A discussion on album covers and artwork.

Karl Hungus

It's apparent that in Rock and Metal, vivid and striking album covers are something most bands aim for, and quite a lot of them succeed at, so it might make an interesting discussion. I'm not all that sure of many other genres of music that employ such fantastic artwork for album covers, and I often find that a lot of other genres will just have a picture of the artist on the cover.

One album cover that I think truly stood the test of time, is ELP's Brain Salad Surgery, as done by H.R. Giger:



A more modern album cover that I absolutely love is Gojira's From Mars To Sirius:



I don't know the artist, but I think the imagery is fantastic, and really sets the mental landscapes conjured up by Gojira's immense music. It's not a very typical album cover either, which adds to why I love it so much.

So, thoughts?

padi89

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'm not all that sure of many other genres of music that employ such fantastic artwork for album covers

Off the top of my head dance/electronic competes with rock/metal for use of imagination in album artwork.Its not been around as long but for the time it has some great artwork has been used.

damonjewel

In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson is a great cover

AS for Brain Salad surgery I always thought the lp cover and the way it all opened up was a bit fussy and it got tatty over time, depite the excellent artwork. My favourite ELP cover is Tarkus

a mention must go to Pink Floyd who use Hypgnosis to design their covers.

And just for the hell of it, the guy who decided to use the (I think its Breughals) Triumph of Death for Black Sabbaths greatest hits was inspired.

Double albums and Gatefolds have also served me well over the years too, ahem.

nonamemark

padi89 wrote:

Off the top of my head dance/electronic

Show us some then!

Here's some ones I like

nonamemark

Another few deadly ones:

Pyr0

I've always liked Morbid Angels Gateways to Annhilation album cover. I'm hardpressed to think of another one that stood out for me, I'll come back later

MoominPapa

Zeppelin for pretty much all of their covers, except the song remains, particularly 3 (the rotating disc is called a volvelle I've just discovered)


The brilliant but pain in the arse to put back together without damaging award has to go to Hawkwind - Space Ritual


and Krautrock albums tended to have interesting covers such as
[

damonjewel

Amon Duul II Yeti album cover is class, The mennacing grim reaper guy in the picture is supposedly a bongo player from the original Amon Duul Commune called Shrat, but then I found this from Falk U. Rogner who was responsible for the Düül artwork between 1969 and 73. Here's the story in his own words:

"For the Yeti cover I used an image of Der Sensenmann[The Grim Reaper], who is often depicted in old German woodcuts," he says. "At first I didn't intend to use this photo for the cover. I had been taking some photos with a member of the Amon Düül I commune called Wolfgang Krischke who was the sound man for Amon Düül. Some months later he was found frozen to death near his parents' house; they said he had taken some acid and fell asleep in the snow. He was a very good friend to Renate and me and an outsider member of the Amon Düül scene. When he died I thought that the photo would be a perfect tribute to his memory. He never managed to find his way into Amon Düül properly when he was alive, so maybe his image as Der Sensenmann will work as a strange cover image and he could be remembered as a magical person."

Also here are my covers from my earlier post

padi89

nonamemark wrote:

Show us some then!

Ok,sorry they are a bit big.

It wasn't me!

Y'know, I'm a big fan of the album cover for Opeth's Orchid, the minimalism of it is beautiful. Others I like would be Mastodon's Leviathan and I'll second From Mars to Sirius. It's just a bit mad.

mc nuggets

Two brilliant pieces of artwork

yevveh

It's a real shame I can't find the artwork online but Ten Past Seven's "Shut Up Your Face" album has brilliant covers. Yes, covers - There are about 4 different covers that you can choose from, and one is reflective material with parts of 3 of the other covers on it. Very very well done. If I remember I'll scan them all tomorrow.

Tool's Lateralus has brilliant artwork though it's a pity you can't see the way it's actually done here, with most of the images being on different (translucent) sheets to give a sort of 3D impression:

Malice

I loved Sepultura's Arise when I saw it first. I used to have a big poster of it until I moved out and my mother "accidentally" threw it out

ec18

They are arguably the kings of album artwork...theres 13+ great ones plus singles....my favourite is run to the hills



And some of the albums

Death on the Road



Powerslave




Live after Death






Also most of Thin Lizzy's

Black Rose for example

MoominPapa

yevveh wrote:

Tool's Lateralus has brilliant artwork though it's a pity you can't see the way it's actually done here, with most of the images being on different (translucent) sheets to give a sort of 3D impression:

Thats a great cover, reminded me of one of my all time favourites The Incredible String Bands 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion from 1967

Great band pity bout the scientology

Mystic Fibrosis

ADVANCE WARNING: Some of these pics are pretty huge, so those of you with lowspeed connections have been forewarned.

I won't post the covers for obvious reasons but the early Carcass covers are certainly memorable ones.

