MANILA -- One of the come-ons for vinyl records is the cover artwork.

Filipina visual artist Camille dela Rosa got the surprise of her life when metal band Sepultura got in touch with her asking if they could use one of her paintings for their new album.

“Getting asked to do the cover for the new album of an international superstar band like Sepultura is something,” beamed dela Rosa during an interview a Paper Moon coffee shop at SM Megamall.

That album is “Machine Messiah,” the 14th in Sepultura’s 23-year history. The concept of the album is life or humanity came from a machine and the offspring of is some biomechanical savior. The band’s guitarist, Andreas Kisser, was searching online for art or an artists whose style fits the concept of the album and they found dela Rosa.

Kisser reached out through a representative of San Miguel Corporation which sponsored the band’s show in Manila last year.

“I was surprised when I was contacted,” said dela Rosa. “First of all, the painting was finished in 2010 and while my work was inspired by the late Swiss painter H.R. Giger (whose claim to fame was painting stunning or even disturbing visuals of humans and machines linked together in some cold biomechanical relationship), my work has changed over the years. Nevertheless, the work has many elements from my personal life and beliefs.”

The title of the painting is “Deux ex Machina,” rendered on 48x48 inch oil on canvass.

“Machine Messiah” was released last January through Nuclear Blast Records. The record though isn’t available locally as one has to import it if they want a copy.

“I never even heard of Sepultura until they got in touch with me,” admitted dela Rosa. “The band was a sweatheart as they were nice. And they sent me copies of the album and the DVD.”

“I think artists work in phases,” revealed the 34-year old University of the Philippines alumna. “I have this taste and preference for horror films. Not because of the gore but because of the effects and the makeup. As an artist, that fascinates me.”

She grew up in a family of artists so the influence to follow in their footsteps was there at an early age. Yet her late father, Ibarra, forbade her to paint. “He probably felt that there wasn’t much money in art. Instead I went into voice (not like there is money in that as well),” she said.

Dela Rosa would sing in shows and did some bit of showbiz joining "Ang TV" during its second season. “Like I said, that was a phase,” she laughed. “Mahiyain kasi ako so it’s hard for me to be in front of cameras."

She finally took up painting – landscape and abstract -- when her father passed away in 1998.

With her work on Sepultura’s new album, she hopes she’ll get more high-profile work.

“Right now, a lot of the interest in my work comes from Europe,” summed up dela Rosa, who is actually on leave now from her work as she is doing some other Christian work. “I’ve done some exhibits in Europe. Hopefully, we’ll have more. But it’s cool being on a rock record, even if it’s not my favorite kind of music.”