New album cover art just posted!
- Thread starter Thingfish
- Start date
A
Anonymous
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Greetings Maidenites…..I am new to this forum, but after seeing the recent album cover, I just wanted to share a few opinions regarding maiden covers in general.
I have been working and lecturing professionally in visual arts for some time now, and being a lifelong maiden fan, I wanted to share a rough critique of each album cover. I will try to remain reasonably objective. I will give each album cover a rating……this is purely rated on the overall quality of the cover…….ie….appropriatness…colour….content….composition….magic quality/or not…etc etc
Here we go…..album by album
1. Iron Maiden.
The beginning. This is a raw image, nothing particularly refined in it, but that isn’t really bad. Eddie doesn’t have any particular expression, he’s just a street creature…..
The cover certainly reflects the style and content of the music. Iconic image (more because of nostalgia rather than image quality.) 5/10
2. Killers
Mr Riggs technique improved quite a bit. This seems to be a natural development from the first cover, but with improved lighting, painting and eddies pose is excellent. The desperate hand from below is great. The bloody axe and eddies face are really strong additions. Great stuff. 7/10
3. The Number of the Beast.
This is iconography at its strongest. Eddie/puppet/eddie etc is a great visual concept. Again the posing is very strong and eddies body fills the frame nicely…..colour is not at its best but still, a rugged and powerful image. 8/10
4. Piece of Mind
This is my personal favorite. The restricted palette(yellows and blacks)is brave and beautiful. The dynamic and excellent composition created by the light, eddies strained body and the chains is superb. The magic quality is there in abundance……it works soooo well with the album title/music. What can I say…Riggs at the height of his power.
9.5/10
5. Powerslave.
Super in every way. I think most people will agree with me on this, the colouring is stunning the triangular composition/ eddies expression and figure, the beautiful details which are not overly done……..gorgeous. Definitive and subtle…..great cover/title/album…….10/10
6. Somewhere in Time
The detail is incredible and I’m sure, like myself, many maiden fans spent hours spotting all the little in jokes, and details which seem to go on forever. The colouring is nicely held together, and eddies pose is strong, however, he does seem to get a wee bit lost in the detail, which I feel was a little excessive. The star quality and stand out power of (seventh son, powerslave, Life after death) is not quite matched. A tad too much indulgence robbed this cover of being a nine out of ten. 8/10
7. Seventh son of a seventh son
Blinding beauty. Gorgeous colouring and simple/inventive pose create a stunning atmosphere….matched only by powerslave.10/10
8. No Prayer for the dying.
Technically/compositionally this is fine. But the magic has somehow been lost. The image/content doesn’t really transport you to a different world, like the previous few albums. (I’m not sure on this point..maybe someone could let me know…but was Riggs gone at this point or is the next album?)6/10
9. Fear of the Dark
Nice composition again, but, even though it’s a little better than ‘prayer’ its just not as iconic as seventh son and previous. 6.5/10
10. The X Factor
A radical change of cover style…..they obviously went to a lot of trouble for this album. The album cover is ok….I salute the brave move….the darkness is nice, but I really feel they should have went for the half lit eddie on the inside of the sleeve…..more subtle and evocative. 7/10
11. Virtual XI
This is poor to be honest. The title text is lost, the maiden logo has too much going on with the background, colour is lame and amateurish. Concept is blah! And…..THATS NOT EDDIE!
12. Brave New World
As most will agree, the music took a turn for the better here. Album cover is better also, but Im afraid the glories covers of the 80s are not to return. Eddies ok…..somethings up with his fangs though, the computery buildings are a little crap. 6.5/10
13. Dance of Death
Jesus Christ! What is with those damn computery, dancy, non descript, THINGS that are prancing around Eddie. Goddamit! Eddies not too bad in this and I prefer the inside cover sleeve where its just him on the floor, not great, but much better than the overcooked cover.
