It could be argued that album artwork is almost as important as the music itself. Okay maybe not, but it can definitely add to the overall aesthetic of the record. I am very much an artwork person, and though I don't judge an album by its cover, I can appreciate a great album cover... and the genre of heavy metal in general has some great ones!
Here are my top 20 (in no particular order). I was originally going to do top ten, but I had too many I just couldn't cut from the final list. Remember that these are based on my opinion if you have any others that I should have mentioned here, leave me a comment! My criteria was based upon use of color, creativity, and the emotional response it elicits. Enjoy!
(1) Mastodon - Leviathan
Colorful, emotional, and just plain cool! Paul Romano's depiction of the 'White Whale' will definitely be remembered as a classic. Mastodon's other 3 full length albums could easily have made the list too, but I chose this one for a number of reasons; the main one being that it is the most recognizable.
(2) Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Every time I look closer at this cover I notice something new. Done by the great Kristian Wåhlin (aka Necrolord) Emperor's debut album has become iconic within the black metal scene. One could definitely argue as well that Emperor was taking a bold move at the time creating such a vibrant and colorful cover when most other black metal bands (ie Darkthrone, Burzum) were going with very simple black and white artwork.
(3) Darkthrone - Transylvanian Hunger
Speaking of simple black and white artwork from black metal bands, you can't go wrong with Transylvanian Hunger. Maybe not Darkthrone's best album, but definitely iconic in terms of black metal history. It's atmospheric, dark, and just plain evil!
(4) Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated
Zombie's need love too! Okay I'll admit, this album mainly made the cut (no pun intended) because of its controversial nature, even though it could be argued that there were other CC albums that generated more controversy than this one. I'm sure a lot of people would say that I should have chosen 'Butchered At Birth' over this one, but my opinion is that zombie love wins out over dead babies on hooks in this case.
(5) Dismember - Pieces [EP]
Quite arguably the "most metal" album cover of all time. I mean come on! It's five severed heads (of the bandmembers) with their hair tied together forming a pentagram. Can't argue with that.
(6) Baroness - Blue Record
Moving from extreme to more artful and abstract, we have Baroness' blue record. Really we should mention both this one and its predecessor 'The Red Album' since both are pretty fantastic. But the Blue Record cover wins out simply on the author's personal taste. Both albums were done by John Baizley who also did artwork for Pig Destroyer's 'Phantom Limb', another great cover which almost made this list.
(7) Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
No metal album cover bests would be complete without at least something from the great H.R. Giger. Danzig III is also worth mentioning here, but the aesthetic of this one speaks to me a bit more which is why I chose Celtic Frost's debut full length to highlight here. The original title is called 'Satan I' and is from 1977.
(8) Deathspell Omega - Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum
Powerful, iconic, and representative of the bands musical qualities. The piece is simple, elegant, abstract, and full of religious symbolism; much like Deathspell Omega's brand of avant-gaarde black metal. The album title translates, "Divine law - Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!" which definitely fits as a descriptor for this drawing by Finnish artist Timo Ketola; who is also well known for drawing Opeth's "O" logo.
(9) Sepultura - Arise
This one was difficult. I didn't want to choose two Sepultura albums, and yet I was torn between this one and Chaos A.D. Arise won out mostly due to personal taste, but also because it is a superior record (though Chaos A.D. is still great). The artist for both albums is famed metal artist Michael Whelen (who will appear again shortly) and Arise in particular is his interpretation of H.P. Lovecraft's famed 'Yog-Sothoth' creature.
(10) Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
Another Necrolord cover, I should mention in the interest of full disclosure that I love this cover so much that I had it as my desktop background for about a year. It's hard not to be mesmerized by this picture, and its a perfect example of a cover generating the same type of emotional feeling that you get when you listen to the album. It's too bad Jon Nödtveidt had to off himself, I would have loved to see if he could have recaptured the genius that was Storm of the Light's Bane (I'm not a fan of Reinkaos)
(11) Dying Fetus - War of Attrition
How can you not LOVE this cover? Well, maybe if you're an uber-patriotic conservative with no sense of irony... but I digress. Maybe not Dying Fetus' best album, but an evocative cover none the less.
