The Greatest Album Covers In Metal. (Most Iconic Artworks)
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- Today we're going to check out some of the best and most iconic album covers in metal. I'll share my top 10 artworks of all time and then I'm going to show you guys some honorable mentions. So what's your favourite metal artwork? I'm curious to hear. From the best handdrawn artworks to the greatest photoshopped album art, all in the same video. Everyone from Michael Whelan to Ed Repka, Kristian 'Necrolord' Wåhlin, Wes Benscoter, Don Brautigam, Dan Seagrave, Joe Petagno and Eliran Kantor are included in this video. So if you're a fan of metal and it's art, then this video is for you. Enjoy!
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THE WORST ALBUM COVERS IN METAL
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:17 The Top 10 Greatest Album Covers in Metal
7:40 Honorable Mentions
Featuring bands such as: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Cirith Ungol, Megadeth, Nuclear Assault, Mercyful Fate & Metallica
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Great picks my personal favor cover not art work is Pantera Vulgar Display of Power. The guy getting punched in the face they payed that guy 10 a pop to get punched. He made 310 bucks you do the math LMAO
The most badass album cover IMO at least, is the cover for Yngwie Malmsteen’s trilogy - I mean the Swedish shredlord slaying the mythical hydra with his wicked axe tones alone - totally epic!!!
RIP Ken Kelly :(
Who are the artists behind these artworks??
Can we just all agree that metal has the most awesome covers of any genre in music?
yes!
Yeah now all the album covers are basically: "hey let’s take of picture of my arrogant self and show the world how much I am prettier than everyone, oh and so that for all the album covers"
Its better than rap, its better than country, its better than pop
No way..I'd go with Smooth Jazz first!!!
Agreed
I do miss the old days when I used to buy an album just based off of the cover artwork if I had never heard of them before.
those were the good days. Must have been 20+ years since I did that. Cheers!
@@RuthlessMetalYT got burned a few times,
But also got surprised
Me, too! That's why I bought my first Overkill album! I thought Chaly looked cool!
Yeah, that was before we had the benefit of being able to go online and actually hear at least some of the music before making a purchase. It usually worked out ok, but there were a few times where the cool artwork turned out to be a little misleading. I think I actually ended up liking some stuff that I probably wouldn't have given a chance if I had been able to sample beforehand, so I suppose that could be considered an upside of that era. There's no doubt that album artwork played an extremely important role in the success or failure of a band back in the old days, especially if it was a new band that hadn't had much exposure. 🤘🏻☠️🤘🏻
That's how I discovered Manowar with Kings of Metal
Judas Priest's "Sad wings of destiny" - jawdropping!!!
The Sound of Perseverance by Death is one of my favourites definitely, it captures the album's atmosphere perfectly
Cheers!
yes lol
Fr I love it
Do you think Its a mouth or a reapers hood? I can only see a mouth when I look at it. But someone told me they thought it was a reapers hood.
Somewhere in Time is the best Maiden cover IMO, perfectly fits the music and vibe of the album and the detail is amazing
Cheers!
Yes! I had it on vinyl as a kid and used to love searching for all the “easter eggs” hidden in the artwork.
Thank you. Easter eggs everywhere.
Growing up in Maryland we all thought it was cool that they incorporated Hammerjack's into the background. Also the whole Eddie as Blade Runner concept was too cool
I love all the Easter Eggs referencing previous songs and albums.
Death- Scream Bloody Gore
Massacre- From Beyond
Atheist- Piece of Time
Sepultura- Beneath the Remains
(Oh hell, I could go on for days...)
So much great Metal Art. 🤘
Compared to other musical genres. Metal has the greatest and most artistic album cover arts.
love your passion for metal bro i’m beginning to think you’ve listened to every metal album ever created 🤘🏽🤘🏽 another great video
Haha, far from it. :) But I was kinda busy with metal for a few years there. :) Cheers!
great list 👌. I would have included slayer show no mercy & morbid angel.blessed are the sick in my top 10.
@@kevinmitchell4018 blessed are the sick's painting is pretty cool but in the cover it has like a weird filter or effect that makes it look too saturated Idk why
All Metal bands? Don't make me laugh. Be it Anal Vomit, Serenity in Murder, Abracadathrash, Tantura, ABACABB, Allagash, Anakim, Ascendant and that is only throwing in a few off the top of my head and some starting with A.