14. A Matter of Life and Death.
I love maiden to bits and buy all their releases regardless……..But WHY DIDN’T THEY GO WITH THE EDDIE AND CROSSED GUNS THAT APPEARED WHEN THEY ANOUNCED THE ALBUM. When I saw that appear on their website I thought YEEESSSSS……maybe not all fans would agree with me…..its not what they did in the 80s but as a cover image it is just as successful in a different way. It’s a very striking graphic…….but I just saw the cover they are going with …………sigh! It’s a very bog standard picture……Eddie has no personality…..composition is like a teenagers…..skull soldiers/ pants. Dammit……….
THERE IS STILL TIME MAIDEN. USE THE FORCE(WOOPS SORRY) I MEAN USE THE EDDIE AND CROSSGUN IMAGE. That would stand out in any cd store. Powerful, punchy, evocative, you could leave the lavish details to the inner sleeve.
Anyway there it is……..its just one persons opinion.
Post a reply with your agreements/arguments…….Id love to hear either way.
PS. Regardless of the covers ….the band fuckin ROCK….and I cant wait til sept.
I have been working and lecturing professionally in visual arts for some time now, and being a lifelong maiden fan, I wanted to share a rough critique of each album cover. I will try to remain reasonably objective. I will give each album cover a rating……this is purely rated on the overall quality of the cover…….ie….appropriatness…colour….content….composition….magic quality/or not…etc etc
Here we go…..album by album
1. Iron Maiden.
The beginning. This is a raw image, nothing particularly refined in it, but that isn’t really bad. Eddie doesn’t have any particular expression, he’s just a street creature…..
The cover certainly reflects the style and content of the music. Iconic image (more because of nostalgia rather than image quality.) 5/10
2. Killers
Mr Riggs technique improved quite a bit. This seems to be a natural development from the first cover, but with improved lighting, painting and eddies pose is excellent. The desperate hand from below is great. The bloody axe and eddies face are really strong additions. Great stuff. 7/10
3. The Number of the Beast.
This is iconography at its strongest. Eddie/puppet/eddie etc is a great visual concept. Again the posing is very strong and eddies body fills the frame nicely…..colour is not at its best but still, a rugged and powerful image. 8/10
4. Piece of Mind
This is my personal favorite. The restricted palette(yellows and blacks)is brave and beautiful. The dynamic and excellent composition created by the light, eddies strained body and the chains is superb. The magic quality is there in abundance……it works soooo well with the album title/music. What can I say…Riggs at the height of his power.
9.5/10
5. Powerslave.
Super in every way. I think most people will agree with me on this, the colouring is stunning the triangular composition/ eddies expression and figure, the beautiful details which are not overly done……..gorgeous. Definitive and subtle…..great cover/title/album…….10/10
6. Somewhere in Time
The detail is incredible and I’m sure, like myself, many maiden fans spent hours spotting all the little in jokes, and details which seem to go on forever. The colouring is nicely held together, and eddies pose is strong, however, he does seem to get a wee bit lost in the detail, which I feel was a little excessive. The star quality and stand out power of (seventh son, powerslave, Life after death) is not quite matched. A tad too much indulgence robbed this cover of being a nine out of ten. 8/10
7. Seventh son of a seventh son
Blinding beauty. Gorgeous colouring and simple/inventive pose create a stunning atmosphere….matched only by powerslave.10/10
8. No Prayer for the dying.
Technically/compositionally this is fine. But the magic has somehow been lost. The image/content doesn’t really transport you to a different world, like the previous few albums. (I’m not sure on this point..maybe someone could let me know…but was Riggs gone at this point or is the next album?)6/10
9. Fear of the Dark
Nice composition again, but, even though it’s a little better than ‘prayer’ its just not as iconic as seventh son and previous. 6.5/10
10. The X Factor
A radical change of cover style…..they obviously went to a lot of trouble for this album. The album cover is ok….I salute the brave move….the darkness is nice, but I really feel they should have went for the half lit eddie on the inside of the sleeve…..more subtle and evocative. 7/10
11. Virtual XI
This is poor to be honest. The title text is lost, the maiden logo has too much going on with the background, colour is lame and amateurish. Concept is blah! And…..THATS NOT EDDIE!
