Great moments in art history: More splendid record covers

M.A.C.E- The Evil In Good

This band were an early thrash band from my home town of Everett, Washington, often playing with other local legends like The Accused, Dumt, Date Rape, Last Gasp, and Forced Entry. This cover is an excellent example of basically everything that makes a great metal cover, or at least that's what I thought in 5th grade when this came out: exquisitely detailed renderings of people getting tortured and killed. It's OK that the proportions are all wrong and that the heads look like deflated balloons, what's important is that the guy who drew this slaved away with his 00 Rapidograph for ages, stippling like a madman.

The best tool for drawing metal covers (well, maybe 2nd only to the airbrush)

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

If I saw this cover now I would think it was a poster for some new Jack Black movie, or maybe a Saturday Night Live sketch. I understand that fashion ages quickly and poorly, but come on now... did anyone really think that red tights (with no shoes) and a leather jacket would stand the test of time? Much like the early Judas Priest videos where they wore silk, paisley robes and long, straight blond hair that would make Carly Simon jealous, it is hard to imagine what they were thinking.

Mordred - Fool's Game & Limbrionic Art - Epitome of Illusions

These records have nothing to do with each other, but I am going to lump them together under the "trippy surrealistic checkerboard" umbrella. I am not sure why, but in the 80s this was very popular, particularly among thrash bands who wanted to show that they weren't "just a thrash band" and wanted to "stretch the limits of the genre," and showed it with their "mindblowing" album covers. Perhaps it was because computers had only recently become capable of doing raytracing, with the de rigeur demonstration of the technique being a shiny sphere sitting on a checkerboard.

I think it is easy to imagine the GIF above on the cover of a thrash album. Just picture the Voivod logo above the robot's head.

Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face

This is one of my very favorite death metal songs of all time, maybe even the best. However, I am a bit confused by the cover. This corpse is clearly already somewhat decomposed. Apparently the subject of the song attacked a rotting corpse with a hammer. This is certainly a deranged act, but in comparison to killing a person with a claw hammer like the song suggests, it really isn't that impressive. I mean, they're already dead, what's the big deal?

Aftermath - Don't Cheer Me Up

Who hasn't felt like this? You're sitting on the steps by yourself in a radioactive wasteland, bummed because your boss is a fucking jerk or whatever. And your friend, who is dying at your feet is all "Dude I know he sucks, but it could be worse. Just try to be positive." And then you're all "Fuck you man, leave me alone!! Don't try to make me feel better, I hate his fucking guts, he treats me like a fucking kid!" And your friend is like "Dude I know. Fuckin' bosses man, they're all the same." But you don't care, because you want to be mad! It feels good to be pissed off! Aftermath are pissed off!! They don't want to be cheered up! They don't need your fucking sympathy!!!