Can you help me find this Eddie?

Dance of Death looks like some kid playing around on photoshop. That's a cover I'd be embarrassed about.

I'll give you that TFF doesn't look like Eddie, that's definitely a flaw, but nevertheless I still really like the artwork.
 
The walk-on Eddie should match the big Eddie should match the album cover. That should be the rule. One of the many problems with the early '90s Maiden was the cross-pollination of Eddies. They lost their Eddie-discipline.
 
No. 2Mins missed out the opportunity for the neologism Eddiescipline.
 
Mosh said:
I'll give you that TFF doesn't look like Eddie, that's definitely a flaw, but nevertheless I still really like the artwork.
Click to expand...
I have trouble with believing it's the same guy as Fear of Dark. From a great atmospheric picture with superb details, colour and light, to a teen-cartoon.
 
Forostar said:
I have trouble with believing it's the same guy as Fear of Dark. From a great atmospheric picture with superb details, colour and light, to a teen-cartoon.
Click to expand...

I like the TFF artwork. I like the cartoon style, particularly on the El Dorado single, it is very reminiscent of the 2000AD family of comics I loved when I first got into Maiden. It's also a different way of doing a 'space' theme from SIT. My only gripe is that the (beautiful) paintings in the booklet are such a different style. I think the package would have been better as either all-comic-book or all-serious-painting.

Melvyn Grant isn't, as far as I know, a well-regarded artist in gallery and critic circles. But he is a fine illustrator/artist for genre covers. It is to his credit that he can cover different styles.
 
That's the thing. I don't follow the Eddie 'story', if you like, past Seventh Son, I just see album covers after that stage as new interpretations of the original Eddie theme. TFF is the most radical departure, really, although I do wonder how well an old school Eddie character would hold up today, without looking too much like a sadly dated attempt to recapture the feel of the 80s album covers.
 
Perfectly put @Brigantium. The "rebirth" of NPFTD was a bit rubbish, and FOTD was the first, as you say, new interpretation. I also loved TXF artwork. They could happily experiment more with Eddie, rather than looking back to the Riggs years.
 
Melvyn Grant is quite capable of achieving that 80s/90's Maiden art feel. I think he captured it pretty well with the Benjamin Breeg sleeve. Possibly the sleeve in the last 15 - 20 years that captures the original Eddie the best:

123857.JPG


But on studio album covers every artist since Fear of The Dark have really tried to put their own spin on Eddie...and well, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World sleeves tried to avoid him all together! It's no easy task to re-imagine such a celebrated figure in music/metal culture.

What I lack the most from the recent Maiden sleeves is an actual Eddie that, I don't know, looks menacing again ;)
 
Last edited:
The Final Frontier is not all that distinct from the covers from the eighties, stylistically. Grant has displayed that he has a very distinct idea of Eddie than Riggs had, and he displayed that with Fear of the Dark already. Now he did a cover that compromises between an eighties cartoon style as the covers of the day were (which everybody has been whining to get back), and wanting to create something that doesn't just rip off earlier achievements (which everybody would have complained about in the end). But yeah, just like with setlists, songwriting and tour schedules, Maiden can't win with album covers.
 
In my previous post I had forgotten about the Breeg artwork (thanks Sixes). This shows that he could still do the Fear of the Dark style and hadn't turned into a mental nutcase (or more politely: he did not choose to become an entirely different artist, abandoning the style that I admire him for).
 
I liked the comic-book El Dorado sleeve. It was a cool departure from the norm and would have preferred it as the actual album cover.
The actual Final Frontier album cover was just poorly composed with Eddie and the skulls battling each other for the central focus, an iffy palette too heavy on the red and green, and the ugliest Eddie they've used.
 
Well, yes, it may sound harsh, but I don't see TFF's artwork as just a departure from a certain style: I am in agreement with the opinion that it's done in an ugly way.
 
Last edited:
Perun said:
The Final Frontier is not all that distinct from the covers from the eighties, stylistically. Grant has displayed that he has a very distinct idea of Eddie than Riggs had, and he displayed that with Fear of the Dark already. Now he did a cover that compromises between an eighties cartoon style as the covers of the day were (which everybody has been whining to get back), and wanting to create something that doesn't just rip off earlier achievements (which everybody would have complained about in the end).
Click to expand...
Pretty much how I feel. TFF looks 'classic' enough to me but has a nice modern twist. I like looking at it.

I also really like the graphics in the booklet. They do a good job at setting the mood for each song.
 
SixesAlltheway said:
Melvyn Grant is quite capable of achieving that 80s/90's Maiden art feel. I think he captured it pretty well with the Benjamin Breeg sleeve. Possibly the sleeve in the last 15 - 20 years that captures the original Eddie the best:

123857.JPG


But on studio album covers every artist since Fear of The Dark have really tried to put their own spin on Eddie...and well, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World sleeves tried to avoid him all together! It's no easy task to re-imagine such a celebrated figure in music/metal culture.

What I lack the most from the recent Maiden sleeves is an actual Eddie that, I don't know, looks menacing again ;)
Click to expand...


I forgot about that one, cracking bit of artwork imo. It's done in a more realistic style, which I find more up to date, but I see a couple of nods to older IM artwork there too - the bare tree branches/full moon are reminiscent of FOTD, the gravestone of Live After Death, and the long haired Eddie of the earlier days.
 
Brigantium said:
I forgot about that one, cracking bit of artwork imo. It's done in a more realistic style, which I find more up to date, but I see a couple of nods to older IM artwork there too - the bare tree branches/full moon are reminiscent of FOTD, the gravestone of Live After Death, and the long haired Eddie of the earlier days.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I also really like the Death On The Road artwork, also done By Melvyn Grant. Having Eddie ride the Undertaker carriage through human intestines is a pretty original idea. And there's some quirky humor thrown in there too, just like what Riggs would do. For example the "Edward & Son - Undertakers" written on the horse carriage. The one skeleton with the creepy eye still in one of the sockets etc :)

album13c_dotr_a.jpg
 
Yeah, that's in the same vein, although not quite as identifiable as Eddie. Has he got fangs there too? o_O
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top