The "Controversial Cover Art" thread

[Doogz]

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.

[seasonsinthesky]

Err, I have no doubts on the veracity of research here, but the cover is either entirely fabricated or has been vectorized in Illustrator. I bought the LP because it's a great record and the fullsize art makes this READILY apparent – like we're talking that 'globs of transparency' look you get from digital painting (and, as said, loading a photo into Illustrator). Also possible it was Illustrator-ized just to get it blown up to the size of a vinyl sleeve, I guess.

If it was just a crime scene photo painted over, it's not like it's magically better, though.

So where does this outrage fit in with the long string of crime scene photos used for metal album covers? Because I have never seen anyone even slightly propose the cover of Dawn of the Black Hearts is... anything, really. People don't fucking talk about it.

[Doogz]

So where does this outrage fit in with the long string of crime scene photos used for metal album covers?

Simple. I never saw a real dead kid on an album cover before. It struck a nerve because I have kids myself.

However, what has made it linger with me is the bands pretentious attempts at rationalising it... if they simply held their hands up and stated "yeah, we're just going for shock value", I'd have probably just shook my head and moved on.

I have never seen anyone even slightly propose the cover of Dawn of the Black Hearts is... anything, really. People don't fucking talk about it.

Probably because there's was never any pretention about it. From when Euronymous took that picture, is was always a "huh-huh, this looks cool and fits our image" Beavis and Butthead mentallity. Mayhem never pretended it was anything else (well, using "Beavis and Butthead" is dumbing down a little, but the ideology remains).

[Blood Music]

Haha, I wasn't ready for that when I clicked on the link, damn.

What about Scorpions 'Virgin Killer'? That one's pretty up there ... probably the most famous completely filthy cover.

Perturbator's latest stirred controversy but it seems to me like it was more amongst worried large corporations who didn't want to display it on their shelves (digital or physical), a shame at the end of the day but it's what Perturbator wanted.

[Godflesh]

I'm surprised to notice that I'm not swayed this way or that way by the picture. Perhaps due to spending several weeks 24/7 with small kids. I feel that Virgin Killer is just as controversial as this, perhaps even more.

[Doogz]

I may have inadvertently killed the thread by "going big" too quickly, haha.

"Virgin Killer"... again, the band have never pretended that it was anything other than an attention seeking ploy. Terrible picture, very bad taste, but not pretentious.

I'm starting to come round to the fact that I may not actually have an issue with the cover of "Home" itself, but the utter bollocks that the band are spouting in order to justify it to themselves.

Typically, when someone sees a controversial/gory album cover, after the knee-jerk "Ewwwwww" reaction, they'll write it off as "ah, they're just doing it for attention", and generally that's the case. There are exceptions to the rule (Carcass first two albums for example), and I guess it's in the eye of the beholder to believe the band has loftier intentions. In the case of Numenorean, I don't believe their rhetoric.

[seasonsinthesky]

Why is it 'better' (easier to ignore and move on from, in this case) just because the band admits it's purely to get attention? I find that, on the base morality level, MORE appalling, because there is no reason!

It doesn't matter if you think their writeup is pretentious. That is irrelevant, especially when we all consume obscene levels of black metal from steaming pretentious turd-writeups like Debemur Morti releases. They chose the cover for a reason that matters, not some press bullshit (or in addition to press bullshit, since we're now talking about a Deafheaven clone solely because of it).

[Doogz]

Why is it 'better' (easier to ignore and move on from, in this case) just because the band admits it's purely to get attention? I find that, on the base morality level, MORE appalling, because there is no reason!

See, that's a whole other debate right there, about what's socially acceptable and what's not. I'm not going there... this thread is subjective enough without taking it down another rabbit hole.

Agreed, on the base morality level it does appear worse to not have a reason. But the way I see it, when a band holds up their hands and admits that they're just attention seeking, they're also admitting that they're aware of the immorality that goes with that. For me, Numenoreans paper-thin reasoning just doesn't hold water, and I have no respect for such dishonesty.

[kadaver]

I haven’t listened to that Numenorean album, but I find it hard to believe their music could evoke emotions in relation to what the cover brings about. I doubt any music paired with such a picture could, and from the tags it seems like this album could be summed up by calling it "pretty melancholic".

And what about the privacy of the victim? Something that should come first. So because the person is deceased, that gives you a right to use their likeness for your music? That a band could deem their music to be an equivalent to all the emotions resulting in and from an act of child murder. ...And go as far as to breach the privacy of a murdered child.

So, yeah, pretentious from pretty much any reasonable viewpoint, to put it mildly.

We are very aware that this idea is too much for many people, but art shouldn't be easily digestible... 

...The album is meant to be listened to as an entire journey that transforms you from start to finish...

Give me a break...

tl;dr interview:

HERP DERP GUYZ. U just dont understen. luk, we made albunz. wunce we wuz childrenz, but our innocene dieded jus liek litl gerl on cuvr. c, is exacly saem. in essenz fo shoeee. real murderd dead gerl is fiskal repersntiaon of coming 22222 ag3. 420blazeit ayyyy lmao sweggg #yolo

[Blood Music]

No offense to any band ever, but I should just say that many artists should not be in charge of talking about their own material. Either for the reason above (over-thinking it) or the opposite (trying to shy as far away from it as possible).

There's no question at all to me why it's like that, creating something and releasing it conjures a lot of emotions and some artists go BIG and some go small. I've dealt with both sides of the coin many times and everything in between. As tacky as it seems, having someone outside the band write the main PR to kick it off can sometimes be preferable.

Hell, who could write an objective viewpoint of their own life? I think it's just the same as someone writing about their own art.