Metal 101: Who are some of the best heavy metal album cover artists?

November 1, 3:42 PMLA Metal Music ExaminerZach Zimmerman

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Storm of the Light's Bane; illus. by Kristian Wahlin

Another metal writer recently pointed out that "heavy metal covers rock."  This is an indisputable fact.  So I decided to go ahead and examine ten of the greats of heavy metal album artwork in more detail, and have created gallery pages for each one (click the name of the artist to go to each gallery):

1.) Kristian Wahlin (AKA Necrolord): illustrated some of the best metal albums ever, including In the Nightside Eclipse and Far Away From the Sun.  Detailed wintertime landscapes full of mystique and grace, he set the standard for epic and awesome black metal album art.

2.) Ed Repka: Best known for drawing covers for Death, and if that weren't enough, Megadeth.  Lots of zombies / skeletons in a very 80's looking style.

3.) Dan Seagrave: Provided gnarly-looking nightmare visions for some of the greats of technical death metal, like Suffocation and Gorguts.

4.) Chris Moyen: He's the one who does all of the old-school bestial black metal art for bands like Beherit, Black Witchery, and Archgoat.  You've probably seen at least 50 of his drawings already.

5.) Kris Verwimp: Noteable for doing the artwork for Absu' Tara, and designing the really cool updated Vital Remains logo.

6.) Derek Riggs: Creator of everyone's favorite metal mascot, Eddie.  Also did artwork for Gamma Ray.

7.) Joe Petagno: Most known for doing the early Motorhead album covers, but also did artwork for Marduk and rock and roll legends like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

8.) Vince Locke: The best thing about Cannibal Corpse was always their horribly offensive CD covers.

9.) Jon Zig: Designed logos for many bands including the Black Dahlia Murder, and also did some awesome artwork for Averse Sefira, Deeds of Flesh, and Suffocation.

10.) Jos. A. Smith: Although not exactly an album cover artist, he happened to draw one of the most widely known icons of metal: the Bathory goat (read the story behind it here).  Not too long ago, one of his pieces was used for Averse Sefira's latest album.

Know any others?  Feel free to add a comment!

For more info: check out this column for more heavy metal articles, top ten lists, metal news, and other interesting metal-related topics.