Album Art of Brave New World

IronDuke

Ancient Mariner
[img src=\'http://www.coverportal.de/cover/audio/i/iron_maiden_brave_new_world_a.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

Honestly now, this has got to be the finest piece of album art in the history of the music recording industry.

I'm not going to pick it apart too drasticly, but I'll point out a few things.

It's obviously a depiction of London's skyline in a not-too-distant future, recognizable and yet very different. A close look the the ships in the Thames reveals that many are futuristic warships, and many of the aircraft appear to carry weapons. Perhaps there is a war on? It would be in keeping with many of tracks' themes (Brave New World, Out of the Silent Planet, The Mercenary, etc)

The face in the clouds is simply phenomenal. In keeping with the war theme, I think it may be the Angel of Death or something similar. It is grinning in anticipation of things to come. Bloody brilliant all around!


Of interest, it may be just me, but I think i see a second face in the sky. On the left side of the album, just beside the eye socket of the grinning face. It seems to be a ghostly figure yelling (in agony, perhaps)

I'd appreciate opinions on these observations, and if this has been posted before I apologize.
 
I'd noticed that second face before aswell Duke. Having a second look its hard to tell whether it is a screaming face or a laughing face... or if its even meant to be there at all. I think it was placed there on purpose rather than by accident though.
 
Fully agree, mate, the BNW cover totally rocks! [!--emo&:rock:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/headbang.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'headbang.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

Yeah, anybody who is a keen observer must've seen seen that other face on it. That is clearly somebody in intense pain and agony. The eye sockets seem to be empty and the expression on the face is of someone looking at his own demise. Also, the lower portion of the face seems to be burnt down or something.

Very well disguised hidden egg. BNW rocks! [!--emo&:rock:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/headbang.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'headbang.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I just saw something there: some kind of dragon face between the lightning and the edge of the cover. Just above that one, there is another face, or at least a mouth with teeth and beside it ,in the r and a of brave, there is another one. Under Eddie's mouth there is some sort of «frog» face and above the ball building, I think there is a another dragon or animal's face. Just above the o of iron I think there is an alien's face. I'm not sure about the last ones but the first dragon is clearly there.
In all there are six heads.

By the way, anyone knows how the original painting looked like???
 
I remeber reading that the second face pointed by onhell was "taken" from an horror movie advertising. I also saw a picture of it and it was really really look alike. However, where did I see that became lost in the huge mass of nothing that my mind sometimes is... sorry [!--emo&:(--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sad.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
[img src=\'http://www.vampyres-online.com/images/fright_night_big.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

the monsters have been copied from here... derek had prepared a totallydifferent artwork because he had been told that the title would be "the wicker man". they kept the cloud eddie from there, added the figures in the backround and put the other guy to make the cgi city...
 
And because they bastardized his artwork, Derek got pissed and will never work for Maiden again.
 
That is nasty. I mean he was with them from the begining.

But back to the topic. BNW is the best cover ever, I have to agree, Duke.
Eddie is orginal and well-created. Maybe the war you were talking about was from the "War of Worlds", by Aldous Huxley? [!--emo&:unsure:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/unsure.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'unsure.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Black Ace, let me tell you 2 things:

1. [a href=\'http://www.war-of-the-worlds.org/\' target=\'_blank\']The War of the Worlds[/a] was written by H.G.Wells, not Aldous Huxley.

2. I know that English is not your native language, but your spelling sucks big time because you don't re-read what you type. And that kind of lazyness is annoying.


So:

Get your act together and re-read what your wrote before posting! [!--emo&:angry:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/mad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'mad.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Thank you! [!--emo&^_^--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/happy.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'happy.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Some cgi details of this cover are a bit of a mess no ? [!--emo&:huh:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/huh.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'huh.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

It's clear with the LP cover :

[img src=\'http://perso.wanadoo.fr/brankshmebleu/Images/bnw1.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /] - [img src=\'http://perso.wanadoo.fr/brankshmebleu/Images/bnw2.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

This cover has to be seen from a certain distance, and thats i like with Maiden covers is to observe all the details... It's not possible with this one.


EDIT : about the book The war of the worlds, if I remember well, the action take place at the end of the 19th century. Not in the near future represented here...
 
I don’t see a war in all that. If you look at the city there is nothing to prove that there is a war on. If there was, you would see traces of destructions or explosions, and the gardens wouldn’t have been so well preserved. On the contrary, I think this is an image of the Brave new world as described in Aldous Huxley’s novel : peaceful and controlled. In that sense, the aircrafts aren’t war aircrafts but the police watching over the city.

