Change in Font

Whilst my original chosen font follows conventions of metal genre and is a unique logo design, many audience members who saw it could not read it and as a new band the band name must be legible. So I have found some graffiti style fonts that are readable:

These five fonts all had a graffiti style, however only three have sharp edges that is generic of metal, the first,  second and third logos. 

The first and third logo's are quite common, however the second logo is interesting as it looks like it has been made using a broken stencil. It also has connotations of brokenness and being remade badly, which could refer to soldiers in the war who work in groups where new people are often introduced when soldiers die or get injured, so group dynamics are often being re-made. 

The second logo also has a quirky look which makes it memorable. 

Therefore the new logo of my band is:

Initial Images for Album Cover

Front cover original pictures:

Grass background with different lighting:

Dirt and dead grass background:

Stone background with different lighting:

Concrete background with different lighting:

Second panel original pictures:

Third panel original pictures:

Back panel original pictures:

Initial idea's for Album cover

These two sheets are some of my initial ideas based on the album research, I designed 12 different ideas, some of which include my band on the front cover, although most do not. I found that metal bands mostly prefer to have emotive graphical cartoon art work as their front covers. With this in mind I narrowed my ideas to just the pictures without the band involved on my front cover because I decided that the middle and back panels would show the band (to follow genre). This still left me with more than half my original ideas So I looked into the emotive side of album art. Album art in metal genre is normally quite disturbing while the art in anti-war themed albums is saddening, depressing in some cases, sometimes edging on disturbing like with the metal genre. The design that most follows these depressing themes is number 6, I also believe that it will have the most drastic effect on the audience compared to the other designs.  

The dog tags are worn by soldiers so they can be identified after their death if they cannot be identified by other means. My idea for the dog tag was to have them laying on the ground, forgotten and covered in dirt and blood, with the album name and band name on each tag (with or without the bullet case depending how it looks). I also thought that having the edges either fade to black or out of focus would draw the audiences attention and reinforce the album title 'Dead Eyes' which references shock and reintroduction to civilian society where soldiers would not need to be on high alert all the time and could allow their senses to fade to normal levels.

Panel 2 and 3 are my current ideas. As I have not included the band on the front cover I decided they need to be sufficiently show in the other panels, the back being the most important of these as it is the panel the audience will see when they look at the track list. Panel two is very generic of metal, with the band members standing together looking at the camera, as shown by the band Slayer below, it is fairly common on album covers and magazines. To mark my new band as metal some generic signifier are needed. As the front cover is not of the band (generic) but has no graphic cartoons (not generic) it doesn't quite follow metal conventions so having a generic clue for the audience is needed.

The third panel is all three band members head shots facing a different way, implying the rebellious nature of metal and the non-uniformity but unity between the band members. (also shown in the Slayer band picture above as the members are wearing different clothes and have different hair styles but are united as a band and stand together). I think panel 3 is very significant in showing this and adding the lyrics to the song with this image reinforces this ideal.

This is the back panel, in my design idea the band members are sitting down against a black curtain and the track list is above them in white, the idea is fairly simple and elegant. I liked the idea of a less formal picture as metal genre isn't formal at all so having my band members sitting how they like in a comfortable position would appeal to the audience as it makes the band look confident and laid back. To make this back panel more involved I could superimpose pictures from the music video of the band in DPM shirts and give it an opacity so it looks like a thought or a dream. I will experiment to see if the addition of these images will enhance the overall image of the back cover.

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.

Album Name

I have made a list of possible album names with reasons why I chose them:

‘Pride Before Fall’ – This is a literal interpretation of war, both sides go into war believing in their cause and thinking the other side is wrong or immoral, but when the war is over and both sides have lost huge amount of both soldiers and innocents there is a huge sense of loss. This loss and the destruction that war has caused shows that the war in most cases was not worth it. This title is the pride going into war compared to the humility they feel in the wake of it.

‘Arrogance’ – This title is in keeping with the anti-war theme, many anti-war campaigns imply that war is for posturing. “the Israeli media has been chock full of reports hinting that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is imminent … Up to now I’ve been convinced this is mostly posturing …posturing can spin out of control” – Arab News Blog, “Israel vs. Iran: Imminent war, political posturing or something else?” Nov 5^th 2011. This is a post from a blog that deals purely with the Middle East conflicts, the writers seem to try and remain neutral however some of the posts written by individuals about aspects of the conflicts have an anti-war ideal behind them. The word used in the article ‘posturing’ is important because it implies that politicians think of it as a game and it makes them look arrogant from an anti-war point of view.  

‘Seventh Level of Hell’ – The title implies religious roots. While part of the bible is pro-war, another part is anti-war, and looking into the anti-war part we find Luke 6:37 – “Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” While this quote seems to be talking about love and forgiveness, it implies that if those who follow Christianity will be condemned  if they condemn others, in terms of war, killing another person will condemn you because you condemned them. The title name, ‘Seventh Level of Hell’ refers to the nine levels of hell in the 14^th Century poem “Inferno”, the seventh level in this idea of hell is for those who committed violence against others.

‘Fear’ – A basic human emotion and the most common in war. This title is short and eloquent as it says a lot about humans. While war has been commonplace since the beginning of the human reign over the world we still feel fear over it, and despite feeling fear we still go to war and hundreds of soldiers lay down their lives for the cause. However war may be the lesser of two evils for some people, we know what to expect with war, for people to die and for a single side to win out over the other, it has some sense of comfort because after the war there is a definite outcome, while if two enemy countries were not at war, the anticipation of one side striking first could be the cause of more anxiety and fear than war itself because of the mystery of it.

‘Empire of Power’ – Refers to Roman and Greek times when the world was split into empires. War before civilisation had properly set up was for expanding land in a country, while today there is a similar need for resources we do not use the idea of empires. This title represents the idea that history repeats itself and that individuals in power want to expand the domain they rule over like the emperors, kings and pharaohs in our history.   

‘Prisoner of War’ - This is a play on the real meaning of prisoners of war, which are enemy soldiers captured and sometimes interrogated for information. However I am using it in the sense that the prisoners of war are the soldiers themselves, those who are trapped in war that is difficult to escape.

‘Dead Eyes’ – This title refers to what was known in the First World War as ‘Shell Shock’, known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many soldiers come back from war traumatised by what they have seen, not only do many solider and innocent civilians suffer from this they can have a myriad of other condition brought on by the stresses and horrors of war, disorders such as night-terrors, anxiety, flashbacks and tremors to name a few. The BBC History website said this: “the 'return to the mental attitude of civilian life' could spark off severe psychological trauma.” The effect of returning to a normal life could result in mental trauma that cause the soldiers to lose touch with reality, which is the reason I chose this title as it implies this trauma.

Final Choice: After talking to some of the performers in my video I have decided to use the album title 'Dead Eyes' through popular choice. After looking  at other album titles I found that most of them, both for the metal genre and the anti-war theme have emotive album titles that reinforce the album art ideology and 'Dead Eyes' is the most emotive title and also has the most intertextual references to war as I explained above.

Album Title: Dead Eyes