The rabbit hole goes deeper than anyone can go.
Painkiller is a knight riding a serpent motorcycle with razor wheels over a city sinking into molten rock
Cheers! 🤘
Good list. Here´s some more honorable mentions (in no order)
Hypocrisy - Osculum obscenum
Pestilence - Consuming Impulse
Dissection - The Somberlain
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Testament - Practice what you preach
Morbid Angel - Blessed are the sick/ Covenant
At the Gates - Slaughter of the soul
Anthrax - Persistence of time
Paradise Lost - Draconian Times
King Diamond - Abigail/Them
Helmet - Meantime
Samael - Ceremony of opposites/ Blood ritual
Kreator - Endless pain/ Coma of souls
Slayer - Divine intervention
Amorphis - Tales of the thousand lakes
In Flames . The jester race
Exodus - Tempo of the damned
Sodom - Agent orange
Plus Cause of Death
@@ryanritchey3574 Cause of Death was in the video…
Pretty much every one of Iron Maiden's first 7 albums could be on this list. Rust in Peace from Megadeth is another good one, though Peace Sells is better. Into the Pandemonium by Celtic Frost, yes I know this is an actual art piece on display in an art museum, doesn't make the album cover any less cool. What else, what else. Virgin Killer by Scorpions. I'm kidding, that was my joke entry. Now I'm on some FBI watchlist for suggesting that one. What were they thinking, even at the time it seems to cross every line. Slayer has several I like. South of Heaven being my favorite.
MetallIstKrieg didn’t watch the whole thing when I typed the comment
Cradle of Filth-Cryptoriana-The Seductiveness of Decay
Killers- Iron Maiden
Hell Bent For Leather- Judas Priest
Wild Dogs- The Rods
Rock and Roll Over- Kiss
Heaven and Hell- Black Sabbath
Rising- Rainbow
Last in Line - Dio
Long Live the Loud- Exciter
Heavy Metal Breakdown- Grave Digger
Metal Church Metal Church
Wild Dogs - saw that - bought it.
I love the Somewhere in Time cover. I think it captures the futuristic sound and theme of the album.
Entombed 'Left Hand Path!!! Hey man! That Cover is Epic! It's definately in my top 10.
Manowar 'King of Metal'.
Sepultura 'Arise'
Obituary 'Cause of Death'
Iron Maiden: Killers, Life After Death, Powerslave, Somewhere in Time, The Number of the Beast.
DIO 'Holy Diver'.
🤘😈🤘
Yes... arise has got to be up there it was insane I would look at it endlessly it had so much going on.
Sacred reich...the American way was pretty sweet imo 🤟
Left Hand Path is the best, and it's not even close. The detail is awesome.
Mercyful Fate's "Dont Break the Oath" album cover is so damn AWESOME! Honorable mention to Sodom's "Agent Orange"!
My Top 10 Album Covers are (not in order):
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - Iron Maiden
Spiritual Healing - Death
Spreading The Disease - Anthrax
Dream Evil - Dio
Formula’s Fatal To The Flesh - Morbid Angel
Schizophrenia - Sepultura
Solstice - Solstice
The Triumph Of Steel - ManOWar
The Ultimate Sin - Ozzy Osbourne
Terrible Certainty - Kreator
Honorable Mentions:
Release From Agony - Destruction
Divine Intervention - Slayer
Raising Fear - Armored Saint
Blood Fire Death - Bathory
Leviathan - Mastodon
Sound Of Perseverance - Death
Stillborn - Malevolent Creation
Serpents Of The Light - Deicide
Gallery Of Suicide - Cannibal Corpse
Spheres - Pestilence
@Life Is Peachy it’s good that they didn’t. ANTHRAX is actually very dangerous!
Mad cow disease....people were sending anthrax through the mail back in the day
Well that smooth butt on the Ultimete Sin is quite a strong argument
England's very own Sabbat with their History of a Time to Come and Dreamweaver album covers.
Magic...