As for the head above it doesn’t look really scary . It's more like IronDuke said a grinning bad angel but is there anything to expect from him ? Maybe he's just having lot of fun in watching our self-destruction but won't interfere . Of course that's arguable.
 
Is it possible that the face in the clouds is a metaphor for the climate and weather change encountered in the future? For example let us say eddie is a metaphor for global warming. It is clear that the inhabitants of London are blissfully unaware of the danger overhead - hence eddies grin, no one can see him until its too late, a bit like the sadistic grin of the Killer [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

NOTE: Lightning coming from the sky on artwork/ colour of sky confirm CHANGE from modern day weather.
 
Ok, I know this topic is pretty much a dead horse by now, but this just came to me today while I was making the cover into my MSN display pic.

The whispy cloud-face in the left hand edge of the cover is quite reminiscent of one of my favourite paintings - Munch's "The Scream"
[img src=\'http://www.luc.edu/depts/history/dennis/Visual_Arts/10-Express_Munch_The-Scream.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]


[img src=\'http://axe.acadiau.ca/~058176m/Scream.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /][img src=\'http://axe.acadiau.ca/~058176m/face.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]
(I can only leave these two up in my webspace for a few days, so enjoy while you can)


Munch's painting is known as one of the best examples of existentialism, that is, the belief that individualism is the best way to comprehend the nature of human existence. Now, the title track of the song contains lines like "you are planned, you are damned and dying to tell you the truth - distinctly unindividualist themes, the kind of thing Munch was angstful about.

So maybe this whispy face was included in the artwork to express the existential theme of the album, particularly in the title track. I know this idea isn't quite as developed as it could be, and I'll revise it later. I was just wondering if there could be any substance to this idea.

Duke
 
yes this is the best maiden cover artwork...

about Munch's painting... maybe it has something to do with it because Derek is an artist so he likes and admires great and revolutianary artists and also placing secret messages or signs

and talking about signs... can someone tell me what does derek's signature or logo [img src=\'http://eddiethegreat.free.fr/riggs/images/logo1.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /] means? well... does it has another special meaning than just his signature?

and also can someone please explain me in detail why is that Derek got pissed off with another guy making the city ?
 
[a href=\'http://www.maidenfans.com/?url=derek_riggs.htm\' target=\'_blank\']There lazy Maiden Columbia[/a]

As for the cover Artwork of BNW, I would have to say that the futuristic scene is breathtaking. The hidden faces in the sky are amazing although some are debateable(alien face?)
 
Thats really neat. I never noticed that second face before. I've always thought the Brave New World cover art is cool, though my favorite artworks are the ones from Powerslave and Piece of Mind. It's way better than the Dance of Death cover art, which is why Maiden need Derek Riggs to once again provide the art work for the upcoming studio album. The colors and computer graphics in the BNW cover art remind me a little of the cover of Infinite from Stratovarius, which was also done by Derek Riggs and is also very nice.

[a href=\'http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/dre000/e012/e01209dswok.jpg\' target=\'_blank\']http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources...e01209dswok.jpg[/a]
 
Yeah, BNW's artwork is genius, although I always preferred Somewhere in Time's, for its pure amount of details you can pore over. I never noticed all those faces though. I think some of them are just the viewer trying to find faces (like seeing recognisable shapes in clouds), but there's definitely a screaming face beside eddie's head. Amazing. And I don't think the city is supposed to be at war, I think the cover symbolises a utopian society being caught under Eddie's shadow. I never thought of it as having a deep meaning, and climate change? Surely you don't suggest Eddie is a cloud of carbon dioxide (or waffle, hot air, whatever you call what comes from the mouth of a person who talks too much) in this painting? The true answer is much simpler and truely more terrifying




















He's a group of ice and water particles suspended in air [!--emo&:rolleyes:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/rolleyes.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'rolleyes.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Thats really neat. I never noticed that second face before. I've always thought the Brave New World cover art is cool, though my favorite artworks are the ones from Powerslave and Piece of Mind. It's way better than the Dance of Death cover art, which is why Maiden need Derek Riggs to once again provide the art work for the upcoming studio album. The colors and computer graphics in the BNW cover art remind me a little of the cover of Infinite from Stratovarius, which was also done by Derek Riggs and is also very nice.

[a href=\'http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/dre000/e012/e01209dswok.jpg\' target=\'_blank\']http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources...e01209dswok.jpg[/a]
ugh i hated the dance of death cover art. I agree about getting Riggs back. That being said, I thought the BNW cover was kind of cool. Kind of like a haunting Eddie fog heralding "we're baaaack".
 
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