At The Gates Pre-Party featuring a presentation of Barcelona-based photographer Ester Segarra’s new book: Ars Umbra.
This is your chance to check out the book that has been hailed as “A Must for any Metal Head” and “The Bible of Extreme Metal”, meet the author and get it signed.
Having captured images of the likes of AT THE GATES, WATAIN, MAYHEM, KATATONIA, DARKTHRONE, ROTTING CHRIST, VENOM, ABBATH, TRIPTYKON, SHINING, BEHEMOTH, CARCASS, GHOST, ELECTRIC WIZARD, CATHEDRAL, PARADISE LOST, and others, Ester has been granted unprecedented access to many of the bands she has worked with, allowing her a unique insight that is evident in the images she creates. Those photographs are now preserved in a book that is as much a historical document of a specific period in extreme music, as it is a piece of art in itself.
Ars Umbra is as essential a part of a music collection as the albums it sits alongside. 220 pages containing over 150 photographs, spanning over 100 bands – with accompanying texts written by the featured musicians, detailing the stories behind many of the pictures – Ars Umbra beautifully captures the energy of an important part of heavy metal history.
Designed in collaboration with Branca Studio and Münster Studio to fit your record collection, the level of attention to detail in the book is second to none. A vinyl size hardcover book with sewn binding, anti-scuff matt lamination printed on deluxe Swedish paper (Munken Lynx).
Understanding the umbilical link between visual art and music, Ester commissioned a soundtrack to accompany the book. Inspired by a Macumba ritual she attended, the instrumental soundtrack was written and performed by Uno Bruniusson (ex-In Solitude, Death Alley, Procession); it provides a unique rhythm and adds another layer of artistry to the whole Ars Umbra experience.