{"id":2791,"date":"2014-09-09T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T17:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=2791"},"modified":"2014-09-08T22:26:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T03:26:47","slug":"state-of-the-art-are-album-covers-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/state-of-the-art-are-album-covers-important\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Art: Are Album Covers Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You’ve heard me say it\u00a0before, and you’ll probably hear me say it again. “Never\u00a0judge a book by its cover” is some of the worst advice that’s ever been offered to me, second only to the staggering number of\u00a0times I’ve been\u00a0advised to “jump off a bridge\/cliff\/building\/etc.”<\/p>\n

Do these people expect me\u00a0to walk into a book store (do those exist?) and buy the\u00a0book closest to the door? Select any book at random? A shitty suggestion. The cover of a book is more than the bread of a boring text sandwich for nerds — it’s there to make a\u00a0statement about the content. Allow\u00a0me explain with some shiny pictures.<\/p>\n

\"Bad\"<\/p>\n

Should I\u00a0reserve judgement on these thrilling novels based on their covers?\u00a0Should I\u00a0purchase them with my\u00a0hard-earned money and take them home with me?\u00a0What are the chances that there is even one fucking dragon or laser gun between the three of them? Sure, these men on the cover are well put together and, yeah, their muscles glisten impressively in the light, but — despite the constant allegations — those are not my interests.<\/p>\n

\"good\"<\/p>\n

See, this is more like it. Armored beastrider — check. Space dragon — check. Sandworm — check.\u00a0The probability that at least one of these books will speak\u00a0to my interests is substantially higher than that of\u00a0Sweaty Man with Exposed Chest<\/em>\u00a0by Mrs. Menopause, wouldn’t you agree? There. Judging books by their covers isn’t such a bad idea after all. So never say that shit.<\/p>\n

The same applies (to a certain\u00a0degree) to\u00a0us in the realm of metal. I can’t stand the notion that album art is of little significance to the consumer.\u00a0Ultimately it’s the quality of the music that really counts — this is something I’m sure we can all agree on — but to assert that the art that accompanies it\u00a0serves no purpose makes very little sense to me. At the very least it provides a rather reliable way to sift through piles and piles of music in a way similar to choosing the right book. At this point in metal’s history, most\u00a0subgenres have developed their own distinctive norms in respects to art style. These constructs\u00a0are so prevalent that I’m sure someone\u00a0even marginally\u00a0versed in metal would have no trouble completing one of these:<\/p>\n

\"Quiz\"<\/p>\n

It’s obviously not an exhaustive list, but you get the point. Rarely does a band stray far from the model that has been established within their respective\u00a0subgenre. If you know what genres you typically enjoy,\u00a0I’d bet that you’re capable of discerning these models and that the presence or lack of them in an album cover\u00a0influences your decision to listen or not.\u00a0You’d better believe that if a die-hard War Metal fan\u00a0happens\u00a0across an album\u00a0that has\u00a0Satan molesting a nun or something on the cover, they’re going to give it a chance. These recycled themes in album art\u00a0are perpetuated because they work. They allow\u00a0the supplier to reach their target\u00a0demographic (i.e., fans of the genre who are willing to pay money for it) by enabling the consumer to identify the product at first glance, which then leads to listening, which then leads to buying. We’re all a part of this.\u00a0Admittedly a shallow analysis of the industry, but true nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Which is why I find it ridiculous to hear people spouting off that the album cover is a “dying art form” and blah, blah, blah “internet” and blah, blah, blah “audio files.” It’s here to stay because it’s an effective market strategy. And even if it weren’t, how exactly is the album cover becoming\u00a0less\u00a0vital? I fail to see a significant difference between discovering\u00a0Judas Priest<\/strong>\u00a0in ’84\u00a0<\/strong>because\u00a0Defenders of the Faith\u00a0<\/em>caught your eye in a record store and discovering\u00a0Cormorant\u00a0<\/strong>this year because you came across the excellent art for\u00a0Earth Diver\u00a0<\/em>online.\u00a0You hardly ever see music presented online without it being accompanied by the artwork, do you?<\/p>\n

\"Defenders-Earth<\/p>\n

To me seems to be\u00a0more relevant than ever. Metal as a genre is a hell of a lot more oversaturated than it was in 1984. Genre themes aside, there’s just a whole lot to choose from. In a seemingly endless sea of new music with more showing up every day, I’ll admit I’m\u00a0less inclined to check out a new album from a band I’ve never heard of if the art is bad. If you don’t have time to hear it all, why not pick the ones that will look the prettiest in your collection?<\/p>\n

