Importance of artwork

[Cythraul]

judge books by their covers - its what the fuck their for!

Once again I feel compelled to proclaim this as the best thing I've ever seen. You fuckers wanna talk about album artwork influencing your choice of purchase? You all fucking know that if you spotted this work of beauty at a record store you'd snatch it up in a heartbeat!

 

[anonymousnick2001]

The icy artwork on the exterior of Maiden's SSOASS gives me an icy, mystical, feel everytime I listen to the album. Had I never seen the cover, the mood of the album would have been different.

Sometimes, the major color present in the artowrk of an album will cause me to see or 'feel' that color throughout the listening experience. Music from the Nightwish albums Oceanborn and Wishmaster will always sound blue and red to me respectively, eve though there are marked differences between guitar tones and song structures on the two albums. When I hear Moondance, I think blue. When I hear Wanderlust, I think red.

Emperor are another example. ITNE sounds twice as cold and atmospheric as ATTWAD because of the drastic difference in album covers.

 

[byrne]

Cover art I agree can change the way an album is interpreted by listeners, however I disagree with judging an album to any extent based on artwork. Although I guess in an extremely rare, pretty much impossible situation where two albums are identical and one had better cover art, I suppose that would be the better album.

I do enjoy good cover art - exclusive of the music.

I think Tomahawk's s/t album has a great cover - simple and authentic. (I also like the album, but thats beside the point)

 

[Profanity]

The Artwork is what sums up the album and is what you try and relate the music to. I therefore think it's very important.

 

[Cythraul]

I always see colors in my mind when I listen to music, even before I see the album cover. If I see the cover though, the color scheme influences what I'll see in my mind when I listen to the music.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

^ I'm not alone. All is well.

 

[Death Aflame]

Artwork:
- Tends to give an album a sense of completion, as long as it's fitting and not just a random 'dark' picture.
- Gives the listener a clearer idea of the mood/idea the creator is expressing - not unlike the lyrics, but often subtler. "A picture is worth a thousand words."
- Is good for giving a vague indication of what random albums are like, if I happen to be in a store choosing from albums I know little about.
- Is often deeply, deeply homoerotic.

While artwork is certainly one of the less important elements to take into account, all aspects of art should be taken into consideration for one to judge the piece as a whole, as has been said many times before.

agreed.

Personally i like the sharp looking modern artwork from places like Cabin Fever Media or Prog Art. Also I like landscape photos as well because they tend to provide a nice atmosphere to compliment an album.

Im not a big fan of cheesy ass art work that is apparent on many, many power metal albums especially the cheap looking 3D stuff(im thinking of symphony x's V in particular).

 

[Adam90125]

Take the recent Lemuria/Sirius B album by Therion. I always feel much more refreshed and hydrated listening to Lemuria as its cover is blue and mysterious, whereas Sirius B is much more angry and fiery as it has a red cover. Go figure.

 

[AntonCrowley_16]

I dont really follow the art work. Sometimes the artwork never really has anything to do with the album. The art work could be hinting a dark angry album....but in reality the music could suck ass.