Inferno Artsyle Discussion

[Corvix]

Dear jcnporter, is this second brutalist picture you share a real place ?
the third picture you share, that I understand to be from a movie, is actually quite similar to a place I passed by in september.

It's in a very rural area that basically no-one besides the locals go through it but I was forced to.
I had to see a close friend and the main road was blocked because of strikes.
It's a bucolic place, with a blend of very ancient stone walls (middle-age, some roman empire) and jungle-like vegetation, besides a river.
Then you turn the head right, look at the other bank.
There, a gigantic brutalist nuclear power plant.
It was breathtaking.

[jcnporter]

Dear jcnporter, is this second brutalist picture you share a real place ?
the third picture you share, that I understand to be from a movie, is actually quite similar to a place I passed by in september.

It's in a very rural area that basically no-one besides the locals go through it but I was forced to.
I had to see a close friend and the main road was blocked because of strikes.
It's a bucolic place, with a blend of very ancient stone walls (middle-age, some roman empire) and jungle-like vegetation, besides a river.
Then you turn the head right, look at the other bank.
There, a gigantic brutalist nuclear power plant.
It was breathtaking.

No, it might be based on a real building like the first one, but both are fantasy landscapes by artist Nicolas Moulin.
I've always loved the contrast between brutalist or industrial architecture and nature/the countryside.

[magrathea_ultima]

The first one is of course of the Ryugyong Hotel when it was/is under construction in North Korea (since 1987). Nowadays, it has an outside and is used as a sort of large screen for light displays. As of 2025 it has not yet opened. It was clearly added to the mountainous scene by digital artist aforementioned.

[Quiller]

If you've ever watched the film A Clockwork Orange there's tons of brutalist architecture. It's implied that the society depicted was a failed socialist experiment that generated juvenile delinquent gangs and culture dominated by pornographic art. Also contains a score by Wendy Carlos that was a major influence on Boards of Canada.

[Glen_Glog]

This is all so ridiculous when Campfire Headphase art and titles came out everyone was saying the same thing. Once album actually in hand and listening made perfect sense by its very being. So much so and so commentary and artwork criticism (fixing album cover art?) is barf city its so embarrassing who are these people

[Den]

I like looking back on old Campfire threads to read how critical people were because it’s my favorite album. Early criticisms like this are a good sign.

[Scories]

Also posted on thread LP5 - Inferno :

At first, I was disappointed by the Inferno concept. And I couldn’t quite see the connection between the cover image, the album title, the track titles, the posters and the VHS promo. But looking more closely at the cover art, I think I’ve finally grasped the concept.

I don’t think the album has anything to do with cults nor horror films. If the VHS promo & Tape 05 hinted at that direction, it was mostly to tease their fans, who see Mike & Marcus as modern-day prophets who will open our eyes with their infinite wisdom. In this video, they gently remind their audience of the potential pitfalls of deifying humans (something that has been done over and over since Nimrod). However, they end their promo by telling their fans that they love them regardless and that there’s nothing wrong with connecting through music. Anyway, I think the joke's on us.

Now, back to the Inferno concept : What is the connection between the title, the image of this smiling young black girl, and those children without pupils? Those who believe in hell certainly do not imagine it populated by children. Yet, looking closely at the cover, one can see a forest on fire (at the bottom of the image). The smiling girl is surrounded by burning trees! It appears to me that Inferno must be a conceptual album about global warming. And those children without pupils are not zombies; they have no future. How could they have bright eyes ? Nostalgia (a common theme with BoC) could become a luxury that the younger generation may never experience.

Whilst Tomorrow’s Harvest dealt with threats hanging over humanity, but mainly referred to a [vague] military/nuclear catastrophe. I believe Inferno takes a similar approach, but will focus more specifically on the [real] degradation of ecosystems (hence the raw aesthetic)... like an Inferno Tower, but for the whole planet. Knowing BoC's genuine love for nature and sympathy for children, that would totally make sense.

Heat has played a major role in the origin of life (Hydrogen/Helium), but now things are getting out of control. Magical thinking (Acts of magic) and greenwashing is certainly not a solution.

[Cupz]

I do strongly feel kind of post-post-apocalypse. I think labeling it global warming is taking it a bit too narrow/zoomed-in. To quote sun-ra: "It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?"

[Den]

Yes. Also, I think the Deep Time track title is important.

[Quiller]

The juxtaposition of modernist/brutalist architecture with nature/rural images might be a commentary on human short-sightedness (Deep Time) and hubris. These structures were built during the modernist period of architecture utilizing mass-produced building materials i.e. concrete. Concrete production is a major contributor to CO2 emissions and it only has a lifespan of about a century but it's used everywhere in modern society. There's a cool book by Robert Courland called Concrete Planet that goes into the details.

[jcnporter]

I do strongly feel kind of post-post-apocalypse. I think labeling it global warming is taking it a bit too narrow/zoomed-in. To quote sun-ra: "It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?"

Yeah, i"m definitely feeling that. Like the entire birth and downfall of humankind revealed as a tiny sub-plot in the real story. I want my mind blown by the sheer epic scope of the concept. Maybe a bit too much to ask!

