So we got this thread to show those horrific metal covers, why don't we have one to show the finest? I mean, there are albums that truly deserve to be at least observed. I mean, there are amazing pieces of art done on some metal albums.
Let's start:


You can see from that that I am an Apocalyptica fanboy You can see the album titles in most of the covers. Let me tell you one thing, that cello skull is simply well done, and many of the others are from the Apocalyptica ST era. They did put effort in showing you that the cello is the most important thing in their music. Again, all the cello holes are amazingly well done. And as for the third, I just love sexy cello girls, and who doesn't?
Can we top the ugliest metal covers thread? Or is it just that metal is supposed to have cheesy and lame artwork?

These are some of my own personal favorites

Fenriz learns that it's a bad idea to eat candlewax.

Less predictable pic: Sigh - Infidel Art. Great color scheme, actually looks ancient. One of those covers you can get lost in staring at.

I was going to put that Dissection cover also. It definitely kicks ass!!!
Also I just remember about this:

It was an amazing album with an amazing line up and of course, an amazing cover.

Some of my favorites as well:

Anathema (2003) A Natural Disaster

simple and beautiful

Arsis (2004) A Celebration Of Guilt

not sure why but i do enjoy those skeletons

Autopsy (1989) Severed Survival

so creepy realistic, like if you were in a horror film or so

Bolt Thrower (1989) Realm of Chaos

2005 reissued alternate artwork. sci-fi+metal, what could possibly go wrong?

Myrath (2011) Tales Of The Sands

dunno i think the girl did the trick for me and i like the colour

Pentagram (2013) The Malefice [Chile]

looks like an obscure nightmare

Rush (1985) Power Windows

what an intriguing one, i love all the details

Sigh (2012) In Somniphobia

kinda disturbing for me but still i like it

Tankard (1988) The Morning After

a funny one, i can only think about sex, drugs and thrash XD

Oranssi Pazuzu - Kosmonument


Prosanctus Inferi - Noctambulous Jaws Within Sempiternal Night

Inquisition always has pretty album covers like this one:


Zos Kia Cultus

This one esspecially looks good when you have it. It looks like it just came out straight from hell, waiting for you to play it in your stereo system.

Awesome painting by Dusty Petersen
Bloodbath - The Fathomless Mastery


New album from Age of Taurus - Tortured Souls of Desperate Times
(obliteratingly heavy doom - better than Sabbath's 13)


EDIT:
How could I forget this masterpiece?
Triptykon - Eparistera Daimones (painted by HR Giger)

Some good choices. I think I bought the Sigh album based on the cover art.

Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit:


Just a really really nice painting that perfectly portrays the atmosphere of the album.

Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs


Again, the artwork just really fits the album. I love any Fursy Teyssier cover, but this ones my favorite.


Some other favorites:

Arsaidh - Roots


Deathspell Omega - Drought


Infera Bruo - Desolate Unknown

Dan Seagrave has done plenty of interesting ones.

I think my favorite is Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten



A grotesque machine roams a post-apocalyptic wasteland with a green sky as a baby something-or-other hatches from an egg. I suppose it captures what the album sounds like, but mainly I just like how detailed it is.

Absu - The Sun of Tiphareth


Dan Seagrave has done a bunch of oldchool death metal cover art that is very well done. Gives off a menacing, chaotic, and otherworldly vibe.

Ed Repka has done a lot of covers for thrash and while I enjoyed a lot of his covers during the glory days of thrash, all the new stuff is pretty much just a parody of himself.

I guess I'm a fan of Repka's artwork. And they look even way better in real life as vinyl sleeves

This cover is so crushing and amazing. Just completely captures the Lovecraftian vibes in a tremendously massive way.

Terrorizer - World Downfall

The chaotic layout of the cover suits the music and themes of the album. It's got to be my favourite album cover of all time.

Autopsy - Macabre Eternal

This album cover is amazing, the colours are so vibrant yet dark too. Loved it to much I got it as a tattoo.

Pestilence - Testimony of the Ancients

There's a real fantasy, steam punk feel to this. Like it's the final artifact in an RPG that you need to kill the final boss

In addition to those three, I second Death - Spiritual Healing and Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos.

Definitely very high as well, but...

My absolute and permanent all time favourite:


No other cover, ever, manages to put me into the mood of the album so well. The greatest of all the great things Travis Smith has done.

I love Repka's art style, but his tendency to create art of essentially "Dude standing infront of something, typically a ruined city" gets quite old. I don't know if it's him who does that or the neo-thrash bands specifically asking for it, but he needs to break away from it, because the recent artworks haven't been quite as immersive and that Toxik one or of course, Peace Sells, and he creates some awesome artwork when he moves from it.