(12) Slayer - Divine Intervention
Most metal purists would point to 'Reign in Blood' as the quintessential Slayer album cover, but at the risk of being too obvious - as well as the fact that I think its a better cover - I am going with DI instead. This is actually the very first Slayer cover I ever saw and I just remember thinking how absolutely wicked it was. The band went a different direction from their last 3 records (Larry Carrol was the artist on this one) and enlisted Wes Benscoter to illustrate Slayer's 6th full length album.
(13) Nachtmystium - Instinct Decay
Quite possibly the best post-black metal group to break into the mainstream, Instinct Decay is Nachtmystium's third full length album and in my opinion their best. Though their two latest (the 'Black Meddle' records) get all of the attention, this is the one that marked the bands new direction melding black metal with psychedelic rock. The cover is dark and cerebral, again matching the feel of the music.
(14) Obituary - Cause of Death
Another historic Michael Whelan illustration which, apparently, was supposed to have been used for the cover of Sepultura's 'Arise' (see #9) but instead was used by Obituary since it came out one year before Arise. This cover looks like a tornado of tortured souls sucking in a mummified corpse. Whatever your interpretation of the illustration, it's pretty damn sick!
(15) Leviathan - Tentacles of Whorror
Going back to another American black metal band, we have an album that came in at number 66 on Decibel Magazine's Top 100 albums of the decade. While this isn't the first album I've listed here that made that list, I'd be willing to bet its the first one many of you have never heard of to make it. There is something incredibly beautiful and disturbing about the cover image, much like the haunting lo-fi black metal contained in the record itself.
(16) Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Thus far I haven't included any classic metal albums, but its not for lack of good artwork. Sabbath's fifth full length album was illustrated by Drew Struzan and the cover is certainly one of their most memorable. Well, most memorable and GOOD. Paranoid is memorable, but more because it was so bad.
(17) Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick
Again, fans normally point to 'Altars of Madness' and Dan Seagrave's classic illustration, but I'm gonna have to go with 'Blessed' as MA's best cover. The painting used is entitled
Les Trésors de Satan by Belgian artist Jean Delville. Some critics say that the art is kind of muddled, and that it's hard to tell everything that is going on, but I think it simply adds a mysterious quality to the record.
(18) Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets
I think a strong case could be made here for 'Through Silver in Blood', but I chose this album for its more abstract quality. If you look at this cover long enough, you almost begin to become mesmerized by it. It almost reminds me of one of those magic eye pictures that you used to stare at when you were a kid, and then you'd see a sailboat (or not).
(19) Naglfar - Sheol
A band that in my opinion, does not get the respect it deserves. Not only does their music kick ass, their album covers are really fuckin' cool! This is another that was hard to choose from, but Sheol definitely looks the most evil. The album isn't bad either, I don't care how much people compare Jens Rydén's vocals to Dani Filth (I don't think they sound that much alike personally).
And last but not least......
(20) Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
I know this sounds kind of redundant, but once again this was a tough one to pick. I knew I had to put one of Katatonia's album covers in this list, but considering that all of their covers - with the exception of maybe 'Dance of December Souls' - are awesome, this was probably the one I had the toughest time coming to a decision on. Three things I love about this cover 1) The color scheme. It's simple but yet vibrant and jumps out at you. 2) The translucent man on the tracks, sure its a little cliche, but it works. 3) It has a very 1930's/great depression era feel to it, which in a way is counter to metal, but again... seems to work.
There ya have it! Leave me a comment and let me know if there's an album on this list that you think I should have included here. Also coming up soon, just for fun, I'm gonna do a top 10 list of the worst metal album covers; and there ARE some BAD ones, let me tell ya. So be on the lookout for that. Stay evil everyone!
-J
