My Favorite Album Artwork
Probably left out a few, but these are the ones that came to my head first rwhen I came up with the topic. Again, this list isn't about favorite albums or rleast favorite albums, but the artwork created for them. Of course it is rgoing to be bias since when I like an album music-wise I'm going to immerse rmyself more with the album art-wise. |
| 1 |  | Queen
A Night at the Opera
Colorful and epic just like the music, definitely has a royal look to it which fits
perfectly with the name of the band. |
| 2 |  | Creedence Clearwater Revival
Green River
Very peaceful and I love how the sun is shining through the trees. Fits the mood of
the record well. |
| 3 |  | Converge
Axe to Fall
Gritty and Ambiguous, love this screamer's art style. |
| 4 |  | Local Natives
Hummingbird
Every time I look at this I see the guy on the ground almost slipping off a platform,
and the sky backdrop can look like a wall or an actual sky, and I really enjoy the
subtle surrealism in this piece. |
| 5 |  | House of Pain
Same as it Ever Was
Irish represent, and it's a badass image. High contrast and bleak green colors.
Reminds me of Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power. |
| 6 |  | Cannibal Corpse
Butchered at Birth
Nasty and Gruesome |
| 7 |  | The Doors
Full Circle
Chaotic and strange. The animals somehow remind me of Adam and Eve combined
with the color pallet. |
| 8 |  | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Miss Machine
Sporadic and Strange, this collage, almost mixed-media looking artwork is almost as
crazy as the actual music. |
| 9 |  | MGMT
Congratulations
Definitely wants me to just sit in the sun all day and take in life. The colors and
cartoon feeling of this just makes me very happy. |
| 10 |  | The Beatles
The Beatles
A lot of people find this cover art bleak and boring, but I for one find it to be very
interesting and makes me curious. You have no idea what you're in for if you just
looked at this cover. It's simple, original, just a white cover with nothing but their
name on it, no one had ever done something like this before, and it sits well with
the unorthodox and novelty sounds that The Beatles experimented with in this
album. It's so simple yet it works so well. |
| 11 |  | The Black Keys
Brothers
Tongue-in-Cheek humor at it's finest. |
| 12 |  | Wolves in the Throne Room
Celestial Lineage
The filter and gritty moss covered forest landscape of this album mentally scares
me, because the art work does not show you what you should be afraid of, it
makes you think for yourself, and you have to interpret the dark woods and evil
looking reds and blacks smoothed in with each other. Sometimes I look at this and
it makes me want to go camping, other times I look at it and I feel like that area is
haunted in some way. |
| 13 |  | Cream
Disraeli Gears
Some of the best funky and psychedelic art I've seen. |
| 14 |  | August Burns Red
Constellations
Excellent complementary color blending. The lyrics and music videos during the
Constellations sessions have also made me appreciate the meaning behind this
artwork as well. |
| 15 |  | John Mayer
Paradise Valley
Very inspirational and it makes me want to have a dog haha. |
| 16 |  | Tool
10,000 Days
Tool artwork has always been symbolic, symmetrical, and psychedelic in a way.
This would have to be my favorite out of all of them. Kind of gives me an Indiana
Jones vibe, like you just found a secret shrine of philosophical and technical
intensity. |
| 17 |  | Killswitch Engage
As Daylight Dies
It was a toss up between this and Alive or Just Breathing to who gets the better
artwork, and I had to go with this one. It's not all that original, you know "ooooHhh
it has a scary skull on it, so metal!" but for whatever reason it touches me in a
way. I guess it has to be the style of the artwork, surreal looking. |
| 18 |  | Noah Gundersen
Ledges
I feel children can sometimes be a cop-out to address nostalgia and cuteness, but
in all the ones I've seen this one works the best. I don't really like kids as much as
a lot of people do, but this just makes me happy, seeing the child's smile in a
background that looks like I could have grown up in. This artwork could have also
been switched with The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream. |
| 19 |  | The Smashing Pumpkins
Machina - The Machines of God
Speaking of Smashing Pumpkins, I could never get into this album, and this is where
the band started to see a downfall, they weren't heavy and experimental enough
for the changing of time. When I got bored and researched this album I saw all the
detail and artwork that they put into this and it gives me kind of a melancholy
feeling that I enjoy (partial joke intended). |
| 20 |  | Bon Iver
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Gotta give the artist praise for this. Reminds me of the place I live right now. Cold,
traditional, and high on a hill. |
| 21 | | The Beatles
1967-1970
Comparing this to the Please Please me cover is epic. |
| 22 | | Sting
If On a Winter's Night...
