APOSTASY: 'Nuclear Messiah' Cover Artwork Unveiled

The cover artwork for "Nuclear Messiah", the forthcoming third album from Swedish death/black metallers APOSTASY, can be viewed below. The artwork was created by Raphael Gabrio, a talented artist from Brazil.

"Nuclear Messiah" will be released this spring/summer via Gothenburg, Sweden's Rambo Music, a division of Gain Music Entertainment (which is distributed and partly owned by Sony Music).

A medley of tracks that will appear on "Nuclear Messiah" can be heard by clicking on the graphic below.

Vocalist Fredric Edin previously stated about the upcoming CD, "It's been a rocky road for us when we lost [guitarist] Henrik [Johansson], but now we are stronger than ever and can guarantee you folks that this will surely be the most brutal and most technical we have ever made, so what I want to say is: We don't slow down like everybody else does, we just accelerate and make it more brutal. It is worth waiting for!"

APOSTASY recently announced the addition of guitarist Peter Huss to the group's ranks. The band states, "Peter Huss has done tons of session/live works and can play any type of music. He will be a great addition to APOSTASY on our upcoming songwriting/recording/live/drinking sessions.

"We're excited to have this amazing guitarist onboard. And the best thing beside his chops is that he's a really nice and easygoing dude with a great sense of humor and great passion for music.

"Peter also plays guitar in the legendary Swedish band SHINING. He has toured with SINERGY in 1999 as a session guitarist, replacing Alexi Laiho.

"Some of the bands/albums Peter has participated on lately are Swedish death metal band RUINED SOUL, Dutch/Belgian death metal band UNLOCKED, Norwegian metal band PANTHEON I, and he did all guitars on the ISSA 'Sign Of Angels' album with monster drummer Uli Kusch, among others."

Guitarist Ludvig Johansson left APOSTASY in September "for personal reasons." He said in a statement, "It has been a hard decision to make, and there's no hard feelings involved. It's been a great time and I wish all the guys in the band the best luck in their future endeavors."

APOSTASY made national headlines in Sweden in 2006 when the group's guitarist, Henrik Johansson, was stabbed to death by his girlfriend. At 3:55 a.m. on March 9, 2006, the 19-year-old woman dialed 112 (the Swedish equivalent of 911 in the U.S. or 999 in the U.K.) and said that her boyfriend was lying bleeding on the floor in the couple's apartment in Kramfors, Sweden. When the paramedics and police arrived, Johansson was already dead.