Ever have album art melt your face? Every once and awhile a band will create or commission artwork which is undeniably awesome, iconic, or inspiring. Sometimes it compliments the music in the perfect way, leaving a mark on the listener or maybe even music history itself.
Welcome to the Art Gallery. We’re gonna take a look at some really impressive art while listening to some great music in the process.
Led Zeppelin needs no introduction. Whether you're talking about their numerous hits, influence on music as a whole, or Robert Plant literally turning down $800 million for a reunion the other day – these guys nearly define what legends are made of. In their time, they had plenty of iconic artwork accompanying their music. I was tempted to go with a few covers (the zany "Zeppelin III" for example) but ultimately decided "Houses of the Holy" was the best fit. It's the kind of album cover you could recognize from a mile away. Check it out along with an EPIC concert / movie experience based around the album's opening track, "The Song Remains The Same".
Links: Facebook // Official Website // Merch
Speaking of legends, Carcass is another band that needs to have their artwork recognized. This game changer of a band just made a comeback last year with the excellent "Surgical Steel". It was 20 years in the making. And for the sake of this exercise, we'll sit 20 years back when Carcass damn near changed the face of metal with "Heartwork". Not only was the album musically awesome, it was adorned with some beautifully made artwork by the man H.R. Giger (also responsible for the Alien movies and plenty of metal artwork). If you know the album, this is the kind of artwork that leaps out at you. Perfect example… Just the other day, a friend and I were scrolling through my music collection. We both froze when we saw "Heartwork" and knew it was meant to be.
Links: Facebook // Twitter // Merch
Born of Osiris and Sumerian Records seemed to have kickstarted a recent trend in metal music. That trend being the use of Cameron Gray's mind fucking artwork (ironically, not related to Alex Grey). Cameron Gray is easily among the most talented visual artists in the modern world. And his work happens to fit the music of many metal artists perfectly (whether it be Within The Ruins, Circle of Contempt, Ascariasis, or Grant McFarland's tattooed sleeve). Born of Osiris really capitalized on this when they came into their prime with 2011's "The Discovery" and even with their follow up "Tomorrow We Die ∆live". I highly recommend you check out Cameron Grey's artwork and blast the music video below!