12. Brave New World
As most will agree, the music took a turn for the better here. Album cover is better also, but Im afraid the glories covers of the 80s are not to return. Eddies ok…..somethings up with his fangs though, the computery buildings are a little crap. 6.5/10
13. Dance of Death
Jesus Christ! What is with those damn computery, dancy, non descript, THINGS that are prancing around Eddie. Goddamit! Eddies not too bad in this and I prefer the inside cover sleeve where its just him on the floor, not great, but much better than the overcooked cover.
14. A Matter of Life and Death.
I love maiden to bits and buy all their releases regardless……..But WHY DIDN’T THEY GO WITH THE EDDIE AND CROSSED GUNS THAT APPEARED WHEN THEY ANOUNCED THE ALBUM. When I saw that appear on their website I thought YEEESSSSS……maybe not all fans would agree with me…..its not what they did in the 80s but as a cover image it is just as successful in a different way. It’s a very striking graphic…….but I just saw the cover they are going with …………sigh! It’s a very bog standard picture……Eddie has no personality…..composition is like a teenagers…..skull soldiers/ pants. Dammit……….
THERE IS STILL TIME MAIDEN. USE THE FORCE(WOOPS SORRY) I MEAN USE THE EDDIE AND CROSSGUN IMAGE. That would stand out in any cd store. Powerful, punchy, evocative, you could leave the lavish details to the inner sleeve.
Anyway there it is……..its just one persons opinion.
Post a reply with your agreements/arguments…….Id love to hear either way.
PS. Regardless of the covers ….the band fuckin ROCK….and I cant wait til sept.
Albie
Keeping an open eye on the Weeping Angels.
I've said my piece before about the "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son.." covers here on this forum and I pretty much agree with you about both. I do find the colours and atmosphere about them quite serene in some respects. All others purvey death or fear on the whole (which I don't object to, btw).The Watcher said:
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Anonymous
Guest
That is the full size version. The integration into the forum makes the image smaller but if you copy the image location into the url bar, the full size image will be seenThingfish said:
EDIT: @ the watcher, Riggs did NPFTD but didn't do FOTD. That was Melvyn Grant.
And on The X Factor, the inside image was originally going to be used but Maiden sold out and decided to use the now official front cover. This was to avoid problems with shpos stocking the record.
Check out www.derekriggs.com if you want good quality Riggsy pictures
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Anonymous
Guest
Cheers for the info Conor. I took a look at the pics he has done more recently for other bands.........jezus........they are crap...
its all this lameass computer/image generator bull.....its killing art. His maiden stuff was great.....isn't it funny how a drop in the musical quality ...
ie...NPFTD also saw a drop in the album artwork. strange that.
by the way conor, did I see a little remark on your post about you bein Irish?
Fair play!
another Irish man...ie....the watcher.
its all this lameass computer/image generator bull.....its killing art. His maiden stuff was great.....isn't it funny how a drop in the musical quality ...
ie...NPFTD also saw a drop in the album artwork. strange that.
by the way conor, did I see a little remark on your post about you bein Irish?
Fair play!
another Irish man...ie....the watcher.
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Anonymous
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The Watcher said:
Awwww... Not another one!
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Anonymous
Guest
Silky said:Welcome abord, The Watcher. If all your posts are as good as your first one, I think you'll enjoy your stay here...
Amen!
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Anonymous
Guest
Re: New album artwork
http://www.wtfhost.com//files/34/cover.jpg
that's what i've got... the image doesn't get any bigger sorry that's the largest there is right now (with the watermark)
if you are going to print it (as I did) it'll come up OK
Thingfish said:
http://www.wtfhost.com//files/34/cover.jpg
that's what i've got... the image doesn't get any bigger sorry that's the largest there is right now (with the watermark)
if you are going to print it (as I did) it'll come up OK
A
Anonymous
Guest
Yep the paddies have landed!
Anyhow........
I read in one of the recent interviews that maiden had quite a few songs left over on this one...both steve and adrian
apparantly had another couple of finished songs ready to go. It pleases me that they didnt try to just keep adding and adding.
