Nick Keller

Very stoked that our album The Ship // The Sea is a finalist at the Aotearoa Music awards for Best Rock // Metal album. Big high fives to our brilliant collaborators @jamesgoldsmith and @nickbkeller for their well deserved nominations too 💜

Little 8"x10" oil study revisiting the Ennead subject from a couple years back. Loving this colour combo atm of quinacridone magenta (imprimatura) and cobalt teal.

Here's my piece for this year's Skullduggery exhibition, "Illumination" (sold). Oil on board, 25x25cm. Some real spooktacular art on display this year. Tomorrow is the last chance to see the show and maybe pick up an original piece, 10am to 3pm, Thistle Hall.

New song The Storm is out today and streaming everywhere! We are so grateful to once again have Nick Keller paint this perfect cover for us. In his words... "From my earliest discussions with drummer Nato about the new album, the ocean theme was the primary lead. As writing progressed, singer Matt was keen to explore the idea of a ship adrift upon a turbulent sea as an overarching metaphor for the human individual navigating the upheavals of life. The calm and chaos, the beauty and terror, the knowns and unknowns. Interweaving the ominous ufo and sea monster elements not only emphasised the central theme, but made a call back to past albums. For the ship, I wanted to portray a character battle-weary but defiant. The aesthetic draws from the WWI British super dreadnoughts. Matt resonated with the old covers of Commando Comics and we figured the warships of this particular era worked well with the sci-fi vibes. The band has always been great at providing rough mixes of the music along the way, this time being no exception. Listening on repeat while pulling the various threads into a painting composition always makes for a compelling synergy of artforms. After a couple months of planning and composing mockups, the final oil on canvas painting came together rapidly over a couple of weeks of late nights and early mornings, so much so the paint was still wet when Beastwars announced the album and unveiled the artwork. Nothing like a good deadline to get shit done!" Album made with funding from NZ On Air.

Hey! Artist highlight - Nick Keller Let's highlight the terrific art on the singles!! We did it for Deth Bü Wolfe and the terrific artist @Nestor Avalos so it's only decent to showcase the mind-blowing awesomeness of Nick Keller who did the art for "Wrecking the World"! 🤘😜 Marcus: "Nick Keller might not be an obvious household name for many of us but when I checked out his portfolio after having stumbled upon this hand drawn image I was almost shocked by his resumé!! I mean, the dude worked at Weta FX as a concept artist for "The Hobbit" and other Peter Jackson movies like "Mortal Machines" for Pete's sake! (pun intended! Oooh yes... it most certainly is 😅). I'm such a huge Lord of the Rings fan it's almost ridiculous... I mean, I own one of those super rare first edition Sauron Helms I bought directly from Weta when the first movie came out! It's huge!! Like a damn bucket! I can't say I care the least for "Rings of Power" though but Mr Keller's worked on that too... and Ghost in the Shell as well! What an awesome talent! Anyway, his art popped up much in the eleventh hour and I'm super happy for it. Cause I was stumbling with some home made art really didn't do the trick and for some reason I just felt that this image was absolutely perfect! To also find Mr Keller genuinely really nice and also understand when it comes to underdog situations for weird Metal bands was quite a surprise too! He actually thanked Me for licensing real art instead of succumbing to using AI stuff - which is a huge challenge for people in his profession..." Give a big hand to Nick Keller who certainly deserves attention for his charcoal drawing which is now a perfect part of the single "Wrecking the World" Check out his site at Nick Kellers Official website: Wrecking the World: Official video: https://youtu.be/mLSGthS05fY Spotify: /artist/6qKIHlWgKuFMMR10h1rcUz @nickbkeller #sterbhaus #wreckingtheworld #nickbkeller #nickkeller #wetafx #weta #conceptart #peterjackson #thehobbit #mortalmachines #ringsofpower #ghostintheshell #art #artist #nextakintochaos #metal #metaldeluxe #thrashmetal #deathmetal #blackmetal #heavymetal

With Beastwars' announcement of their upcoming album, The Ship // The Sea (out Nov 7th), I can share the cover painted I recently made for it. Can't believe this is the band's 6th album I've had the honour to contribute art towards! Always grateful to collaborate with these amazing musicians! The theme explored here might be best expressed by a quote from Matt Hyde in an article from No Clean Singing the other day: "Life has become a marathon for most people. How can we not see the injustice, the cruelty of the world? Our new album is like Picasso’s Guernica – a reflection of war and horror, of endings and upheavals. It’s the sound of a ship adrift on a cruel sea." Oil on linen, 60x120cm Check @beastwarsband for preorders/merch and tour dates!