There's something iconic about Deicide's self-titled release:


The cleanliness of the design of Ruun by Enslaved is fantastic too:


The cinematic effect that Zyklon went for with the Aeon cover really strikes a chord with me as well, especially since it complements the soundtrack-like ambience (or lack thereof) in their music:


Anything involving Sunn O))) (or Stephen O' Malley) generally has awesome artwork, for example the cover of Altar (with Boris):


Also, I have to put a word in for one of my favourite bands, Anata:

Timans

Ugh, I absolutely despise artwork like Iron Maiden's and Mastodon's etc. It's something a 12 year old would love.

I do love Lateralus' artwork, it's fantastic. Also, RAGE - RAGE is good.

It wasn't me!

Timans wrote:

Ugh, I absolutely despise artwork like Iron Maiden's and Mastodon's etc. It's something a 12 year old would love.

I do love Lateralus' artwork, it's fantastic. Also, RAGE - RAGE is good.

Let's be fair now, the artwork is absolutely nothing alike.

Nightwish

The ones I like are almost fantasy related, or are ones which almost tell a story

Epica - The Score



Elis - Griefshire



Nightwish - End of an Era

Treebeard

Here's a few favourites off the top of my head

GLaDOS

Blind Guardian, Imaginations from the other side


Iced Earth, Something Wicked this way comes


Sonata Arctica, Reckoning Night

Creature

Pearl Jam - Binaural


Pearl Jam - Riot Act


Alice In Chains - Dirt


Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger



And I love the art style that has consistently featured on all of KMFDMs albums:






That Gojira cover is pretty cool Karl.

OctavarIan

Love this one, and it captures the mood of the album perfectly too.


Lovely image


Great cover straight off, even better when you know the concept behind the album


Post-rock spurts out some great album covers, this one is my fave.


Love this one too

And to save one of my absolute favorites for last:



I'll stop now because I could easily sit here all night posting them

pbsuxok1znja4r

Iron Maiden?! Jesus, some cheesy album artwork in here.
Warning: Huge album cover below!

Thrice - Vheissu


Circa Survive - Juturna (Artwork by Esao Andrews)




TREOS - Between The Heart And The Synapse


Just a couple of ones I like. The artwork inside is even better.

Civilian_Target

In terms of Mars Volta coverwork, I much prefer Deloused


Another one of my favourite covers is punk band Sick of It All's Life on the Ropes


Or Yeah Yeah Yeah's Fever to Tell

Necronomicon

Sepultura's Dante XXI is one right off the top of my head:



The inside artwork is fantastic but I don't have any images..

Undergod

Mystic Fibrosis wrote:

Anything involving Sunn O))) (or Stephen O' Malley) generally has awesome artwork...

He actually designs covers for other bands and stuff, doesn't he? He has a website for his graphic design business I think.

I agree Tool often have wonderful artwork, the layered booklet off Lateralus is wonderful, or the stereoscopic goggles and 3D pictures in 10,000 days. Great stuff.

ThousandLeaves

Find most of the fantasy themed ones to be a little cheesy myself, with a few exceptions of course.

Surprised that no one has mentioned that Absolution by Muse and the two Mars Volta albums were designed by Storm Thorgerson, who also did a pile for Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel etc etc.

Always been a big fan of Raymond Pettibon's covers for Black Flag/Minutemen etc.

eg.






EDIT: Wow, tiny pictures, I'll try & sort that out.
And there's a list of Storm Thorgerson covers on his Wikipedia, lot of good stuff.

Léan

I'm a big fan of a lot of Ed Repka's artwork. I really like the whole cartoony/gorey style.


Megadeth - Hangar 18
Repka_Megadeth_hangar18.jpg

Nuclear Assault - Game Over
nuclearassault1.jpg

Death - Spiritual Healing
c4276765l40.jpg

Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation
mosh323.jpg

Wishbone Ash

A few favourites: -

Cream - Disraeli Gears



Blue Oyster Cult - ETL



Frank Zappa - Buffalo



And of course

Jonakin

Dont like them but I thought this cover is pretty cool

yevveh

Agreed in that a lot of these album covers are totally cheesy!

Scanned the Ten Past Seven artwork:







The image on the right in the second one is reflective, the idea being you see your own face with the smile and shush-ing finger over it. Great idea. I had to edit it slightly due to reflectivity and my pathetic editing skills (or lack thereof) will probably show. I was really surprised with how high quality the artwork is, especially by a small Irish band on an independent release.

Wishbone Ash

yevveh wrote:

Agreed in that a lot of these album covers are totally cheesy!

Scanned the Ten Past Seven artwork:







The image on the right in the second one is reflective, the idea being you see your own face with the smile and shush-ing finger over it. Great idea. I had to edit it slightly due to reflectivity and my pathetic editing skills (or lack thereof) will probably show. I was really surprised with how high quality the artwork is, especially by a small Irish band on an independent release.