Many of their best albums had just 8 tracks........but what great tracks they were.....there seemed to be real intent on allowing each song
become the strongest it could possibly be, around NPFTD and FOTD longer track listings.......fillers started to appear....not that there were any bad songs........just there were too many OK ones. thankfully that has been addressed somewhat recently.....on BNW and DOD.....not perfectly however.....
I still feel that BNW is stronger than DOD...........ie I would take wicker man over wildest dreams......navigator over rainmaker..........etc....................after long and repeated listenings, albums tend to show their true qualities......
the lesser songs are skipped passed on the CD/IPOD ie for me........BNW......mercenary, fallen angel....(I loved it at first), and sections of other songs...........especially where the solos go on for 2 long and don't further the song.......they are just widdeled over the same backing chords, and then the verse is repeated again..........major examples of this are on No more lies,(too many solo's on an average song) Dance of death(again the same, but the track is better) and brave new world(the track).......remember the stunning solo work on Seventh son..(the track) incredible structure and joining of riffs into melody into solo.........great stuff.
Pashendale is also magnificent.......that solo is nicely broken up by the singin bit and some great key changes.
keep that up maiden......and keep it consistent.........that stuff is important............a great chorus and great bits do not a great song make.
I'm blabbing on and on now..........ill shut up.
Forums are great im just realising......u can just vent and vent......
cheers
the watcher
Anyhow........
I read in one of the recent interviews that maiden had quite a few songs left over on this one...both steve and adrian
apparantly had another couple of finished songs ready to go. It pleases me that they didnt try to just keep adding and adding.
Many of their best albums had just 8 tracks........but what great tracks they were.....there seemed to be real intent on allowing each song
become the strongest it could possibly be, around NPFTD and FOTD longer track listings.......fillers started to appear....not that there were any bad songs........just there were too many OK ones. thankfully that has been addressed somewhat recently.....on BNW and DOD.....not perfectly however.....
I still feel that BNW is stronger than DOD...........ie I would take wicker man over wildest dreams......navigator over rainmaker..........etc....................after long and repeated listenings, albums tend to show their true qualities......
the lesser songs are skipped passed on the CD/IPOD ie for me........BNW......mercenary, fallen angel....(I loved it at first), and sections of other songs...........especially where the solos go on for 2 long and don't further the song.......they are just widdeled over the same backing chords, and then the verse is repeated again..........major examples of this are on No more lies,(too many solo's on an average song) Dance of death(again the same, but the track is better) and brave new world(the track).......remember the stunning solo work on Seventh son..(the track) incredible structure and joining of riffs into melody into solo.........great stuff.
Pashendale is also magnificent.......that solo is nicely broken up by the singin bit and some great key changes.
keep that up maiden......and keep it consistent.........that stuff is important............a great chorus and great bits do not a great song make.
I'm blabbing on and on now..........ill shut up.
Forums are great im just realising......u can just vent and vent......
cheers
the watcher
JackKnife
A Vivid example of masculine pulchritude
He heSilky said:
I love Irish music, landscapes, beers and poetry as far as I can seriously talk about that latter subject.
I'm actually a great fan of Cruachan as well as the Dubliners & Ronnie Drew or Shane MacGowan (to name but a few)
Frankly, apart from food, I love the culture... :wacko: :wacko: :wacko:
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Anonymous
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JackKnife said:
Being somehow French, you would say that!
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Anonymous
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I think the new album cover looks pretty cool !!! my kind of artwork !!!
Tap_Legion
Trooper
Well I'll be damned...Maiden DID use an American artist for the cover....but I use the term artist loosely...The guy is Tim Bradstreet like I figured after seeing the image...He does oodles of comicbook covers for DC/Vertigo and basically all he does is trace photos and mess around with photoshop.....You tell his laziness by the way he used the same skulls on 2 or more of the soldiers....
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Anonymous
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I sinceredly hope this isn't sour grapes TLTap_Legion said:
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Anonymous
Guest
well its only been a few days but the cover has been growing on me........sneaky, stealthy artwork. Not going to love it
but I can happily live with it.
but I can happily live with it.