There are innumerable ways to decorate your record sleeve. Some heavy acts go straightforward with a photo of the band, while some are more primed to gross you out with an over-the-top gore aesthetic. But we must admit — we often go ape for the ones with the animals on the cover. That is, so long as the music sounds fierce.
Some of metal’s most iconic albums have featured album art where eagles are screaming for vengeance, or with a mighty leviathan capsizing ships. One time we caught a coiled predator camouflaging itself in the shadows of a seemingly all-black piece of artwork seen by multiple millions of eyes the world over. But which creature-intensified album actually rules the animal kingdom?
We asked our Revolver readers to rank the best albums with a beastly cover star, and these were the wing-flapping, fang-bearing fan favorites.
Slipknot – Iowa
People = Shit. Goats = Perfect Cover Muses.
The artwork to the ‘Knot’s 2001 sophomore LP was conceived by Shawn “Clown” Crahan and shot by photographer Stefan Seksis. The cover star was a goat named Eeyore — and the extreme angles of its horned visage has been wowing art-appreciating fans ever since. It doesn’t hurt that the image is attached to arguably Slipknot’s most GOAT’d LP — an extreme, turn-of-the-century leveling up from their debut that gave us crushers like “The Heretic Anthem” and aforementioned rage-out “People = Shit.”
The 10th anniversary edition’s alternate profile shot of a goat being hanged upon a set of nails is a little extreme, so the bleached-out look of the original remains the true disasterpiece of the pair.
Alice in Chains – Alice in Chains
The stoned-faced, three-legged pooch that graces the cover to Alice in Chains’ 1995 self-titled LP reminded drummer Sean Kinney of the dog that use to chase him on his paper route. He wanted to name the record Tripod in its honor, but his bandmates balked at the suggestion. A number three-related theme still keeps the album upright — it is, of course, the grunge act’s third full-length release, and it was also released three years on from mega-hit Dirt.
The album itself cuts a heavy profile, between grimy, wah-warping first single “Grind,” eerily rumbled deep cuts like “Head Creeps,” and the record’s moodily monolithic, but impeccably melodied “Heaven Beside You.”
Not for nothing, it’s worth pointing out that Alice in Chains’ mid-Nineties trip to the sludge factory was tracked at Seattle’s famed Bad Animals studio (since renamed Studio X), which was owned at the time by Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson — whom had a dog and a butterfly on their 1978 album titled, conveniently enough, Dog & Butterfly.
Pantera – The Great Southern Trendkill
Though some of us on staff are deeply disappointed that the votes did not come pouring in for the yoked-and-hunky Manimal gracing the cover to Pantera’s 1983 debut album, Metal Magic, at least the fans came through to salute the slithery Texas diamondback giving us the stink-eye atop The Great Southern Trendkill.
Indeed, the steely visuals match Trendkill’s feel, with the majorly menacing 1996 release striking listeners like a rattler on the attack — though we’d argue Pantera were four times as venomous.
Sure, one of of Dimebag’s most beautiful, if squealing solos courses through the iconic “Floods,” but there’s a fierce, fang-baring fury found on “Suicide Note, Pt. 2,” “The Underground in America,” and the skin-flaying speed-sesh that is the record’s opening title cut.
Gojira – From Mars to Sirius
As far as we know, no bristle-toothed humpback has actually been caught cruising ‘cross the cosmos — such as the one in the illustrated artwork for Gojira’s 2005 interplanetary breakthrough, From Mars to Sirius. It’s an image that’s captured the imaginations of countless metal fans since the French faves foisted this upon our eyeballs two decades ago, and yet, were it not for the actual game-changing nature of the album it’s attached to, Sirius’ surreal artwork may have been quickly forgotten.
The outright beast of a record bursts forth with percussive, progressive zeal, as proved by the hide-piercing punishment on heavy standouts like “Backbone” and mega-kicked monsters like “In the Wilderness.”
Sticking to the theme, the powerful presence of the swimming giant is also felt throughout the LP, vocalist-guitarist Joe Duplantier most notably connecting his cover art to the massive, yet majestic creatures soaring through the skies of Gojira’s aurally stunning “Flying Whales.”
Deftones – Diamond Eyes
Deftones album covers are a veritable animal kingdom unto themselves — think of Gore’s majestically flapping flock of flamingos, the subtly horse-powered silhouette of White Pony, or, most recently, the charming kingsnake coiling itself around their private music. The one which Revolver readers give a hoot about the most, it would seem, is the bright-plumed owl on the cover of Diamond Eyes.
Though its own orbs are coal black and mysterious, its dazzling, crisp-white wings — spread wide and ready to launch — act as a perfect visual metaphor for the soaring aural achievement that is Deftones beloved 2010 LP. It is, of course, the epically grooving release that holds catalog treasures like the sensually shoegazing “Sextape” and metal-swung stompers like “Rocket Skates” — heavy live favorites to this day.
But let’s get real: Before we ever saw the butcher, we stared right into the soul of this majestic lil’ barn owl.