Whole lotta magic ✨
Both stellar albums and covers no doubt.
oh, I love those. :)
1. Mercyful Fate - Melissa
2. Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
3. Bathory - Blood Fire Death
4. Fates Warning - FWX
5. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
6.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
7.Redemption - This Mortal Coil
8. Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor
9.Holy Terror - Terror and Submission
10. King Lizard - Viva La Decadence
I have the Don't Break The Oath art tattooed on my forearm. My favorite album of all time. Probably my favorite artwork as well.
Somewhere In Time is just an awesome cover. So many great covers. Still when I was young LPs were still available before CDs.
Maiden's "Somewhere in Time" is indeed an honorable mention! One of my favorites. Enjoyed the list!
In my personal opinion, Mastodon has the absolute greatest album covers in all of metal. Almost every single one can stand on their own as an legitimate piece of art. The Leviathan cover is what made me listen to them in the first place
Cheers!
Kudos to narrowing it down to ten artworks. That’s just so hard considering how many great ones there are. Two of my favorites are Death’s Scream Bloody Gore and Fates Warning’s Awaken the Guardian, both of which were listed in your honorable mentions. They both fit the aesthetic of their respective albums so well, Scream Bloody Gore evoking the horror theme perfectly with the wights in the dungeon, and Awaken the Guardian evoking the high fantasy with the traveler in front of the large mystical gate.
Yeah there are so many cool covers, I do like a lot of the early 80s type of art, but I didn't include that much of it in this video. :) Cheers!
KISS had 3 great covers in a row.
Scorpions - Blackout
MSG - Assault Attack
Metal Church - Metal Church
King Diamond - Fatal Portrait
Accept - Breaker
Warlock - Burning the witches
Raven - All for one
Manowar - Hail to England
Glad to see Powerslave, Painkiller, Rust In Peace as well as Cause Of Death by Obituary in the honorable mentions. I would rank Souls Of Black in that area as well.
Souls of Black so perfectly matched the music on that album!
"Screaming For Vengeance" was the first recording I ever bought; and the cover had a lot to do with it. I've also long been a fan of the "Don't Break The Oath" cover (and "Melissa", "Fatal Portrait", "Abigail" etc.). But, dude! You put the newest Eternal Champion cover on here! Subscribed!
Ravening Iron is a killer album!
thank you! Cheers! 🤘
Fun fact about Cirith Ungol's album artwork. They all depict Michael Moorcock's tragic and brooding anti-hero Elric of Melniboné.
Awesome video brother! I love this aspect of metal, the artwork is something that seems to carry over into all genres for the most part. I distinctly remember drawing many of these album covers back in the day, so much cool artwork. I can definitely relate to others who have mentioned buying albums based on the cover art, we didn't really have anything else to go by back then. It's hard to overstate how important it was to have awesome artwork for your album back in the old days, it was something that could literally make you or break you.🤘🏻☠️🤘🏻
My personal favorite artworks :
1) Hell🎃ween - Keeper Of The Seven (Pt I Or Pt II)
2) Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
3) Powerwolf - Sacrament Of Sin
4) Stratovarius - Elysium
5) Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free
6) Grave Digger - Symphony Of Death E.P.
7) Manowar - Battle Hymns
8) Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance
9) Amorphis - Tale From The Thousand Lakes
10) Testament - The New Order
some good looking albums there!
Cool list
Just to add perspective guy hears I play guitar in high school brings me first black sabbath album. This is 1970, I'm 13. Mind blown. Fall season in philly looked like the sabbath album cover when he gave it to me. Thank you Terrance Murphy!!!! Life changing moment.
Manowar’s hail to England is a favorite of mine.the artwork is illustrated by ken Landgraf who’s also a student of former dc and marvel comics illustrator, Gil Kane.
Cool one for sure!
Yeah, that one is missing for sure! It's among my favorites! Thanks for mentioning it and for the artist info!
I love how you included one of the newer cover artworks in your honorable mentions like helloween for example, Kreator etc. Really dope list!
thank you Sir! Cheers!
Witchfinder General’s DEATH PENALTY and FRIENDS OF HELL. I can think of two reasons.
Besides that - ten off the top of my head. About to watch your list now and will probably see others I didn’t think of.
