The "Controversial Cover Art" thread

[Doogz]

No intention to offend Doogz, but I got a feeling from your opening post that you had already decided that there is no way this subject could be justified and they are only seeking attention. I find this a rather black and white way to look at things. 

None taken! :-)

In hindsight, my original post was a reaction to that Decibel interview. I'd done a bit of research into the cover after hearing the album and found out about the murders and that this was an autopsy photo (not crime scene as I originally stated) of the youngest victim. I found it a bit distasteful, and couldn't see it's relevance to the song titles or music, but that's irrelevant. I figured they probably had their reasons...

It wasn't until a few days later that I saw the Decibel interview, and got a bit incensed about the utter bollocks they were talking. For example; "she will never lose the innocence of childhood"? She lost that innocence in the last few seconds of her life when her father butchered her. Have another go chaps.

Plenty of bands have had justifiable reasons for horrible covers... Carcass first two albums spring to mind. I'm sure that this cover could be justified one way or another (in fact, you manage to do it yourself in the paragraph that I quote below!!!), unfortunately not by the band themselves. 

Also, I was quite annoyed by the way the first question in that Decibel interview was stated. Really unprofessional and idiotic.

Agreed. I guarantee that the original question to the band wasn't phrased like that, and was changed during editing for sensationalist effect.

The other point here is the actual victim and death itself. I obviously would understand that for example relatives would feel horrible about the usage of the said picture, but I can't help but feel that the reaction of the outsiders has something to do with death being so unfamiliar with the modern day society. It's as if death would've been cleaned away from the community, and we want no reminders of it. Of course such a violent death is a bit different matter, but would it be possible to think of it as paying tribute to the victim? These kind of cases usually tend to revolve around the murderer, so maybe we need a reminder from time to time, that there's an actual victim here and these kind of horrific things happen in our world.

It would've been a nice tribute, wouldn't it? Like I said above, you've managed to find a justification there that the band couldn't.

I used to play in death band that had some comprehensively explicit lyrics and song titles. They were deliberately made extremely horrible and detailed in a way that didn't glorify the blood and gore as other "comedy" death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse could be accused of doing. When an interviewer pulled us up about it, we simply said: "well, horrible shit happens in the world everyday, and we want to bring your attention to it instead of brushing it under the carpet".

So, now I'm firmly off my soapbox and calmed down a few days later; I'm not opposed to the use of the picture, I'm opposed to this bands weak excuses.