Anyway,



I always loved the surreality of Dave McKean's art ever since I read that Batman graphic novel Serious House on Serious Earth, and this captures the surreal nature and distant, confusing terror he can create so well.



I always loved how similar this and Storm of the Light's Bane are, despite their very different genres. Still a great piece of art, and I'm leaving Blind Guardian alone now, because otherwise I'd up including nearly all of the 90's covers did by Marschall.



Always loved this artwork, it's so deep yet not. It represents the album and it's mood perfectly.



Very mysterious and well-done, and it also bears resemblance to a Blind Guardian album cover. Either way, still really good.



I just really like this one.

Yeah, you're right. I don't mean I like everything of him but he has made some real great artwork.

This is one of the recent artworks of him I also really like:

I've always liked this one for some reason, too bad the album sucked so hard...


This one's pretty freakin cool and it goes with the feel of the album


Nice sense of dread coming through here.

Those are just a few for now.

One of the most wonderful album arts I've ever seen.

Suicide In Dark Serenity by Xasthur
I love this cover. I feel like it totally sums up what it's like listening to Xasthur at it's best.


Sombre Romantic by Virgin Black
Never got into this band but I always liked the artwork.

There's millions of 'em, but I'll just post what comes to mind....

Sepultura


Tiamat

....or pretty much anything by Necrolord.

Summoning


Graveland


Abruptum


Nortt


Wraith

Oh man, you all guys have some nice taste. I kind of like stuff that looks realistic, but not digital. Many recent albums have come into the digital era and producing their digital artwork and many seem to fail.
Amyway here are other of the bands I like.

I may be biased as this is my favourite album but I fuckin' love this album cover... so primal, just sheer unrivaled supremacy and ferocious power...



...and this one, the album cover combined with those long drawn final breaths in the outro are responsible for the creepiest listening experiece I've had...

Immolation's Dawn of Possession is probably one of my all-time favourites. Not only is it evil and perfectly appropriate for the irreverent, blasphemous and dark music of the album, it's very beautiful to look at. Admittedly the album art implies a greater degree of sophistication than the wild, uncompromisingly dark music of the album might deliver at first glance, it's more appropriate for that particular album than it would be for any other I can think of. The atmosphere of the album is very unique. Perhaps it's just that I've come to associate that image with the very fundamental sound of that album, and particularly my first impressions of the album's cover art and music are strongly interwoven.

One of my favorites.

The music may not be that good, but this is probably my favorite album cover ever

Also this one

This would be my top 5 votes, for killer album covers:

I'd have to say literally anything by Kris Verwimp. Guy does pretty much all of my favorite art, and it's not even one of those things I can seem to get enough of.

Ceremonial Castings' "Barbaric is the Beast" - My first exposure to his art - I feel it captures CC's sound perfectly.


The Legion's "Virtue of Sin" - Some awesome contrast going on here. Very evil, definitely lovecraftian and somewhat similar to Obituary's Cause of Death, which is definitely a good thing!


And Lord Belial's "Nocturnal Beast" - A personal favorite both in the music and the art. It emanates loneliness, evil and power.

Hard to go past this one

Oh yeah, this next one I had posted in "worst album covers" but it also belongs here too, ironically:

Even though the album itself lingers between being either captivating or an absolute snorefest, the artwork is just so gorgeous to me.




Same goes with the aforementioned Fursy Teyssier. You can't help but get lost in most of his work.

Bathory- Twilight of the gods.



Bathory - Blood fire death. well pretty much every Bathory's covers could fit in this thread.



Burzum Filosofem. a classic


Burzum- Hlidskjalf

This cover is beautiful, never heard the band, what do they play? (Not on MA and hard to make out the album title)

The album is called Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées. The band plays a sort of post-rock, as I recall.

Seconding Fursy Teyssier as a fantastic artist, too. His covers gives a whole dimension to Alcest that I think would have been lacking otherwise.

Looks and sounds tasty then, going to check it out.

From the days when the band played good music.

Les Discrets have some videos on youtube you can check out......
Yeah, they play French post-rock/shoegaze, the only connection to metal is through Alcest. I like them better than Alcest though....

Anyhow, I really have to say those Dimmu Borgir and Obtained Enslavement covers make me cringe.
To be honest, I really hate S&M-themed artwork. Almost like it's pandering to single horny male teens.....

I prefer the older eras of both bands.......





The latter stolen from a book on Hare Krishna, but still pretty cool......