Behind The Artworks: Opensight - Mondo Fiction The Director’s Cut (2023)

The artwork for Opensight's last album "Mondo Fiction" really whets the appetite for the type of music that lurks within. Their marriage of Metal with genre film sounds of 70s crime action, old school horror, spy themes, and Grindhouse aesthetics amount to a 'Cinematico Pandemonium' of sorts. With critics praising its adventurous nature, the Opensight outfit is now releasing an extended edition called "Mondo Fiction: The Director's Cut" with extra instrumental tracks and some exclusive songs for whoever joins their 'Director's Cult' via their mailing list. We approach The Director to find out about how the cover art was created and the inspiration behind it.

We always want our images to be a captivating visual gateway into the musical world of Opensight. Drawing inspiration from film music and grindhouse cinema, the artwork for "Mondo Fiction" encapsulates the eerie atmosphere of vintage horror, the stylized aesthetics of Italian Giallo films, and the gritty allure of 70s crime cinema. It's a mesmerizing fusion of genres that mirrors the multifaceted approach of Opensight's music, evoking a sense of dark intrigue, mystery, and thrilling adventure. Whether someone discovers our album in a physical format or online, the artwork needs to promise an exhilarating sonic journey. The artwork itself weaves together the essence of crime films, thrillers, and horror. It depicts a knife-wielding protagonist, dressed in a black suit, sweat dripping from his forehead, cautiously approaching a mysterious orb of light. Nightmarish visions of death emanate, and an image of a screaming victim blurs his vision. Despite the nocturnal setting, the color palette is imbued with red and warm tones, reminiscent of the heat-drenched environment found in Western movies. Inside the album art, one can find a collage of images, including a car caught in the midst of a high-speed chase, a nod to Marsellus Wallace's iconic briefcase from "Pulp Fiction," and the grave of Arch Stanton, paying homage to one of the greatest Westerns of all time, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

For this piece, we enlisted the talents of Italian illustrator Solo Macello, renowned for his work with artists such as Ennio Morricone, Ghost, and High on Fire, among others. We believed that his style was pretty much aligned with the vision for "Mondo Fiction" and he captured that nostalgic feeling of browsing through artwork boxes at a video rental store. Like the feeling of stumbling upon a cool film amidst stacks of VHS tapes or finding a cool album in a record store solely based on its artwork.