Not much to say about this one other than it speaks to me personally. |
| 23 |  | Queens of the Stone Age
...Like Clockwork
As soon as the first single of this album dropped, I immediately took embrace and
satisfaction in the artwork and I had to look up the artist. |
| 24 |  | Maroon 5
Overexposed
Trippy (unlike the music) and reminds me of a graffiti wall in the city. |
| 25 |  | Mastodon
Crack the Skye
Along with Tool, these guys dish out magnificent symmetrical and detailed album
covers with each release that embark on fantasy and chaos. |
| 26 |  | The Jesus Lizard
Liar
Honestly it is slightly stupid but the mixed media style and old-style of drawing
combined with the horrible peppiness of copied and pasted cat heads make this a
wonder. |
| 27 |  | The Seatbelts
Cowboy Bebop OST
A close up of Spike's face certainly is badass. |
| 28 |  | Skeletonwitch
Beyond the Permafrost
Reminiscent of a Baroness cover, however even better, the color of the nasty skull
just spells out disastrous evil and the bleak white and blue colors combined work
well. |
| 29 |  | Michael Jackson
Dangerous
Overlooked and it's a shame that they still put this much detailed and awesome
effort into making artwork like this on such a mainstream album. The wackiness and
royalty factor of the colors on the fences are great. |
| 30 |  | Muse
The Resistance
Honeybees making a nest while on acid. |
| 31 |  | Haste the Day
Attack of the Wolf King
This has always been a splendid art style. It reminds me of a children's book that I
used to read when I was young. It's also a refreshing take on a metalcore album
cover, since most in the genre are really shitty. |
| 32 |  | Holy Sons
Survivalist Tales!
lol. Colors are surreal and there is no way that guy is surviving that. |
| 33 |  | Overcast
Reborn to Kill Again
The face of that demon lion beast thing is fucking evil and awesome combined with
the blood text on a white cover, they are certainly reborn to kill again. |
| 34 |  | Brand New
The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
That girl better kick the shit out of them. I can't really describe this that well but it
is such an amazing and original cover. It's iconic for their size of a band. |
| 35 |  | Tame Impala
Lonerism
Not only this album cover, but the music videos I've seen accompanying this album,
are marvelous. The deserve high praise for the animation quality I've seen. |
| 36 |  | Miike Snow
Miike Snow
It's got a nice charm. A jackolope as a mascot is just awesome. |
| 37 |  | Arcade fire
Reflektor
It's a shame I don't like this album enough to buy it, because every time I pass it
by in a store the reflecting colors on the statue and background mesmerize me. |
| 38 |  | Led Zeppelin
Houses of the Holy
An old friend of mine was a big fan of Led Zeppelin and I had never heard of them
(keep in mind this was maybe 6 or 7 years ago and I was like 9 or 10 years old) and
he showed me the album and started to play it and I was overwhelmed. Not only
the music but the there was something about the artwork that was light in contrast
and surreal and hypnotic. I fell in love with the album. |
| 39 |  | Jack Johnson
In Between Dreams
I really need to purchase this one, because it is one of the ultimate album covers
that I can turn to when I'm feeling down and it cheers me up. Like the beginning of
the sun rising. |
| 40 |  | Portugal. The Man
The Satanic Satanist
This could also be switched with Evil Friends. John Gourley is easily one of my
favorite artists. His style is so strange and it works well with their psychedelic like
music. The color pallet on this one is to be praised, and he definitely has influences
in Beatles album covers (see Revolver and then compare to ITMINC). A favorite
quote of mine is "an artist has succeeded if people don't understand his work but
they still like it" this falls into that category, although I somehow can relate myself
to his obscure and evil looking style. |
| 41 |  | Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Poor dog. The gloom and color filter on this describes the music perfectly. |
| 42 |  | The Doors
The Very Best of the Doors
Iconic and inspiring. |
| 43 |  | AC/DC
Let There be Rock
The riffs shine through the clouds. Prepares you for the high quality hard rock you
are about to hear. |
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