Cover Art Coincidence: Farsot vs. Desalmado

Depending on your outlook on album art, it’s either an outmoded concept destined for the trash heap or a mandatory connection between the visual and audial. There have been some creative examples of album art in years past, but it’s a bit of a head-scratcher when two bands of underground stature end up with very similar album art on their most recent releases.
Cases in point: Germany’s Farsot and Brazil’s Desalmado.

I first came across Farsot’s new album, Insects, about a month ago. It’s fucking fantastic, although on first blush the album art didn’t really tie into the whole Darwinian theme trumpeted via oddball chords (a la Enslaved) and Hellstrom Chronicle samples. Desalmado, whose new EP Hereditas is streaming at this location, couldn’t be more different from Farsot. Full-on grind with flecks of death. The quintet’s bark ‘n’ blast probably won’t propel them to Sepultura heights, but if Rotten Sound, Nasum, or Napalm Death are in your wheelhouse, then Desalmado need your mind’s ear.

But check this out. It’s an old medical image of an unfortunate dude with his skull peeled open like a Valencia orange for Farsot’s Insects.

Then there’s Desalmado’s cover art. Well, they’ve added another vantage point of peeled skull guy, but the two top-down images are the same. Or are they?

Spot the differences between the two images and then check out the videos for Farsot’s “The Vermillion Trail” and Desalmado’s “Hereditas”.