Sepultura Arise: the nightmare a sci-fi painter made to measure
A creature made of claws, mouths and ruins, with one huge eye in the middle and a torch burning on its head. It all started with a teenager in Brazil looking at paperback covers.
At first it looks like a heap of ruins on a dark shore. Then the ruins start to look back at you. There is one huge eye in the middle, mouths full of fangs, two spiky claws reaching up like a crab's, carved stone figures on the left, and on top of it all a torch, burning, its smoke curling up towards the band's name. Everything is painted in burnt orange and sepia, as if the whole world had rusted.
A kid, some paperbacks and a phone call
The painter is Michael Whelan, an American illustrator best known for science fiction and fantasy book covers. Max Cavalera first saw his work on a set of H.P. Lovecraft paperbacks in Brazil, and suggested that Monte Connor at Roadrunner Records get in touch with him. Connor did, and Whelan sent over a few paintings.
For Beneath the Remains in 1989 the band used one of them, Nightmare in Red, which had already appeared on a horror book. The story goes that their first choice, a Lovecraft painting, was given by the label to another band.
This time, made to order
Arise was different. Whelan's own archive lists it as an original painting made for the band's fourth studio album, not a book cover reused. Details from it were later cropped for the sleeves of the singles Dead Embryonic Cells and Under Siege. The partnership did not stop there: Whelan also worked with Sepultura on Chaos A.D. and Roots.
From Belo Horizonte to Tampa
To make the record the band went to Florida in August 1990, to Morrisound Recording in Tampa, the studio behind half the death metal of the time, with producer Scott Burns. Roadrunner gave them a budget of 40,000 dollars. Andreas Kisser later said the label also gave them full creative freedom, which is how they got to control the artwork, the photos and the booklet.
The line-up was Max Cavalera on vocals and rhythm guitar, his brother Igor on drums, Kisser on lead guitar and Paulo Jr. on bass. Arise came out on 25 March 1991, entered charts across Europe and the US, and turned a band from Brazil into a world name. Reportedly MTV in America would not play the title track video because of its apocalyptic religious imagery. The cover, luckily, needed no airplay.
About the poster
This is the Arise sleeve printed as a large 55 × 75 cm (22 × 30 in) portrait poster, from 2021. It is an original magazine insert, never hung, with no staple holes, folded three times as issued. The sheet is double-sided, with Rotting Christ "Rituals" on the back.
Browse all original Sepultura posters.
Quick answers
Who painted the Sepultura Arise cover?
Michael Whelan, the American science fiction and fantasy illustrator. He painted it specially for the album.
How did Sepultura find Michael Whelan?
Max Cavalera saw his work on H.P. Lovecraft paperbacks in Brazil and suggested that Roadrunner Records contact him.
Where was Arise recorded?
At Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida, with producer Scott Burns. The album came out on 25 March 1991.
How big is the poster?
55 × 75 cm (about 22 × 30 inches), portrait. It is a separate insert, so it has no staple holes, and it is folded three times as issued.
What is on the other side?
Rotting Christ "Rituals". The sheet is double-sided, so you choose which side goes on the wall.