Don’t Break the Oath - Mercyful Fate
Somewhere in Time - Iron Maiden
Killers - Iron Maiden
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Hell Awaits - Slayer
Reign in Blood - Slayer
Destroyer - KISS
To Mega Theron - Celtic Frost
Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits
If You Want Blood…You’ve Got It AC/DC
@metaldams78 Funny....Back then I bought Witchfinder General's Death Penalty for that same reason " Come to Butthead " LOL...I had to hide it from my Mom. To my surprise, it came clear vinyl, awesome. It reminded me of Sabbath-ish style !!!
Boobs aside, those are musically great albums for sure. I’m also a huge fan of the Vincent Price movie of the same name, which I’m sure inspired the band in some way.
Nazerath "Hair of the Dog"
Judas Priest "British Steel"
Queensryche "Operation Mindcrime"
Black Sabbath "Paranoid"
Savatage "Hall of the Mountain King"
Not exactly metal, but Scatterbrain's "Here Comes Trouble" will always have a spot in my heart.
Savatage was a wild one !
I'm happy to see that you actually read the comments and took recommendations from viewers. Not all youtubers do that.
Nice video.
Yes, thanks!
As always, thanks for putting this together. I have a lot of these in my collection!
👍
Some of my honorable mentions:
Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer
Burzum - Filosofem
Children of Bodom - Something Wild
Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder
Tokyo Blade - Night of the Blade
Obituary - Anthology
Deicide - Once Upon the Cross
In Flames - Colony
In Flames - Whoracle
Judas Priest - Stained Class
Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Believer - Gabriel
Municipal Waste - The Art of Partying
Cannibal Corpse - Gallery of Suicide
Cannibal Corpse - Bloodthirst
Six Feet Under - Haunted
Soilwork - Steelbath Suicide
Ratt - Invasion of your Privacy
Iron Maiden - Maiden Japan
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Atreyu - The Curse
Amon Amarth - Versus the World
I just have to say Kudos for Night of the Blade. Such an amazing but underrated album imho.
Angra - Angels cry
Rebirth
Hunters and prey
Edguy - Babylon
Judas Iscariot - to embrace the corpses bleeding
Mortician - chainsaw dismemberment
Uada - Djinn
Sarcófago - I.N.R.I
Rotting
1914 - the blind leading the blind
Signs of the swarm - vital deprivation
I think my favorite album cover of all time is “Hysteria” by Def Leppard
Cool list, but don't forget Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God!
Have to add in Metal Health, by Quiet Riot imo
1. Napalm Death - Scum
2. Destruction - Release From Agony
3. Exodus - Bonded by Blood
4. Summoning - Minas Morgul
5. Terrorizer - World Downfall
6. Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
7. Pestilence - Consuming Impulse
8. Ozzy - Bark at the Moon
9. Mayhem - Live in Leipzig
10. Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
Cheers!
Great list, man! I was as happy as a child, who's just got their wished birthday present, when i saw Mercyful Fate's Don't Break the Oath by Thomas Holm on the list (it's one of my absolute favorite cover arts). Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast by Derek Riggs os killer, too (metal music has some really cool cover arts). Good work, and stay heavy!
Some of my faves is
Obituary - Cause of death
Sepultura - Arise
Motörhead - Orgasmatron
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in time
Dio - Holy diver
Gutrectomy - Slampocalypse
Entombed - Clandestine
Corpse Worship - Horror chronicles
Ripped To Shreds - Luan
You have a solid top 10 list here.
I could easily make a top 10 list of just Iron Maiden album covers. Like you said, having the same logo, the same mascot, drawn by the same artist throughout the 80s was brilliant branding. Fantastic songwriting didn't hurt either, though. 😉
My top 10 album covers would be as follows.
1. Iron Maiden, Killers.
The Number of the Beast was a strong contender, as well, featuring the Hellscape with a dark blue twilight sky in the background, signifying Hell on Earth. But the Eddie on Killers was more detailed and somehow scarier.
2. Metallica, Master of Puppets.
Simple, yet elegant. Incredibly powerful imagery. And red is one of my favorite colors, so the red sky connected for me.
3. Judas Priest, Jugulator.
I actually really liked Tim "The Ripper" Owen's debut with Priest. Yes, I love Rob Halford, and he is very much a key ingredient in Priest's sound. But for a replacement/fill-in, Owen was spectacular. The groove metal/thrash metal influences on this release were great. And the cover art captured the intensity well.
