How much does artwork influence you?

[General Lee]

ITP is shit?! How so?

Noodly, meandering, unfocused bollocks.

I agree. TSOP is unlistenable. Everything up to and including Human is gold.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Andy LaRocque means y'all are wrong.

[Pedrito]

ITP has some great stuff on it though I usually reach for Human. Then Symbolic came along. Love the artwork on that. Perfect in every way.

[Paul keohane]

Massive fan of that Death era artwork!,ive had Human and Symbolic shirts at various stages since the 90s.

Artwork was a massive factor grabbing me in  back when i was getting into death metal.

Obviously a huge Seagrave fan,Suffocation Souls to deny,and Morbid Angel Gateways would be up there as my favourites.

Loved  some Vader album covers back in the 90s,De Profundis and Sothis!.

But i think my favourite album cover is Immolation 'Here in After',amazing!

[O Drighes]

Krypts "Cadaver Circulation" cover is pretty cool, although not a big fan of covers that have no logos or album titles in it. I think part of making it a cover and not just a random painting is incorporating the band's elements to it and logos have always had an important share in heavy metal aesthetics.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

A couple of days ago I had something very serious to say about all this, but instead I'll just post this link to Ed Repka's top 50 album covers (which admittedly contains more utter shit than straight up genius, but still):
http://agoraphobic-news.com/articles_view.php?url=ed_repka_s_best_50_album_covers

[Mr Moonlight]

Some outrageous omissions in that Repka list. I dunno..

Though many an album was bought as a young lad purely on the lure of the artwork, that wouldn't be the case today. Good artwork, like well written lyrics  is a nice bonus,  and can really enhance a body of work, but it's by no means a deal breaker. The music conquers all.

Having said that there are some well established bands/artists who allow some god awful tripe to grace the sleeves of their CD's. The last three Blaze bayley offerings for example... there's budget and then there's budget. I can't help but think some form of potato print would have been preferable to whatever it is on the covers.

[Mower Liberation Front]

"And we have a winner!  It was really hard to make our mind, since Ed Repka drew 6 Megadeth covers: No More Mr. Nice Guy split, Holy Wars...the Punishment Due, Hangar 18 singles, Peace Sells...but Who's Buying?"

So why is only one of them in the top 50 then? I guess "Our favourite Repka cover from 50 bands he's done work for" isn't quite as catchy a title. Or as clickbait worthy.

[Thorn]

New Xentrix cover is shocking stuff for any band over 16 years of age ,not that they've ever excelled in that department mind you

[Carnage]

New Xentrix cover is shocking stuff for any band over 16 years of age ,not that they've ever excelled in that department mind you

If you think that's bad, just wait 'til you see the new Acid Reign cover.

[Trev]

Love the cover of the new Howling Sycamore, and the way it ties in with the look of the first album

[Pedrito]

How does it sound? Haven´t got round to it yet

[Trev]

Waiting on my copy to arrive before giving it a full spin. Had a listen to a couple of songs on YouTube and seems to have toned down the eclectic elements slightly, but still keeping the overall sound of the debut

[Thorn]

New Xentrix cover is shocking stuff for any band over 16 years of age ,not that they've ever excelled in that department mind you

If you think that's bad, just wait 'til you see the new Acid Reign cover.

Yep just saw it last night, according to H the artist 'knocked it out of the park',  well I guess he approved  'Obnoxious' so....

[Thorn]

New Xentrix cover is shocking stuff for any band over 16 years of age ,not that they've ever excelled in that department mind you

If you think that's bad, just wait 'til you see the new Acid Reign cover.

Yep just saw it last night, according to H the artist 'knocked it out of the park',  well I guess he approved  'Obnoxious' so....

( Actually I'll change that to 'Moshkinstein'as  the  obnoxius pink has become part of the fabric of Metal life at this stage, it's damn easy to find in a collection and it's a ripping good album too boot, their best by a mile.