It has been 5 years since ERSETU came out 🔥 We've released this album during a very tough period for the entire World, when we were stuck in our houses during the Covid19 pandemic. At the time to schedule the full album promotion, mainly fall 2019, we were so excited because a lot things were planned for 2020 including a big cool tour around Europe but, obviously, everything fell through. Remembering that period it was so frustrating to release an album and not having a proper promotional touring cycle. Despite all we are very proud of this release, it's probably the album which marked our passage from a classic brutal death metal to a more "melodic/catchy" but yet technical and brutal songwriting, better defined on our latest Xul. What’s your favourite song off the album and how do you feel about it after all these years? "Ersetu" is available on Digipak/LP/CS/Digital via Willowtip Records #devangelic #ersetu #deathmetal #brutaldeathmetal #willowtip #willowtiprecords

Did this small oil painting when I got back from Egypt. It's based on "Khafre Enthroned", a stunning life sized statue carved from anorthosite gneiss, which resides in the Cairo Museum. Incorporated is the Pharoah's pyramid and cartouche (as well as my own beneath 🎨😉🖌). Oil on hardboard. #oilpainting #oilonwood #khafre #egypt #pharoah #egyptart

Last portion of the Egypt trip was spent in Giza/Cairo. Had to go paint some pyramids of course. In addition to the Giza Pyramids we managed to see the Red, Bent, Djoser's step pyramid and the Serapeum at Saqqara as well as the interiors of the Great Pyramid and the Red. 5"x7" oil on linen studies. 1-3: Giza pyramid complex, depicting the Sphinx and Khafre's Pyramid. 4: The almost 4,700 year old Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. 5: The gang at Giza. #pleinair #pleinairpainting #oilpainting #oilonlinen #pyramids #giza #sphinx

Couple more Egypt trip studies. 5"x7" oil on linen. 1-3: The Dendera Temple of Hathor. Unique temple with incredible colour preservation here, but was sad to see almost all the Hathor faced column capitals chiselled away by iconoclasts. This was a curiousity prevalent across many Egyptian temples we visited. 4, 5: Painting the ancient Osireion structure at Abydos. #pleinair #pleinairpainting #oilpainting #oilonlinen #egypt #abydos #osireion #hathor #dendera #hathortemple

Various plein air oils from Luxor, Egypt last year. All 5"x7" oil on linen. 1: Rooftop vista from our accommodation in West Luxor overlooking Medinet Habu Temple. Had to be fast with this one as the sun set. 2: Fading sun illuminating the Colossi of Memnon. 3: Temple of Hatshepsut nestled in the mountainside. 4. Sacred lake at Karnak. #egypt #pleinair #pleinairpainting #oilpainting #oilonlinen #luxor #karnak #colossiofmemnon #hatshepsut #habutemple #pleinairart

A few examples of the massive granite statues I loved painting while in Egypt last year. Truly impressive and fascinating to study in person. 1-4: Ramesses II at Luxor Temple. 5-7: The Colossi of Memnon depicting Amenhotep III 8: The crumbled Ramesses II statue at the Ramesseum, also known as the Ozymandias Colossus, the inspiration for the famous Shelley poem Ozymandias and estimated to originally weight around 1000 tons. All 5"x7" oil on linen. #egypt #pleinair #pleinairpainting #oilpainting #oilonlinen #luxor #luxortemple #ramesesii #ramessesthegreat #colossus #colossiofmemnon #ramesseum #ozymandias