"Take Up My Bones" Album Cover - Arð

Album artwork for ARÐ’s debut album “Take Up My Bones” (February 2022), showing the monks bearing the coffin of St. Cuthbert from its initial resting place at Lindisfarne to the famous cave where they hid it from Viking invaders.

Artwork completed at the end of 2020.

From their Bandcamp page:

“ ARÐ are of Northumbria. The band’s name is taken from an Old English word meaning ‘native land’ in the dialect of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. The concept behind the debut album ‘Take Up My Bones’ from this insular doom metal solo project created by composer and musician Mark Deeks revolves around the legendary relics of the famous Northumbrian saint Cuthbert (634–687) and their long journey. ARÐ built their artistic quest for heritage and identity upon a solid doom foundation. The early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria that inspired ARÐ was far larger than the historic English county Northumberland implies. Before the Germanic warriors arrived, at first as a part of the Roman armies and later as conquerors, the Romans had subjugated the local population of Brittonic Votadini, speakers of a Celtic language. The Roman Empire had left a religious legacy that firmly took root in neighbouring Ireland and soon began to affect the new Germanic rulers of these northern lands as well as ultimately inspiring the tale of ‘Take Up My Bones’: Christianity. The early medieval coastal monasteries of Whithorn in the west and Lindisfarne to the east bear witness to this transition. It is in Lindisfarne on Holy Island in the time after the devastating Viking attack from across the sea in the year 793 where the story of the remains of St. Cuthbert begins: a 200-year journey that saw the saint's remains finally reburied in the cathedral of Durham. The legends and mystery of the translation of the saint's relics such as the refusal of his coffin to be moved or the lack of corruption upon his corpse after decades shape the core of this conceptual musical tale. With crushing glacial-paced doom, monastic sounding chants and choirs, and sorrowful yet epic melodies, ARÐ have found the perfect musical expression to tell a tale of their homelands. “

©2020