4. The Scorpions, Blackout.
Eye popping. No pun intended. 😆
5. Black Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
The Ozzy era Sabbath album cover that best reflected the band's horror movie vibe.
6. Megadeth, Peace Sells... But Who"s Buying?
When I was younger, I would have picked So Far So Good... So What because Vic Rattlehead was shown as an armed action hero. But with age comes wisdom, and I now better appreciate the symbolism of the Peace Sells cover.
7. Anthrax, Spreading The Disease.
8. Motorhead, Orgasmatron.
A decent album, not their best. But the most striking depiction of Snaggletooth of any of their albums. (Honorable mention for Ace of Spades, which IS their best album, for the cover photo of the band dressed like Wild West outlaws. I love Westerns. What can I say?)
9. Angel Witch, Angel Witch.
It's a warm album cover to look at on a cold winter day. 😆
10. The Ramones, The Ramones.
OK, so it's actually punk rock. But come on! It's awesome! 😉
Cheers!
Blackout is Such a Great Record!
Spreading the disease is cool, i admit
Some of my favorites:
Opeth- Blackwater Park
Dream Theater- Train Of Thought
Iron Maiden- Fear Of The Dark
Kreator- Violent Revolution
Municipal Waste- The Art Of Partying
Wintersun- The Forest Seasons
Slayer- Seasons In The Abyss
Therion- Gothic Kabalah
Testament- Btotherhood Of The Snake
Overkill- The Electric Age
1-Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Iron Maiden.
2-Somewhere Far Beyond - Blind Guardian.
3-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath.
4-Jonah´s Ark - Skyclad.
5-Blizzard of Ozz -Ozzy.
6-Destroyer - Kiss.
7-Screamig for a Vengeance - Judas Priest.
8-Melissa - Mercyful Fate.
9-Holy Diver - Dio.
10-Fire of Unknow Origin - Blue Oyster Cult.
awesome, love your work and channel.
thanks boss!
There are two album covers pops into my head right now... Beneath the Remains - Sepultura and Death - Leprosy. Both have some sinister and beautiful artwork! thanks for this great video btw.
Cheers!
roots too its really recognizable
Sepultura beneath the remains. Death human. Bolt thrower realms of chaos
This channel is an excellent discovery! Good work.
thanks boss
Great topic, impossible to choose ten favorites as your h.m. shows.
The artwork of the covers almost defines the music. Beautiful artwork softer, dark artwork heavy/doomy aggressive/evil artwork the extreme genres but they are all so good even today. Only two genres in my opinion has really taken to this and the importens of great artwork;
Hardrock/metal in all their subgenres and the progressiv rock and it's also theese that provides the best music.. 🤘
Am I the only one who absolutely loves the album art of Octavarium?
I always love how creative these album artists can get when it comes to drawing the covers for these bands. If not the cover art, it's the music, both is just awesome! 🤘 (Also, I know, overrated, but my favourite album art artist is Ed Repka.)
Cheers! 🤘
Great as always, definitely some of the best artworks/albums here. 👍🤘
The Wolves Go Hunt Their Prey from The Vision Bleak, not my favorite but still a great one. And the cover of Satyricon's Deep Calleth Upon Deep, that one is Great Art.
By the way, I saw your other video on thrash metal and ok not a hardcore thrash fan but an album cover on the thumbnail captured my attention and I watched the video till I got to the group cro-mags and the album cover for best wishes with narasimha on the cover is beautiful.
Right now I like the jugulator cover...
good stuff! :)
They aren’t Metal, but Rush has some amazing Album Covers
Hemispheres. The naked star man on a giant brain. “We were pretty high” Geddy Lee
I have to go with Derek Riggs' Somewhere in Time artwork. You can feel the pain that he went through to complete it. So intricate not to mention atmospheric. Forgot to add the hidden messages, one of them is a banner in the shop that says 'This is a very boring painting' which only highlights his pained efforts!
hehe, I didn't know that, cool. :)
I can't find the banner, I was looking on the record sleeve and can't find it
Awesome compilation!!! Keep up the good work!
thank you!
