To further support the DC x BLACK SABBATH Collection we produced a limited edition tribute album. Available exclusively on vinyl, Shadow of Reality covers their original record track-for-track with a stacked lineup of artists including Harshmellow featuring special guests J Mascis, Jeff Ament, and Mario Rubalcaba, Surfbort, Lou Barlow, The Spits, King Khan, and The Melvins. We also enlisted team riders to add their own, personal touch to the album. Longtime Sabbath fan and part of the DC family since day one, Danny Way, covered Embryo while the band UVWAYS, featuring DC’s own Evan Smith, covered Children of the Grave. This exclusive LP is limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and is not available for sale. The fortunate souls who land this one will sleep soundly knowing that Shadow of Reality will forever remain in the underground; for true fans only. The only way to get your hands on this album is to enter the DC X Black Sabbath Sweepstakes. ENTER NOW.

We worked with artist BB Bastidas on the creative for the album. And we recently sat down with him to talk about his inspiration for the cover art, his love for Sabbath, and his future plans.

First things first, what was the concept for the cover?

I mean…. the Master of Reality album cover is the most basic in their entire discography. It’s just that iconic font with a few colors. That’s it! I really wanted to do something that tied back to the color palette that inspired the collection and honor the original, having some dead space and giving everything some room to breathe. The cover features a devil in a book that’s supposed to represent the bible. I listened to the album a LOT and really paid attention to the lyrics while I was working on this. It’s almost like Ozzy was repenting for his sins and that’s really what inspired the design. For the back of the album, the crucifix is another nod to the same and speaks to that balance of good and evil.

Beyond the lyrics and the original color palette, was there anything else that you drew inspiration from?

The paintings were directly influenced by Francis Bacon who I’m a huge fan of. I might not have seen it at the time, but looking at it now, that was definitely a thing.

The title of the album is a metaphor where, much like an echo, a shadow can be used as term to describe “not the original, but honoring it in abstraction”. And…… there’s definitely some shadows incorporated.

There’s shadow play that ties back to that concept on both sides. At the end of the day, I really just wanted to respect what they did and re-interpret that for this album in a way that seemed fitting.

It’s hard, right? It’s such an iconic, but basic cover. That’s a lot of pressure for a band that’s had such a massive influence on you.

For sure. I also wanted it to feel very hand-done and not too over produced, painting the front, back and album insert on 3’x3’ canvas vs. doing them all digitally.

Prior to Shadow of Reality, have you ever painted anything Sabbath-related whether it was for other commercial projects or just for yourself?

I did a Black Sabbath painting for Riley Hawk when he was like 16yrs old. It was these characters I used to incorporate into my work and I made each into a member of the band. It had some lyrics from one of their songs too, but it’s been a minute. Can’t exactly remember which track.

What’s the story behind your personal copy of Master of Reality?

I was flipping through the record collection and I actually wasn’t sure if I still had my copy. Right as I was about to hit the local record store, I swiped to the “B” section and found my mom’s original pressing from the early 70’s. That’s the one I listened to on repeat as I was painting the cover.

You’ve heard the recordings, but we just got to properly listen to the actual test pressing. Out of all the bands featured, who’s your favorite? What’s your favorite track on the record?

I really want to listen to it more before I give my official answer, but…… the UVWAYS cover of Children of the Grave and The Melvins doing Into the Void are both up there. Evan’s insanely talented and he’s an amazing skateboarder. That creativity definitely translates to his music. Sometimes skaters try to go there and, well, it just doesn’t work out. For him, that’s certainly not the case. He’s an alien.

There have been a lot of bands from your hometown (Oceanside, CA) that were heavily influenced by Sabbath. A lot of those bands later inspired you too.

They’re just that quintessential band that, if you like rock n’ roll and metal, is really the first name that comes to mind, and for good reason. They’re hard as shit. They sound tough and they’ve stood the test of time. It’s not like so many bands you were hyped on as a kid and listening to them now just isn’t the same. They’re timeless and they’ve inspired a lot of my favorite bands from this zone, but they really just inspired everyone within that genre. Period.

Last but not least, what have you been working on? What else is coming down the pipeline?

I’ve been working on a cannabis brand, CLSICS, and have a new series coming out with Creature. Beyond that, I’m still working on Psockadelic and painting as much as possible. Between those, that really consumes all my time. It’s funny because if you don’t post something on Instagram everyday, people think you’re not doing anything. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

BB BASTIDAS BIO

BB Bastidas is a self-taught painter, multimedia artist, muralist, graphic designer and art director, whose work synthesizes the bold colors and dark undercurrents that span life on the fringes of modern America. His art is rooted in his Southern California hometown of Oceanside, where sunny seascapes often bely the rough edges. BB rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a skateboard deck designer and earlier this year he contributed to our Manual For Change project. We’ve been big fans of his for years and couldn’t think anyone more fitting to handle the cover of Shadow of Reality.