I know that people are going to say it is case by case, but generally I’m not a big fan of album covers with a photo of the band. I prefer the band photo to be on the inside of the booklet, or maybe even on the back cover such as No Prayer For The Dying from Iron Maiden.

I often find the photo on the cover looks a bit lazy, such as Extreme Aggression from Kreator. I do realize they had different artwork for that album, but I believe it was changed by the record company. Another one I can think of is Exodus and Pleasures Of The Flesh. Maybe not the worst one out there, but not exactly great either.

We often get something like Manowar, Into Glory Ride which just looks incredibly cheesy. Or something like The Human Factor from Metal Church, it just looks kind of weird in my opinion.

It is actually quite hard to think of a great cover that features a picture of the band on front. I’m sure there are some examples, but none come directly to mind. Are there any examples people could name?

In short, I prefer hand-drawn art over a photo of the band on the cover. Even a photo of nature used on a lot of black metal releases is preferable. There are not many great covers with a photo of the band on the cover in my opinion. Opinions?

It depends; some look fine, but others are not...

I love Raven, but this is so cheesy compared with Rock Until Your Drop, which also features the band but looks sick with all the mess of instruments, amps, etc.



Savatage also has two albums featuring the band on the front cover.








Satan (UK) back cover from Court in the Act comes to my mind in this kind of style, kind of Long Live Rock 'n' Roll by Rainbow.

Ha Ha! The Raven one above is so ridiculous that it is borderline great. To be honest, I don't mind hand-drawn pictures of the band, rather than some bland photo. The Rainbow one above is quite nice.

I guess that a photo of a band works quite well for a live album, rather than a studio one in my opinion.

Well it if done right, sure, why not.

Some of my examples of that shit done right:

https://www.metal-archives.com/images/4 ... 4.jpg?5835
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/4 ... 2.jpg?2026
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/3 ... 8.jpg?5323
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/8/9/0/4/8904.jpg
https://www.metal-archives.com/images/3 ... 9.jpg?5657

Yugoslavian pressing of Black Sabbath's Heaven & Hell has band members drawn in the similar way to those Satan and Rainbow albums. Originally that was back cover on the original edition, but in Yugoslavia it was transferred into the front.

Ah yes, classic Scott Ian with the hat.

There are two from Anacrusis.

The UK version looks okay, but in the US version, they took a photo similar to another one found in the booklet for the UK version, but it seems like the worst picture of the entire shoot.

UK



UK (Booklet)



US


This one reminds me of Celtic Frost's Vanity Nemesis, and I like it. The band logo and the album title fit nicely with the simple concept cover.

Besides this, the rule of thumb should be that band photos belong in the booklet or the back cover.

But, do these and the like count?

Came here to say Vanity/Nemesis. Really cool album cover that captures the atmosphere of the music very well.

Only Immortal can make it work. Other bands just don't have the costume design savvy.

OK but really I prefer something other than a band pic. Usually something drawn by a clearly gifted artist, where even someone who's never heard of the band would probably guess it's a metal album. Effigy of the Forgotten and many other Dan Seagrave covers fall into this category. However cover art is never going to be the make-or-break factor in whether I buy the album.

Not sure how I feel about metal album covers that look like they might be for another genre. Like the second Sanctuary album.

I'd agree with those who take it on a case by case basis.

I think the cover for Metallica's Garage Inc is quite good.

I thought any of these photos from the inlay/photo sessions would have made a much better cover for Garage Inc. - and it should have been called The Metallicats

I think for bands like Immortal and Motorhead it fits in with their aesthetic so it works, but not every band can pull off having those sorts of album covers.

I'm not sure if it's actually a band member on the cover, but I dig the cover for Spectral Wound's A Diabolic Thirst.

Like everything else the answer is "it depends." Some bands make it work via sheer force of will and charisma, and some make it work by very carefully staging the picture- I don't think I've ever seen a bad word about Under the Sign of the Black Mark and even though that's not a picture of Quorthon, some other band easily could have done the same with themselves. Why not?