Very nice list duder! 😃
I always liked the album art from Never, Neverland by Annihilator. ❤
Cheers!
You named a few of my faves here, for sure. But another favorite of mine is *Vio-lence: Eternal Nightmare.*
I also like Angel Witch: Frontal Assault, Judas Priest: Sad Wings of Destiny, & Destruction: Release from Agony.
There's definitely too many to even name a fraction of them all.
Cheers!
Blind Guardians "live" album is probably my favourite cover of all time, Somewhere Far Beyond and NiMe also have great artwork, anything by Andreas Marschall is amazing
Cheers!
Really awesome video Bro! I wish I could somehow show the album covers on here rather than just name of band and album, but it’s cool.
1. Iron Maiden - Powerslave (I like how Eddie looks like King Pharoah and everyone worships him)
2. Slayer - Hell Awaits (Pretty much seems like a reality of demons awaiting you when you would enter Hell)
3. Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (I like how the portal to temptation is the album cover)
4. Enslaved - Eld (Viking King Grutle Kjellson!)
5. Lord Belial - Enter the Moonlight Gate (The artwork is amazingly eerie and fits the whole album)
6. Emperor - Inside the Nightside Eclipse (One of the first Black Metal bands to use color on their album cover artwork and a kick ass album!)
7. Dio - Dream Evil (I’ve always liked this album from Dio and IMO one of the best album artwork)
8. Flotsam and Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver (Sure it’s cheesy, but it’s a kick ass cover and debut album as well)
9. Death - Spiritual Healing (Heal me Jesus!)
10. Megadeth - Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying (The painting is awesome and that is one of my all time favorite thrash albums)
HM: too many to mention - one that sticks out the most is Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King (Wish I was rich to sit on my throne near all that loot…. Nah it would be spent already 😂)
Good idea to do this 🤘🏼
solid list, cheers!
Mercyful Fate's Don't Break The Oath captivated me the first time I saw it. I didn't even listened to them yet until I bought the cassette. Fell in love!!!
Burzum - Filosofem is one of my favorites. Even if he just took an old painting for an album cover, it's just perfect.
Also Dissection - The storm of a light's bane is perfect.
Both all time classic albums
Judas Priest-British Steel
Judas Priest -Painkiller
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Iron Maiden -Killers
Black Sabbath Tyr
DIO-Holy Diver
Whitesnake -Slide It In
Motorhead 1916
Bathory-Hammerheart
Bathory-Bathory and many many others...can't remember of all of them..many bands have great album cover's..each on own way...my favorite is Rhapsody-Legendary Tales and Triumph or Agony...
🤘
A nice collection of covers! :) It's interesting that all the covers ranked on the first 3 places came to my mind when I thought about the subject before watching the video. :)
My favorites are those covers which are based on a simple idea, yet it's a mission statement in your face, creating a complete package together with the music. Like British Steel, many Motörhead covers (my favourite is Bastards, but from the first to the last album there are a lot of great covers), Welcome to Help from Venom, Nola from Down, Balls to the Wall from Accept, the first Ramones, and I also would add (even though I'm not a fan) Nevermind from Nirvana, these are all brilliant. :)
Cheers!
Looooove the video man! HOLY CRAP YOU HAVE SO MANY ALBUMS!!! Now we need the worst/laziest list! (Looking at you extreme agression by kreator)
I have made a video about the worst covers already. ;) Cheers!
@@RuthlessMetalYT ohhh you're right! I forgot! Sorry :P
Well I was making a List but I had to Restart.
Iron Maiden's First Album, is My Favorite Album Cover.
Honorable Mentions.
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
(This or Kill 'Em All)
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Judas Priest - Jugulator
Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1
(Between this, Helloween, or Walls of Jericho)
Deep Purple - Fireball
Megadeth - So Far... So Good So What!
Motorhead - Another Perfect Day
Alice Cooper - Killer
Scorpions - Virgin Killer, just Kidding, Lonesome Crow (All 3)
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Anthrax - Fistful of Metal
Testament - The New Order
Venom - At War with Satan
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Sepultura - Morbid Visions
Sodom - Persecution Mania
Exodus - Bonded by Blood
Overkill - Feel the Fire
Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite
Queensryche - The Warning
Dragonforce - Sonic Firestorm
Accept - Too Mean To Die
Slipknot - Slipknot
Korn - Issues
And, Type O Negative - (Honestly they don't have any Good Album Covers)
Honestly, I could go on...
