Man, do we have a loaded week for y’all this time out. I don’t wanna pretend all of them are bad or that I’m gonna have snarky comments for each one; it’s just a nice, well-rounded group of album covers for your viewing (and, occasionally, joke-reading) pleasure this week. EIGHT of them, to be exact. So let’s not waste any more time with this post intro — here are our highlights from the July 5 new release crop!
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Bloodlust — Leather, Steel & Hell
So, d’you think these guys like Satan? Either way, the new EP from Australian black thrashers Bloodlust keeps things perfectly on-brand. A demonic war-goat is exactly what I want to see visually from a band whose previous two efforts were titled Cultus Diaboli and At the Devil’s Left Hand. Pitch perfect.
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Tongue — What Do We Know of Horror
I might just be a weirdo, but all I can think of looking at this one is Gollum. “WHATS DOES IT KNOWS OF HORROR, PRECIOUS?” (I don’t get outside much.)
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Rod of Correction — If Might Makes Right… Then the Rod is God
Let’s start with the most-immediately obvious: black and pink is a deeply underrated color combination. (Not to be confused with BLACKPINK, which I can’t comment on and don’t plan on being able to comment on any time soon.) Now, the less-immediately-obvious: R.O.C. — no, I’m not spelling it out — get major points for including a retro-style sun graphic in their cover. Also, their mascot looks like he jumped straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road, so I’d say this wins.
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Mystik — Mystik
“Oh man, this’s gotta be blue-cover black metal, right?”
You might think so, but you’d be wrong! Mystik, from Sweden, actually traffics in a classic-sounding heavy/speed metal with soaring lead vocals from frontwoman Julia von Krusenstjerna. Either way, their self-titled full-length — out this week on vinyl — just rips, both musically and artistically. This cover has a perfectly eerie backdrop, and “Girl meets Random-Antlered-Forest-Fella” may as well be this year’s The Shape of Water.
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Soul Grinder — The Prophecy of Blight
Good lord, y’all, where do I begin with how much I love this thing? Bright colors in general are freaking fantastic on metal albums, but when said bright colors are magenta and highlighter-yellow? I’m powerless to resist. Also, I love how the artist took great pains to make sure this…creature… (let’s call it Swamp-Grimace?) was anatomically correct — right down to its green swamp-boobs. The only thing that I noticed and now cannot unsee is the vaguely arced component of its chest armor, which appears to make a kind of smiley face with said swamp-boobs as the eyes. I’m so here for it. (Also, I hope never to have to utter the phrase “swamp-boobs” again.)
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Turilli-Lione Rhapsody — Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)
I’ve got a bone to pick with Luca Tirilli and Fabio Lione here. The cover of the debut album from their umpteenth-different incarnation of Rhapsody is, in a vacuum, pretty solid. But, it is nowhere near as outrageous as I can categorically guarantee the music within will be. Couldn’t we at least get a dwarf centaur riding on the back of a sword-wielding dragon? Is that too much to ask?
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Swan Valley Heights — The Heavy Seed
At first, I was tempted to assume Swan Valley Heights’ artist was completely out of ideas, but then I realized he/she may have had literally the greatest idea: what if Daft Punk, but cavemen? And walking across a pathway forcibly collaged into an interplanetary landscape? Truly a perfect(ly ridiculous) album cover.
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Ecliptic Vision — Ecliptic Vision
Another unwritten rule of album cover design: when in doubt, add the color teal. If still in doubt, make your band logo super gnarly and add in an extraterrestrial shaman. Ecliptic Vision nails all three here.
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That’ll do it for this week’s edition! As always, leave suggestions for future Cursed Imagery posts in the comments, and stay tuned for more next week!
—Dan
