One of the highlights according to to audience was the appearance at the keynote sessions of Christophe Szpajdel, ‘The Lord of the Logos’, a legend in heavy-metal logo design. Christophe Szpajdel, born 1970 in Gembloux, Belgium started drawing since the age of three. Already in his early years, fascinated by both nature and the dark side of this world, he forged his vocation in art, despite the orientation of his studies, which were initially Biology and Forestry. Szpajdel began designing logos for metal bands in the ’90s, and thousands of logos later, the artwork of Christophe Szpajdel stands out among the usual lightning strokes, skulls and flames.

Januari 2010 Gestalten Publishers relased his book and they did a wonderful job juxtaposing Szpajdel’s photos and logos. From the Gestalten website: “This book is a collection of work by Christophe Szpajdel, an artist whose fans in the underground black metal community worship him as the Lord of the Logos. It includes hundreds of powerful logos, each of which captures the force of this musical genre anew. Through his surprising use of aesthetic influences such as art deco and nature, Szpajdel has brought a new dynamic into the gothic visuality of heavy metal. This publication, which is done in the style of a black prayerbook, shows not only how he has succeeded in leaving his own visual mark on this music, but how he has also expanded the canon of forms it uses.” Check out the book here.