I'm afraid yevveh, that cover would do nothing for me!

yevveh

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I'm afraid yevveh, that cover would do nothing for me!

Fair enough - each to his own!

Also, I figure they're all alternate covers masked as artwork. They don't come in a booklet - each one is a slip of paper with a cover on either side. I didn't scan the reverse of the reflective one (it's plain reflective material) or one other, as I didn't like it. I assume you mean you didn't like the reflective one?

weemcd

yevveh

weemcd - saw that one before, love it!

Karl Hungus

L&#233 wrote: »

Death - Spiritual Healing
c4276765l40.jpg

Excellent.

I was wondering how long it would be untill someone posted that. Easily one of my favourites, it's quite a stand out compared to a lot of other Death Metal releases.

lezizi

Undergod wrote:

He actually designs covers for other bands and stuff, doesn't he? He has a website for his graphic design business I think.

I agree Tool often have wonderful artwork, the layered booklet off Lateralus is wonderful, or the stereoscopic goggles and 3D pictures in 10,000 days. Great stuff.

Ya the artwork in 10,000 days is brilliant

SirLemonhead

Scorpions had a few odd ones early on..

KilbarrackBlows

I always love tools album covers.
And i can brag now because i was asked by the head of mute records art department (louise downer) to do some album covers mwahahah *his head begins to grow*.

lezizi

KilbarrackBlows wrote:

I always love tools album covers.
And i can brag now because i was asked by the head of mute records art department (louise downer) to do some album covers mwahahah *his head begins to grow*.

no way thats class

Undergod

A favourite since I was a kid.

yevveh

Undergod - love that one. Zappa has some brilliant ones. "Ship Arriving Too Late To Save a Drowning Witch" is pretty clever:



Exactly what it says on the tin!

steveone

cant believe no one threw in ride the lightening...
nice to see mael mordha in there too:)

jellikit

Since this ambum came out its been my favourite , so much so I had it done on my last bike

Geranium

Can't say I agree that rock/metal bands have interesting covers. Rock bands often do, but ninety persent of metal covers seem to be done in the same style, with similar themes. Some busty lady, and epic mountainside or view, a gory scene or skull that looks cool to a fourteen year old boy. That said, at least Immortal bring some much needed sexiness into the whole area.

bringitdown

Always loved these ...

Matthewthebig

I've always liked the artwork.

More O'Malley work.

Numina

What? is nobody going to post Regurgitate's "Carnivorous Erection" artwork?

I can't think of any of my favorites right now, except maybe Nine Inch Nails "Closer To God" artwork. i just love it



Also, I'll have to agree with the call on Sepultura's "Arise", excellent cover, I spent a while just looking at the detail in it

Karl Hungus

There's too much pictures being posted, and not enough discussion going on here. Come on guys. If you're going to post something, at least give a reason why it's good.

Geranium wrote:

Can't say I agree that rock/metal bands have interesting covers. Rock bands often do, but ninety persent of metal covers seem to be done in the same style, with similar themes. Some busty lady, and epic mountainside or view, a gory scene or skull that looks cool to a fourteen year old boy. That said, at least Immortal bring some much needed sexiness into the whole area.

While there certainly are a lot of clichéd album covers in Metal, no doubt about it, but 90% is a bit strong. Honestly, where did you get that figure?

I think there's plenty of great artwork out there, especially considering the work of Ed Repka, and many others like Travis Smith working in the genre. There's a lot of them who I just can't think of right now.

MoominPapa

Whatever about the accuracy of the statistics I'd agree with Geranium take in general, whats disappointing about metal covers like the Meal Mordha one cited is its so corney and samey, I instantly thought of Holy Diver which is all of 25 odd years old. This stuff is young teenage boy w*nk and it hasn't moved on in a long, long time. The other side of this is that the metal pioneers never stooped to this crap and while some of their 70's covers might seem cheesy, Deep Purple spring to mind, they at least were of their time, say Fireball, or they were having a laugh, In Rock.
Take the cover of Hemispheres by Rush. The album deals with the conflict between heart and mind, emotion vs experience, instinct vs rationality using ancient Greek mythology to illustrate this . Hugh Syme choose to illustrate this using a photo montage of lots of floating brains with a naked ballet dancer dude pointing in an accusingly foppish manner at a chartered accountant type in a pinstripe suite and bowler hat. Its a bit odd and I've never been sure if I like it or not. However if the guy who did the Meal Morda cover had his way we would have had an airbrushed cross between the Rape of the Sabine women and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Also I think the adoption of characters in the late 70s by emerging bands such as Motorhead and Iron Maiden was a unfortunate development as every single one of all their covers are hideous and totally lacking innovation or imagination in fact they're all down right ugly.