I was gonna post this under "Off Topic Madness", but figured that discussion of cover art should blossom into a thread of its own.
I've been listening to that Numenorean album again tonight. It's pretty good, though maybe not quite as good as all the hype makes out though.
https://numenorean.bandcamp.com/album/home
HOWEVER: That album cover. I'm all for freedom of expression, but having mulled over it for a week or so now, I've concluded that I'm definitely not okay with that cover.
Whilst a lot of bands I've listened to over the years have had borderline offensive and controversial cover art, most of it is quite cartoony in nature. In fact, the only other cover art that ever genuinely made me uncomfortable was Anorexia Nervosas "New Obscurantis Order" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Obscur..._order.jpg) because of its paedophillic undertones. I discussed this with Nicholas after a show in London, and he explained that the cover is meant to depict a witch presenting her daughter as the next generation of her coven, and nothing sinister was intended. I had misinterpreted the art, that's all.
There's no such ambiguity with Numenoreans "Home".
In case you're not aware, it's not a digital mock-up, it's not posed. It's a genuine crime scene photo from a murder at Fort Bragg in 1970.
The band make excuses such as that the picture complements the music, and that art should be dangerous (you can read the interview with Decibel here: http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2016/5/1...lbum-cover), however, I call bullshit. They've exploited a dead child in order to drum up some publicity. Which is a shame, because the music is very good in its own right.
The girl in the picture was called Kimberly MacDonald. She was two years old, and whilst she lay asleep in her bed she was stabbed 33 times with a knife and 15 times with an ice pick. Her father, Jeffrey MacDonald, also murdered Kimberlys five year old sister and pregnant mother. There's a very thorough article about the whole event and subsequent conviction linked below. Be warned, there are a lot of crime scene photos, though the more graphic ones require another click to reveal.
http://fatalvision.oucreate.com/suppleme...macdonald/
I'm interested in hearing others thoughts on this. And indeed, any other subjective album covers you care to discuss.
I've been listening to that Numenorean album again tonight. It's pretty good, though maybe not quite as good as all the hype makes out though.
https://numenorean.bandcamp.com/album/home
HOWEVER: That album cover. I'm all for freedom of expression, but having mulled over it for a week or so now, I've concluded that I'm definitely not okay with that cover.
Whilst a lot of bands I've listened to over the years have had borderline offensive and controversial cover art, most of it is quite cartoony in nature. In fact, the only other cover art that ever genuinely made me uncomfortable was Anorexia Nervosas "New Obscurantis Order" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Obscur..._order.jpg) because of its paedophillic undertones. I discussed this with Nicholas after a show in London, and he explained that the cover is meant to depict a witch presenting her daughter as the next generation of her coven, and nothing sinister was intended. I had misinterpreted the art, that's all.
There's no such ambiguity with Numenoreans "Home".
In case you're not aware, it's not a digital mock-up, it's not posed. It's a genuine crime scene photo from a murder at Fort Bragg in 1970.
The band make excuses such as that the picture complements the music, and that art should be dangerous (you can read the interview with Decibel here: http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2016/5/1...lbum-cover), however, I call bullshit. They've exploited a dead child in order to drum up some publicity. Which is a shame, because the music is very good in its own right.
The girl in the picture was called Kimberly MacDonald. She was two years old, and whilst she lay asleep in her bed she was stabbed 33 times with a knife and 15 times with an ice pick. Her father, Jeffrey MacDonald, also murdered Kimberlys five year old sister and pregnant mother. There's a very thorough article about the whole event and subsequent conviction linked below. Be warned, there are a lot of crime scene photos, though the more graphic ones require another click to reveal.
http://fatalvision.oucreate.com/suppleme...macdonald/
I'm interested in hearing others thoughts on this. And indeed, any other subjective album covers you care to discuss.