Veil of MayaChicago progressive metallers Veil of Maya are releasing their sophomore album for Sumerian Records this week, and any Noisecreep reader who has taken Psych 101 will recognize the title, '[id].' In fact, the album concept and artwork heavily involve the human brain.

"What we think of the universe and how endless it is could very well exist inside of the human brain," Daniel McBride of McBride Designs told Noisecreep. "The possibilities of the universe and the mind are endless. That in a nutshell sums up the entire album; the possibilities and power of your brain are infinite."

McBride told the story of how the album art came to be, saying' "The title '[id]' had already given the album its own vibe before there was any artwork to go with it. We -- myself, the label and the band -- knew that the artwork had to have something to do with the brain, the psyche, the mind. First drafts of the artwork featured CAT scan-like medical images of the human brain. Other drafts featured a landscape inside of the inner workings of the mind. These drafts were scrapped when I came up with the neuron idea.

"I tried my best to make the cover seem as though you are inside the brain, amongst the chaotic highway of neurons. The artwork featured on the band's myspace is a piece featured in a 6-panel fold out poster on the other side of the cover/lyrics."

The release features four versions of the cover available: red, green, yellow and gray. "The fact that there are four different colors of this album was not planned ahead of time," McBride explained. "I showed everyone the red version of the cover first, which led to the label and band having me try other colors. The decision was made to print four different color options of the album on the first pressing. Once those are gone then only one color will remain."

Veil of Maya have European summer dates scheduled with Carnifex and Suffokate to support '[id].'

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