OpEd

The Best Heavy Metal Cover Art From 2016

Every year in December we cover the best and worst of metal with a focus on recorded material and live releases, but what frequently gets lost in the shuffle is an integral part of all things metal: the artwork.

While the prominence of physical media that you actually handle and admire while listening to an album has faded with the advent of digital distribution, cover artwork remains a core and iconic part of the heavy music experience across all sub-genres.

From frozen occult black metal to the most over-the-top fantasy power metal, the artwork is the first thing people are going to notice, and the artists deserve more recognition than they typically get.

Our roundup of the most memorable art last year saw jaw-dropping pieces from the likes of Marco Hassman, Par Oloffson, and the increasingly prolific Seth Siro Anton. This year will feature a markedly contrasted lineup of artists and bands as we explore drastically different styles that all express thematic ideas in amazingly divergent ways.

Some art this year was memorable for more negative reasons. Freedom Call, Devildriver, Gojira, and Metallica in particular all had less-than-stellar or head-scratching cover artwork this time around. We'll (mostly) be skipping that sort of memorability below, and instead focusing on things that looked amazing or were too bizarre to ignore.

Alkerdeel – Lede

We have to start here with Alkerdeel's “Lede” cover crafted by Luchtrat, an artist I'd never heard of before who does a variety of graphic designing online. I seriously haven't been able to stop thinking about this cover all year long from the moment I first laid bewildered eyes upon it.

Is it a joke? Is it completely serious? Is it taking square aim at the sort of people who would wonder about the difference? It's both minimalist and somehow simultaneously complex. It's a childish idea presented very simply – a demon taking aim and farting – but also seems to be so much more. Is it a comment on the pointlessness and absurdity of life? Is it meant to be lighthearted or threatening? Are we supposed to be taking something away from the stripped down color scheme and the blank spaces between the lines?

I have no idea if this was even the intention, but this artist caused something of an existential crisis for me. I have to wonder if somewhere there's a farting demon currently laughing about that fact.

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Cetacean Announces Live Shows

Cetacean - the progressive black metal outfit featuring members of Ancestors, Horse the Band, Black Sheep Wall, and Exhausted Prayer - is pleased to announce two live dates this upcoming weekend in the band's native California.

These are rare live appearances for the band and more dates are not expected to be announced for some time. Both shows will be played as direct support to Destroyer of Light.

July 1 Starlight Lounge, Sacramento
July 2 Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco

Cetacean recently released debut album "Breach | Submerge" via Apes Who Looked Up Records. You can order the album on digital and compact disc formats at Bandcamp here. In further news the band will be releasing a deluxe version of "Breach | Submerge" later this year. A release date will be announced by the end of summer, but is projected to be in the fall of 2016. More...

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Cetacean Releasing "Breach | Submerge" On Vinyl

Cetacean's "Breach | Submerge" will see official vinyl release via Apes Who Looked Up Records on May 27th, and all the tracks are also now available for streaming below.

If you love super long tracks that switch back and forth between melodic atmosphere and extreme metal, you will want to hear this immediately. The album was previously released on CD and digital in January, and now will see the wax treatment, with pre-orders up here. The track listing is as follows:

1. Earth is a Whisper 10:14
2. Relationships Deteriorate 10:29
3. Outpour I. II. III. 14:06 More...

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