People are always like: “Dude, how come it’s taking you so long to make the next page?” And they’re like: “Do you even know how irritating it is to read a comic book at the speed of one page per month and usually less?” And sometimes they’re like: “Oh my god, you suck so bad and you’re slow and you can’t draw and I hate you.”

OK, so all of those people are actually me.

Drawing is hard. And time consuming. Where does all my time go? In addition to having a nine to fiver, an exercise regimen, and a bare bones social life - I also stay busy by taking on freelance gigs whenever I get the chance.

A.Z. is a band out of Arab, Alabama: my home town. I grew up with those guys and I consider them kindred spirits in the creative pursuit. So, when they came to me last year about designing the art for their new album “Brutally Beautiful”, I was honored to do so.

They gave me this rough idea of an anime-esque girl ripping her chest open. Everything would be covered in blood. Then later on they had the idea to put their new logo, which I also made, inside her rib-cage. It’s grotesque, sure, but did I mention this is a metal band?

Oh. It's a metal band.

After the cover was completed, I got to work on some sleeve art. They had the idea of having their forms appear out of blood splatters.

I gave them all this artwork towards the beginning of 2014. Brutally Beautiful came out on Valentine’s Day. From what I can tell, it was well received and really helped get them some notoriety.

And then, about a month ago, Clarke, their front man and dreadlock connoisseur, sent me an email with some killer news.

They were going to start touring with Sevendust.

Now, I’m mostly into weird indie shit that no one’s ever heard of because I’m-just-a-better-than-you-hipster-douchebag. But Sevendust? That’s a band... That I’ve heard... On the radio.

They also happen to be a huge source of inspiration for the guys in AZ. Lest it be said, they were pretty stoked.

Clarke wanted to put out a double album: the studio recording of Brutally Beautiful on one side, and an acoustic version of the album on the other.

He gave me this idea of a human skull with a black widow in one eye socket, and a butterfly in the other:

Duality. A subject near and dear.

I got to work.

This crazy thing drops on November 4th. You can find A.Z. here.