All that matters is that the end result matches the aesthetic of the band. What works for Manowar or Immortal is not going to work for Iron Maiden.

Really depends. Some are sick, while others are goofy. That said, the goofiness can be in a "good" way or a "bad" way.

Manowar managed to produce one of each form of goofiness (among all the other goofiness inherent to that band!): personally, I find Fighting the World cover to be pretty cool, while Into Glory Ride is... not.

Kreator's Extreme Aggression gets an approving vote from me. That shit was done right.

Sabotage and Cowboys from Hell are also cool.

I'm surprised this one hasn't been posted yet...



I know Manowar has been discussed, but not this. I'm guessing it's because it's a compilation.

Extreme Aggression was my first thought with this thread, but not really in a good way. It sticks out weirdly among covers like Pleasure to Kill and Terrible Certainty and conveys rather Extreme Sulkiness.

The idea of the Sabotage cover is cool, but Ozzy and Bill ruin it with their clothing choices.

One of my bandmates, who used to work with me, made that the background, on one of the computers we use, to check off orders, at work. It still hasn’t been changed back, because everyone who works in the area has good taste, and aren’t snitches.

I love this one, too. I just wish that cheesy barbed wire pattern wasn't on the sleeve. Cheapens it for me.

I actually found myself wondering recently what band shirt that is being worn on the Spectral Wound album cover, assuming it is a band shirt. Anyone know? Would be a fun bit of trivia.

I found the cover a bit dumb when it came out, but now I like it. Might just be mainly because the album itself kicks so much ass, though.

I really dislike that Spectral Wound cover. It is so staged and postured. The only thing that is missing is a squiggly faux-xerox-cut-and-paste logo.

A band name like TANK once would expect tanks or something related to the war on the album cover, like their album Honour and Blood, but this...

One of the brothers is showing their nipple on purpose, the other brother looks ready to attack but without a weapon and randomly holds a bullet belt, and Algy is as if he is posing for a fashion magazine.

Not really, but this should have been the cover of the new Swans album.

I think it depends on the context and what a band is going for, but they certainly feel like a lost art nowadays. I could go for more of those hand-drawn portraits ala Rainbow and Heaven & Hell.

Only if its Manowar.

A CLASSIC and so's the album!

SABATOGE rules, even WITH those clothes. THAT'S WHAT THE SEVENTIES ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE!

I'm not such a fan of the Extreme Aggression front cover. Maybe because I know what the original looked like before it was canned at the last minute.....

No really, on average. It always seems a but lazy. To me that is.
But there are plenty exceptions. I like Fiona's 'Beyond the Pale' for obvious reasons.
And 'New Hope for the Wretched' (is one of the best ever)

I don't get it. Are some of the examples above supposed to be of good or bad album cover art? For example, that Mutiilation one above with the guy in the wheelchair. Is that what is considered a good cover art for an album?

I might be in the minority but some of the examples above look terrible in my eyes.

Guy standing: "Merde, grandma came home earlier than expected!"

Man, I love Black Metal, but when it comes to cringe immagery, there really isn't any other genre that comes close.

Yeah, desspite liking some bands I never buy any. The pandalook is just too cheesy to be taken seriously.
MP3's are fine hahha

Second whoever mentioned Immortal already. This one nails the dark vibe without coming off as overly tryhard or cheesy.

Pain of Salvation - Road Salt 1 & 2 are pretty cool covers.
Also i don't mind Immortal's cover, i think they kinda fit the theme. DFM, PH and Damned in Black are pretty cool covers. ATHOW inner sleeve is legendary as well.

Yeah, Pure Holocaust is one of the better "black metal musicians in black and white" covers.

In general I don't like it. Even when good the same bands non-band-picture-covers are usually better. There are however exceptions. The early Darkthrone and Mayhem albums posted above are two such exceptions. But they might not really count as band pictures. In any other case I prefer it if it is stylized in some way. Perhaps made in the way of a painting or somehow transformed into something more artsy than just an arranged photo. But again there are exceptions. Not metal but this Ramones album look really good: