Research into Album Art

Megadeth's album 'Endgame' is based on a film of the same name about a group of people who want to massacre the Earth's population and enslave the rest. The cover art is also influenced by the film, the people in orange are assumed to be the enslaved survivors. Even without the knowledge of the influence of the art, the meaning behind the art is very clear as an apocalypse scenario. Endgame has another meaning in chess as the final moves to finish the game after most of the pieces have been removed from play which ties to the cover art. The art has graphics reminiscent to modern games such as Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Modern Warfare 3 which appeals to the target audience of mostly male 18 to 30 year olds. The ring of leaves around the border of the album is similar to the crown of thorns that Jesus was said to wear during his crucifixion, Megadeth is known to have religious themes in their music so the leaves are mostly likely referring to this. The cover art is very reflective of the bands ideology and seems to be generic of metal, as most of the cover art I have researched seems to have similar themes and graphics as some of the art below shows. While this holds many characteristics for the Metal genre it has no basis in anti-war so the cover art is not something I would use for my album cover.

This is another album cover for Megadeth, for their album 'Rust in Peace'. Like their other album (and nearly all their cover artwork) the art is stylised cartoon graphics. The image on the album references the supposed 1947 Roswell alien incident where a UFO crashed with aliens inside which were then recovered by the government and taken to Area 51. The five men in the background are similar to the country leaders of the time which implies that the world leaders knew about the incident, although many records deny the leaders knowledge. Much conspiracy remains regarding the incident and whether there is any truth behind it. The conspiracies about the Roswell incident were started in 1978 when one of the first people who found the 'craft' came forward after 30 years silence and spoke of his belief that the incident was a cover-up for a UFO crash. The cover art of this album is appealing to the conspiracy theorists because of the obvious link to Roswell, the main character in the album is the alien in the suit holding a green glowing stone. The skeletal figure is a generic signifier of Metal, specifically Thrash Metal which Metallica helped create. The title of the album 'Rust in Peace' is again linked to the the Roswell crash. I like the idea of the cover art being an intertextual reference that would appeal to a wider audience.  

Iron Maiden's album for 'Peace of Mind'. The cover depicts a zombie-like character in a straight jacket held down by three chains. The art is a graphic cartoon style like Metallica's cover art, it also shows a disturbing image, also like Metallica. The Metal genre has very agressive and dark traits in its musical composition, through both sound and lyrics, the cover art follows with this theme and emphasises the genre ideology. The muted colours suggest the zombie-like character is not in tune with his surroundings, thet he is not in touch with reality. The album name 'Peace of Mind' is aimed at the audience, it suggests they have peace of mind becuase the danger is locked away from society, there is also a slight irony that the character is locked away but can still be seen so it is a constant reminder which would not bring people much peace. The cover art is very emotive a combination of the colours, art and title. They tie in together to create a disturbing image and follows the theme of the genre to make a powerful album cover. I like how the colour enhances the overall image, the disturbing theme of the album cover is very common in metal, however as my band is anti-war so any disturbing theme I use will relate to war rather than other social issues.   

'A Matter or Life and Death' is another Iron Maiden's albums that I chose to look into more because of the anti-war theme that is obvious from the cover. The cover art follows the metal theme of disturbing imagery, it implies a lot of things about war, firstly that they are dead in mind and spirit, but they still fight. Many World War 1 and 2 stories about the returning soldiers mention how they were a shell of who they once were, this album art seems to be a personification of this statement. Another aspect of this image is the pirate flag that has a skull and guns rather than crossbones, it implies the soldiers are the modern day pirates, attacking and leaving devastation in thier wake, shown by the wasteland in the background of the art. The artwork alone looks like it is implying the soldiers are like pirates were, hated by many and misunderstood, the album title however brings more meaning to the artwork, 'A Matter of Life and Death' suggests that the soliders have no choice if they want to survive so they have to commit many acts to survive. Although both the title and the artwork is anti-war based, the two together bring the album a new meaning. I like the idea of the title adding new meanings to the art as it makes the album layered with connotations. I also think the colour scheme adds an emotive aspect to the art, in black and white the album would not have had the same effect, the camo colours of the soldiers contrasts with the flames and wasteland behind them. Green also implies earth, trees, flowers and life in geenral so there is sense of irony that soldiers wear green despite being a destructive force.        

While 'My Chemical Romance' is not a metal band, this cover is based on the song called 'The Ghost of You' which has similar theme's to my band of war and anti-war. The use of silhouettes rather than showing the faces of the soldiers (it is obvious to the audience that they are soldiers due to the iconic hats and guns) gives an air of mystery. The use of silhouettes give the soldiers an ethereal apperance so they look similar to spirits or ghosts, the muted colours in the background give the coverart a somber look which the audience would associate with death and grieving. The silhouettes give the soldiers anonymity giving the audience the opportunity to fill the blank spots with people they know who (or have been) are soldiers, this would appeal more to the audience because the art feels closer to them. I like the idea of the cover, that the art is a visual representation of the uniformity of war and reflects the feelings of the soldiers, that they feel lost in the sea of soldiers that dress and act the same as them, soldiers push away much of what makes them individual in order to fight in a team and in some ways they become a shell of theier former selves while at war, only when they leave the battle field can they afford to let that individuality return. The cover art is how anti-war campaigners view war and the treatment of soldiers. It is a very strong image, I will need a strong emotive image for my cover art to catch the audience attention as my band is new and unknown.     

Rage Against the Machine is a rock band that focuses on songs about political issues. Most anti-war campaigns are protests by civilian people, rather than governments so there is a sense of rebellion that the use of grafitti reinforces, grafitti being a method in which citizens share their views forcefully in order to be heard. The title 'The Battle of Los Angeles' has a few connotations, the most apparent in the fact that Los Angeles is a city, a battle over a city would be one of civil unrest such as citizens against the governement. Another connotation is the use of the word 'battle' rather than 'fight' or 'conflict'. 'Battle' is a more powerful word and has more meaning as it relates to iconic battles such as: the battle of Somme or the battle of Hastings. I like the use of the graffiti idea to convey anti-war ideaology, the person that has been drawn is not a soldier but a civilian and this reinforces the ideals as it is a civilian protest against war and is not ashamed to be shown as such.

Flotbots is a political rock band who focus on songs against war and corporatism. The cover art for the album 'Fight with Tools' is drawn in a cartoon graphic style. The overall colour scheme is green, red and white, the use of green connotes the military colours while the red is a reference to war. The green and white is actually on an American flag which is being used to cover the faces of the characters. Using the American flag to cover thier actions also refers to the soldiers, everything they do is under the guise of helping although some reports from the Middle East suggest misconduct by some of the soliders and the cover art is likely referring to this. The characters on the cover also have a vigilante look which suggests they are civilians so the use of military colours and the American flag is slightly ironic which shows thier anti-war ideology. The title 'Fight with Tools' is interesting because of the connotations to the Middle East conflict, rather than a war between soldiers the Middle East war is increasingly against vigilante followers and small groups of warriors, most of whom do not have weapons and so use anything they can find that can be used in lieu of a weapon. I like the irony the cover art creates by using false colour on the flags and the intertextuality to modern day wars as it appeals to people that have been affected by it ie: soldiers, partners or children of soldiers etc.