Cheers!
Cause of Death by Obituary was killer. A month after I picked it up, a friend picked up a Lovecraft compilation with the same artwork.
Awesome video man!!!
thx
Great video !
thanks!
The number of the beast is the best piece of artwork I have ever seen
Hey Bruce Bruce. Wasn't Powerslave better? ;) Cheers!
@@RuthlessMetalYT I think Number of the Beast is cooler than Powerslave, I mean cmon, Eddie controlling the devil, fires of hell, lightning in the background, it's just so metal!!!!
There are some great Album Covers from the NWOBHM:
- Angel Witch: s/t debut Album
- Demon: Night of the Demon
- Witchfinder General: Death Penalty
- Tigers of Pan Tang: Wildcat
- Grim Reaper: See you in hell
- Witchfynde: Stage Fright
Yes, I love that old school type of art.
Liked for Cirith Ungol, subscribed for good content! That artwork for Frost and Fire was originally the cover of the book "Stormbringer" by Michael Moorcock, starring Elric of Melniboné, the same white haired swordsman on the cover. Brilliant book series! Elric seems to be a common thematic topic for many different metal bands, like Blind Guardian, Domine, Diamond Head, Tygers of Pan-Tang (which happens to be named after a location in the fictional world), and of course Cirith Ungol.
Yes, they have kept Elric. :) I havent' read the books maybe I should. It would perhaps be a good TV Show from the images I've seen. Cheers!
Among the best:
Sodom - Agent Orange
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Autopsy - Severed Survival
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
There are so many that I'm not even going to put up my list because it would take forever lol.
Cheers!
The Cirith Ungol Cover. That's Elric wielding Stormbringer. So yeah definitely fantasy inspired.
Also the art is from the book covers :)
1. Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian
2. Savatage - Edge of Thorns
3. Chastain - Mystery of Illusion
4. Diamond Head - Borrowed Time
5. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
Cheers!
I can’t believe I was a year late, I love the video though. Keep on the good work, Ruthless Metal!
Thanks boss! Cheers!
Un gran saludo desde chile muy bueno tu canal, mis favoritos covers albums son: megadeth peace sells, iron maiden live after death y killers.
Cheers!
I just discovered Uncle Slam tonight! Wow what a good Record 🔥🤘🔥
Yeah they had a few albums. Cheers!
Off the top of my head I like the covers for Reign In Blood, Screaming For Vengeance, Sad Wings of Destiny, Somewhere In Time, Welcome To Hell, Emperor's Return, Pleasure To Kill...
Nice job ♥
Cheers! 🤘
Powerslave is one of my all time favorites, but Fear No Evil by Grim Reaper has a skeleton reaper riding a fucking motorcycle through stained glass. You can't beat that.
Also, anything from Dissection and the like, and all of Dan Seagrave's art.
Sadus-Swallowed in Black is probably my favorite album cover.
Cheers!
What a good list. Its hard to choose just ten out of all the great art that's out there. I'll give it a go...in no particular order:
Electric wizard- come my fanatics
Conan- horseback battle hammer
Scorpions- lonesome crow
Uriah heep- demond and wizards
Darkthrone- eternal hails
Judas priest- sad wings of destiny
Future tense- condemned to the gallows
Pagan altar- room of shadows
Hellbastard- ripper crust
Eagle twin- thundering heard
Another great video. I'm glad Don't Break The Oath made it in your top 10. Melissa ranks up there also. OZ Fire In The Brain.
That Oz cover is great! Cheers!
Half of Megadeth's, Iron maiden's and Helloween's discography cover art featured, but still not a single piece by Manowar... that can not be serious!
Battle Hymns, Hail to England and The Triumph of Steel cover arts definitely deserve place among the best metal album covers.
you gotta join the discord and suggest albums then. :)
I've always liked the cover for Beneath the Remains-Sepultura.
