…And Justice For Art: Metal Artists’ All-Time Favorite Album Covers (Part 2)

Last week both veteran and upcoming Metal artists talked about some of their all-time favorite album covers and the long lasting impressions and influences that many of those visuals have imprinted on them. Today, we keep exploring this subject and asked another slew of mighty metal musicians: “What’s your all-time favorite Rock/Metal album cover artwork and why?” Let’s see how they answered…

01. Travis Ryan – Cattle Decapitation (vocalist):
“Carcass’ Symphonies of Sickness original LP release. It’s an incredible marriage of cover art and album content. Very few things are like it. It’s like it is its own whole realm in the same kind of way that Gwar is their own thing, and why touch it? Well, many have tried and came disturbingly close, but this album is a lone wolf in my opinion, as well as the best death metal album of all time for both its content and album cover and the way they jive together.”

02. Paul Masvidal – Cynic (vocalist, guitarist):
“Too difficult to narrow down. One of my all-time favorites though would have to be Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy. I remember my older brother having the vinyl and I was completely mesmerized by it.”

03. Eric Cruz – Archaios (guitarist):
“Definitely Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time album cover. This is my all-time favorite. I could spend hours at that artwork, finding little details and illusions, the pyramid, death, the band walking in the streets of the future, people and/or creatures in windows or elevators, the black cat with the halo and many other stuff. But something I found particularly interesting and fun to look for was the references to songs like the bar at the top of the building (‘Aces High’), the clock on the bridge (‘2 Minutes to Midnight’), the name of the street (‘Acacia Ave’), the falling/burning angel (‘Flight of Icarus’), etc.

References to Iron Maiden’s influences and hobbies like Rainbow Hotel, Ruskin Arms Pub, the mysterious batman-like character standing at the building’s ledge, and the mighty all-seeing Eddie’s eye in the sky. And these are just things I remember without even looking at it. Derek Riggs took cover artwork to another level. He managed to transcend along Maiden’s music and not be eclipsed by it. He managed to make Maiden (at that time) the only band you would anxiously expect a new album from just to see what the cover would look like. And he really managed to make this in a way so spectacular and amazing that the fans would follow the content of the band both musically as well as visually just to see where Eddie would end or what he would become.”

04. Danko – Danko Jones (vocalist, guitarist):
“A close runner-up has to be Black Flag’s My War. The Raymond Pettibon artwork works in tandem with Rollins’ enraged lyrics. It’s the soundtrack to pure rebellion. It has the ability to give you the middle finger with its pinky.”

05. Tito Quiñones – Saint Diablo (vocalist):
“It’s no secret that Saint Diablo’s sound was influenced by bands like Sepultura and later Soulfly and Puya. And with that I’ve always gravitated to a more “worldly” rock/metal sound and image. I LOVE the Sepultura album cover for Against. Why: it incorporates elements of history, old maps, symbolism, a color scream that invokes a vintage feeling. And the tribal war masks told me that this was going to be an extreme-sounding CD. And of course it is. I LOVE IT!”

06. Jay Randall – Agoraphobic Nosebleed (electronics, vocalist):
“My favorite album cover is Excel’s Split Image, had it on cassette when I was a kid – it showed more of the artwork than the LP and disc versions currently available -artwork on this shit is just so fuckin’ dope! Shit blew my 12-13 year old mind!”

07. Danny Lilker – Brutal Truth/Nuclear Assault (bassist, vocalist):
“Undoubtedly the first Black Sabbath album. For back then, it was so fucking eerie and chilling, and it made you wonder just what the fuck you were in for.”

08. Mike Hill – Tombs (guitarist, vocalist):
“Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath – It’s such a simple, haunting cover. The colors are so dreary and convey an overall depressing vibe. What’s up with the witch? I think this was the beginning of my fascination with Gothic chicks.”

There you have it! More of our musicians fave albums. See you next week when we post the third part of our “Metal Artists’ All-Time Favorite Album Covers” mini-series.

Coming Next Week: Metal Artists’ All-Time Favorite Album Covers (Part 3)
Previously on AJFA: Metal Artists’ All-Time Favorite Album Covers (Part 1)