Extreme metal titans Vital Remains have returned with a vicious new slab of blasphemy that promises to strike fear in the hearts of the masses. The much-anticipated new album, "Icons Of Evil", was produced by the renowned Erik Rutan (Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore) and is set for an April 24 release. The album's striking artwork can be viewed now at this location.

The cover art has already created a great deal of controversy, but the band's founder Tony Lazaro (guitars) refuses to censor his vision in any way. "It is great to see that the cover of our new record has already started some controversy," he said. "Some of our distributors saw the artwork and suggested we change it. The record's scheduled to come out around Easter, and apparently the subject of Christ being nailed to his cross is a bit extra-sensitive around that time. We were told no one would take the CD unless we either changed it or put a slipcase over it. I absolutely refused to change shit, but I still wanted our fans to be able to find the album in their local stores, so we ultimately decided to go with the slipcase. I'm still pretty bummed about it, but this was out of my hands."

More info about "Icons Of Evil" can be found here.

Source:	roadrunnerrecords.com
Band profile:	Vital Remains