Do you think that’s weird? Well, I don’t. I think album covers have more to do with how an album is received than some of us suspect. Picture in your mind some albums that are generally accepted as\u00a0classics. Take your time. Overall, pretty solid album covers, right? Now picture similar albums that haven’t quite reached the same level of acclaim, even\u00a0with music of equal or better quality. I’m guessing more than a few of those have some horrible art attached. I’m not drawing any conclusions here, and maybe it’s just me, but it sure seems like a trend. Here’s an example —\u00a0Exodus’\u00a0<\/strong>Bonded by Blood:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Bonded<\/p>\n

This abomination offends me thoroughly. I feel like it gets worse every time I see it. You’ve\u00a0got your basic\u00a0infant conjoined twins attached at the ass, only\u00a0one of them has goblin\u00a0ears, dentures, black fingernail extensions, fully developed pectoral muscles, and apparently a fucking armadillo shell for an abdomen.\u00a0This looks like someone brought their failed scientific experiment to a Sears photo shoot. Why is he ripping that? It took me a long time to get into this album because I couldn’t bring myself to spend my money on\u00a0something so\u00a0ugly without actually throwing up. Maybe\u00a0I’m not alone in that. Maybe\u00a0Exodus‘\u00a0<\/strong>opus would have received more attention if the cover looked more like, gee, I don’t know, ANY OF THESE:<\/p>\n

\"123\"<\/p>\n

Again, I’m not making any definitive statements, but what if that cover was the difference between The Big Four and The Big Five? WHAT IF? They certainly deserved it more than\u00a0Anthrax <\/strong>ever\u00a0did.<\/p>\n

Even if they had no effect on the industry, album covers can have a direct influence on how the actual music is interpreted by the listener, especially in a genre so concerned with making you feel<\/em> rather than just hear<\/em>. The right album art can set the mood. It can light the metaphorical candles, spin the metaphorical smooth jazz grooves, or cover your metaphorical chest in metaphorical whipped cream before your sensual metal experience. Let’s talk about Tobias M\u00f6ckl, a Swiss musician who channels his talent through two distinctly different black metal projects. Darkspace<\/strong> is his outlet for spacey, cosmic-themed aggression and Paysage d’Hiver<\/strong> (“Landscape of Winter” in French) is his black-metal-obligatory winter worship. Both are excellent and expressive representations of their respective motifs. Now, for the sake of discussion, let’s play make-believe and pretend that both Darkspace and Paysage d’Hiver were released under the moniker of Tobias M\u00f6ckl to remove any aesthetic association with the subject matter apart from their album covers.<\/p>\n

\"DSPdH\"<\/p>\n

They’re near-perfect portrayals of the music and two of my favorite covers. Darkspace’s is simplistic but but appropriately dark and spacey, and the blizzardborne landscape on Paysage d’Hiver’s is just the sort of reverie that the music so fluently conjures up. That said, here is my question. Would Darkspace take you to space if you hadn’t first been primed to go there by the album cover? Would you still have the same experience without having seen it first? Would everybody? Might some envision a journey to the subterranean depths of the earth or the bottom of the ocean instead? A nameless, faceless Darkspace would rely much more on subjective interpretation. The same goes for Paysage. Would M\u00f6ckl be as capable of taking you to the intended place without the cover as a reference, or might that realm of icy forest become somewhere else altogether? Someone might even inversely think “space” when listening to Paysage d’Hiver and “winter” when listening to Darkspace, might they not? It’s something to think about.<\/p>\n

I’d like to add that \u00a0the opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of ToH or make any sense at all. Can you think of any album covers that may have altered your listening experience, or are they completely separate and irrelevant to the music?\u00a0Do you bemoan your silly and\u00a0unfounded vision of a cold, dark future of artless albums? Which albums have you checked out recently based on album art alone? Let’s hear those opinions!<\/p>\n

Lastly, here’s something relevant that you art-lovers might be interested in. Veteran music journalist\u00a0Ramon Martos has finished a book called\u00a0…And Justice for Art: Stories About Heavy Metal Album Covers<\/em>, featuring tons of images, stories, interviews from metal legends, etc. Here’s the promotional video. It looks rad.<\/p>\n