A bit like this story did for me recently -

'Constellations' by Jeff VanderMeer

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/0 ... nt=guestbp

[Quiller]

Font is very similar to the Cannibal Holocaust soundtrack.

https://www.discogs.com/release/530099- ... -Holocaust

[WATER_CAN-_-]

Also posted on thread LP5 - Inferno :

Now, back to the Inferno concept : What is the connection between the title, the image of this smiling young black girl, and those children without pupils? Those who believe in hell certainly do not imagine it populated by children. Yet, looking closely at the cover, one can see a forest on fire (at the bottom of the image). The smiling girl is surrounded by burning trees! It appears to me that Inferno must be a conceptual album about global warming. And those children without pupils are not zombies; they have no future. How could they have bright eyes ? Nostalgia (a common theme with BoC) could become a luxury that the younger generation may never experience.

Whilst Tomorrow’s Harvest dealt with threats hanging over humanity, but mainly referred to a [vague] military/nuclear catastrophe. I believe Inferno takes a similar approach, but will focus more specifically on the [real] degradation of ecosystems (hence the raw aesthetic)... like an Inferno Tower, but for the whole planet. Knowing BoC's genuine love for nature and sympathy for children, that would totally make sense.

Heat has played a major role in the origin of life (Hydrogen/Helium), but now things are getting out of control. Magical thinking (Acts of magic) and greenwashing is certainly not a solution.

Ice Core Drilling

[GeoDose]

I do strongly feel kind of post-post-apocalypse. I think labeling it global warming is taking it a bit too narrow/zoomed-in. To quote sun-ra: "It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?"

Good observations, everyone - I like a lot of these interpretations!

I think that when they wrapped up Tomorrow's Harvest, they had the notion already that their next album would be a sort of continuation of that story. They just didn't know how the story would continue.

Well, at some point the brothers seemed to realize that humanity isn't learning from our mistakes... That we are bringing about our own demise, and after we've offed our entire species, or at least decimated it, the world (and the universe at large) won't even notice that we were ever here.

We'll just be a tiny, temporary blip on our planet's radar. (hence the 'Deep Time' that Den mentioned).

We are likely doomed as a species! BoC is communicating to us that we're screwed, lol. IMO, anyways.

The children with the white eyes are not just our kids - They are our descendants. And their future is swiftly disappearing.

[Den]

Also posted on thread LP5 - Inferno :

Now, back to the Inferno concept : What is the connection between the title, the image of this smiling young black girl, and those children without pupils? Those who believe in hell certainly do not imagine it populated by children. Yet, looking closely at the cover, one can see a forest on fire (at the bottom of the image). The smiling girl is surrounded by burning trees! It appears to me that Inferno must be a conceptual album about global warming. And those children without pupils are not zombies; they have no future. How could they have bright eyes ? Nostalgia (a common theme with BoC) could become a luxury that the younger generation may never experience.

Whilst Tomorrow’s Harvest dealt with threats hanging over humanity, but mainly referred to a [vague] military/nuclear catastrophe. I believe Inferno takes a similar approach, but will focus more specifically on the [real] degradation of ecosystems (hence the raw aesthetic)... like an Inferno Tower, but for the whole planet. Knowing BoC's genuine love for nature and sympathy for children, that would totally make sense.

Heat has played a major role in the origin of life (Hydrogen/Helium), but now things are getting out of control. Magical thinking (Acts of magic) and greenwashing is certainly not a solution.

Ice Core Drilling

Are you referencing the movie from Marcus’s top ten favorite movies list?

And true, Geodose. I really, really hope there are interviews for Inferno.

[TaoTapeTao]

Great take Geodose.

[mechanismj]

Time to burn it all down and get weird with it.

[The Other]

I remembered this quote from NME February of 2002.

Sandison: "My memory of Calgary is a picture of boxy 1970s office blocks dumped in the middle of nowhere against a permanent sunset."
https://bocpages.org/wiki/The_Secret_Li ... _of_Canada

It's cool to see that they still draw inspiration from memories like this. I remember when I read that quote it stuck with me. I have travelled to places where certain buildings seem very out of place and juxtaposing in relation to its surroundings. Sort of falls in line with idea of "Somewhere Right Now In The Future." To me it does anyway... sort of like looking ahead to what could've been or might be.

[Corvix]

Speaking of brutalist architecture, it's remarkable that the main source of images in the Tape 05 clip is from a movie projected at the Philipps Pavillon in the 1958 world's fair called "Poème électronique",
the whole building-poem being crafted by Le Corbusier pioneering brutalist + pioneering electronic musician Varège. (+ Xennakis that seemed to have done both).

[WATER_CAN-_-]

I do strongly feel kind of post-post-apocalypse. I think labeling it global warming is taking it a bit too narrow/zoomed-in. To quote sun-ra: "It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet? It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?"

Good observations, everyone - I like a lot of these interpretations!

I think that when they wrapped up Tomorrow's Harvest, they had the notion already that their next album would be a sort of continuation of that story. They just didn't know how the story would continue.

Well, at some point the brothers seemed to realize that humanity isn't learning from our mistakes... That we are bringing about our own demise, and after we've offed our entire species, or at least decimated it, the world (and the universe at large) won't even notice that we were ever here.

We'll just be a tiny, temporary blip on our planet's radar. (hence the 'Deep Time' that Den mentioned).

We are likely doomed as a species! BoC is communicating to us that we're screwed, lol. IMO, anyways.

The children with the white eyes are not just our kids - They are our descendants. And their future is swiftly disappearing.

Interviewer: "How much does the current political instability in the world affect your music?"
Marcus: "Looking at the current situation, sometimes I feel inspired to create something dark and challenging out of this chaos. But on other days, I feel the best approach is to counter it and create something fresher and more positive. The media worldwide is already doing a good job of instilling fear and maintaining it daily. We don't need to add to that. While our music does have dark and surreal elements, the underlying message is always one of hope and freedom."