- Dogs Blood Rising

Another non-Doom offering. Post-Industrial Neo-Folk outfit Current 93 gave us this striking image of a grotesque from Notre Dame in Paris. That's in France, you know.

Funerary Call -- A Comselh De Ors

Not a Doom band, Funerary Call are a Dark/Ritual ambient act from Canada. This image of a weeping stone angel is the same as the one from the inside of Revelation's "Salvation Answer" cassette inlay (which I posted in an earlier post), and is also used on the inside of the inlay for Godflesh's "Pure" CD: http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=73745

After many years of searching for the source of the image, the members of the Cemetery Enthusiasts group on Facebook identified it as being on the tomb of Henry Honoré in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Godsend -- demo 1992

An interesting image of a carving (not quite sure what it's of), used by Norwegian Doom band Godsend on their 1992 demo (sometimes referred to as the "Starfall" demo).

At a casual glance I thought the image was maybe of a pair of knights, or possibly Viking warrors given the Norwegian origin. The way the edge of the picture crops the head of the figure on the left gives a false impression of a conical helmet. On closer inspection however, it could be Adam and Eve with The Tree between them (a common image), though the item in the hands looks more like a flower than an apple.

Can anyone shed any light?

UPDATE Oct 2016:

I have been in touch with the guy behind Godsend, and he told me that the picture was taken in a cemetery in his hometown of Trondheim, Norway, though he cannot remember exactly what kind of stone structure it was.

Sevenchurch

A couple of fine examples from UK doom eccentrics Sevenchurch.

The first is a particularly distraught-looking grotesque from the inside of the "Nefarious" demo, and the second  is a band sticker that features a superb grotesque of a piper (the picture was also used on a T-shirt). Both are from Sevenchurch's home town of Oxford, England (the first from the bell-tower of New College, the second from Magdalen College). Here are clearer images of the full carvings:

Cathedral -- gargoyle logo

One of the most recognised "gargoyles" in Doom (though it's not strictly speaking a true gargoyle) is Cathedral's "gargoyle logo", and it is one that I hold a great deal of affection for (Cathedral's debut album "Forest Of Equilibrium" was my initiation into the world of Doom Metal, and is still one of my top 3 albums of all time).

The band took the image from an illustration in "The Book Of Jade", a collection of decadent poetry by David Park Barnitz which also directly inspired much of the band's lyrical imagery.