If the name Christophe Szpajdel doesn’t ring a bell you probably don’t own CDs or LPs (or, you’re new to underground metal; hey, we all start somewhere). ‘Tis the conundrum of being the product of a digital age. Liner notes, credits, lyrics, etc. often get pushed to some dark corner of a binary folder (or completely forgotten), but that’s a conversation for another rainy fall day. Belgian born Szpajdel is infamous for a few reasons, actually. You know the Emperor logo. He was the artist. Arcturus? Yup, Szpajdel. The old Moonspell logo. That’s our guy. Impiety? You guessed it. Szpajdel. He’s so prolific he has a 272-page book of logos on Die Gestalten Verlag (HERE). So, what’s Szpajdel up to now? Transforming corporate logos into underground—predominantly black metal—signs of the apocalypse. Here are a few recently highlighted by FastCo.
This is a classic thrash metal vibe with a good ’70s rock feel to boot. Perhaps a little too ‘on the nose’ (FastCo = a logo moving, uh, fast), but when has metal been about subtlety?
Next to the Walt Disney piece, this is class. Reminds me of Seance’s logo mixed with the Dark Crystal logo. Podlings + death metal + the greatest data hunter/gatherer on the planet = nifty.
Another thrashy look. Maybe more hardcore, dis-core, or power violence. Actually, looking at it now, the one thing that comes to mind is the Tragedy logo. And, hey, Tragedy rules. No, their logo wasn’t illustrated by Szpajdel.
Another good one, really. More “French” than, say, anything else. Like Alcest got in trouble with Bill Gates for software piracy, so they forced him to make a song about blue screens of death, multi-million dollar marketing campaigns, and the sadness of having to do full restores.
Ah, this could by any band at the demo stage. You know, when they’re not quite sure what they want to do but they want to convey evil. Maybe this is Facebook’s “dorm logo.” Before Suckerbirch figured out he could steal from the Vanderpickles without them noticing. Too much.