Did you know that Obituary's Cause of Death album cover was supposed to be the cover for Beneath the Remains? Lmao it's crazy
🤘
My Top 10 Album Covers -
1. Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
2. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
3. Thin Lizzy - Chinatown
4. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
5. Megadeth - Rust In Peace
6. Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth
7. Iron Maiden - VIrtual XI
8. Body Count - Body Count
9. Iron Maiden - Killers
10. AC/DC - The Razors Edge
I just hope you considered Laaz Rockit's Know your Enemy and Armoured Saints Raising Fear. I love your list, and I was amazed at how many of these albums, and or cassettes, I have. Some of which I completely forgot about.
I really like the Under the Influence album cover from Overkill... it reminds me of my adolescence... hanging in the gutters or culverts... ha ha!
Cheers! 🤘
I know he’s a love it or hate it artist but Dave patchett (did most, if not all, of Cathedral’s albums) is my favorite.
yeah, Cathedral had some cool art.
I had some mad mushroom trips looking at those covers ha ha🍄🍄
Amazing List!
And with bands that I've never even heard of but about to check out.
Some of my other fav iconic album covers...
~ Exhorder - Slaughter In The Vatican
~ Fear Factory - Soul of a New Machine & Demanufacture
~ D.R.I - Crossover
~ Overkill - The Years Of Decay
~ Sacrifice - Soldiers Of Misfortune
~ Metallica - Ride The Lightning (1st thrash metal album I ever heard. Still my fav)
Some good ones there!
Great call Sir Ruthless on calling out the "Killers" Irons cover, totally agree (and yes, "Live After Death" is also right up there, along with "Reign in Blood" for Slayer....I was honestly afraid of that as a 14yo!). Bell Witch another more recent, amazing, captivating example.
Personally I have a lot of love also for "Ride the Lightning", really iconic in my mind, as well as "Piece of Mind", both Kauan's "Sorni Nai" and "Ice Fleet", Eternal Storm "Come the Tide", along with "Heartwork"....another iconic one.
In metal-adjacent (-ish) examples (if that's OK) I would have to add Agnostic Front "Live at CBGBs", Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit", The Exploited "Let's Go to War", Misfits "Earth A.D.", and and Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" (beautiful cover there).
This could go on all day...! Thanks for recalling so many great memories and awesome work on the channel...really nice!
Cheers!
Sacred Reich - Surf Nicaragua
S.O.D. - Speak English or Die
Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos (original)
Dismember- Like an ever Flowing Stream
Entombed - DCLXVI
Cirith ungol cover artworks are killer🤘🤘🤘
Cheers!
Great video, a favorite to me: Therion "Symphony Masses" 🍻
Cheers!
I was once at a record store with a tree climber whom I was working with for the day and when he saw me looking at Horrorscope by Overkill he asked me why I was attracted to evil. Thirty years later and I’m watching your video about metal album covers.
My favorite metal album covers (typically don't qualify as 'iconic' however):
The Blind Leading the Blind by 1914
Emissary of the Void by Abaroth
Labyrinth Constellation by Artificial Brain
Eternal Hails by Darkthrone
Passages Into Deformity by Defeated Sanity
Tropical Sun by Fulci
Powerslave by Iron Maiden
III by Spectral Lore
Odyssey by Vokonis
Mark of the Necrogram by Necrophobic
🤘😈🤘
Deep Purple's Machine Head cover is iconic - if you consider it to be metal of course.
Bathory - blood, fire, death
Doomsword - resound the horn
Caladan Brood - echoes of battle
Anathema - a natural disaster
Burzum - filosofem
Burzum - umskiptar
Immortal - diabolical fullmoon
The Mist - the Hangman Tree
Candlemass - nightfall
Summoning - with doom we come
Others i like:
The Equinox ov the Gods - images of forgotten...
Sanctuary - into the mirror black
Black Sabbath - black sabbath
There are so many
Megadeth - Countdown
Cheers!
Some of my fav album art no order:
Nails: unsilent death
Cattle decapitation: death atlas
Helslave: from the sulphur depths
Death: the sound of perseverance
Slayer: reign in blood
High on fire: electric messiah
Bloodbath: unblessing the purity
Darkthrone: transilvanian hunger
Burzum: filosofem
Behemoth: zos kia cultus
Septicflesh: codex omega
Skeletonwitch: at one with the shadows