VULCANIC KAMIKAZE APE

Back again. Visiting the mastermind Frank Frazetta and his world of barbaristic art. Once again this will not be a post about bands who just borrow his art straight off, no, that's boring. But actually something of a classic you might not know took inspiration from elsewhere.

We are talking about the amazing live album "Live!" '85 by Brazil's Vulcano.



This is truly a Uncoverseum gold-moment. I mean, what creativity! In both paintings by Frazetta, the characters borrowed into the Vulcano cover has one of their legs obscured, but like if magic existed, we have those guys two legged in the "Live!" cover. Maybe my excitement is little overboard, but I admire, honestly, the kind of creativity that was put into this piece. Of course the angry cave ape with flippers have been tilted backwards left, so he's running straight forward instead of his original kamikaze-fight-til'-death-over-the-cliff-posé. The warrior is mirrored with black hair instead of blonde, and to be fair... A whole lot has been redone with this guy, except maybe the bloody sword and the posé.

I think this is great. It is not a total rip off. I guess the artwork artist for "Live!" didn't know that many big guys who could posé for him while oiling up this masterpiece, so he flipped a fantasy mag and went for it. And the demon in front of the moon is still iconic for the band, so that's huge as well.

MORE KILLERS

A few years back Stormspell Records launched a series called TREND KILLERS. What some of you might not know is that the design for this series is actually from Roadrunners low price series PRICE KILLERS.



If this is a known fact to you, don't feel offended. If you didn't know, what ever. I don't think these records are in that much circulation here in Scandinavia. It's an extremely annoying way to put out records again at a lower price, because you mess up the album cover. But when Stormspell did their homage to this madness I kind of liked it, because it's historical, and a bit stupid to do so.

By the way, Stormspell Records Gandalf logo is super cool, and a masterpiece in logo design:

PARADISE DISMEMBERED

Ok, so a pretty beige post today. I hardly think Dismember was inspired by the back-cover for Paradise Lost's "Gothic" '91, when they released "Pieces" in '92.



But somehow worth mentioning and taking a moment to gaze upon. The idea is pretty much the same here.

KILLERS

Why? Because it's really hard to imagine something called "Killers" without that look! Observe that the metal-comp version are not a replica. It's just, what I presume, inspired.



"Metal Killers" was released in the UK 1984, three years after Iron Maidens second album. The artwork is astonishing. Not only does the warrior have all the right proportions, so does the guitar as well. Nothing looks weird here. But what takes the cake to the prom is the "a" in "metal". Obviously someone in the design room forgot to cut out some white. Pretty dumb mistake.

Viking barbarians are always the coolest. Close planets, lightning and dinosaurs does not(!) overshadow that fact.

TOTAL DEVASTATION

Brazil had a load of great bands in the 80s who made an significant impact on the scene. One bone crushing effort we all should know off is "Bestial Devastation" '85 by Sepultura. Probably my favorite release by them, because I love when music is a little bit shitty while genius.

Why I begin by mentioning this release is because it's likely the most famous of the three covers shown below. But beware, Sad Iron's "Total Damnation" '84 is a beast and should be bought on sight. Death Squad is a bit newer band from Italy, playing Thrash. They have now split up, but they did leave behind "Bestial Domination" in 2010.



So, Sad Iron to Sepultura. I think the Devils face is similar enough to be mentioned here. I wouldn't be surprised if who ever did "Bestial Devastation" had a little sneak peak at "Total Damnation". That Death Squad's cover is inspired by "Bestial Devastation" goes without saying. The name is a tip off as well. Funny with the names on these three releases as well, they do have the same feel right?

The coolest thing here, between all these three cover artworks is the little reaper on "Bestial Devastation". The whole cover is magnificent. Sad Iron's cover is very well done as well, but not as ominous, but they do have a tiger and a bird, and a v-guitar... and a building.

But we are not quite done. I finally give you Morbid Rites, a thrash-four piece from the states. This self titled demo was released this year, 2017, and surely we can all suspect where they got the inspiration for the cover, yes?



...a very nice cover I might add.

WRETCHED CARNIVORE

On Carnivore's second album they went completely bananas and had album artwork, contrary to their previous album which only featured their logo.

On this little gem we get something that looks crafted for this release, but of course is not. It's a manipulated photo from an actual war picture. First band to feature this (to my knowledge) was Italian HC band Wretched, who did so in 1983 on an EP i do not dare to spell out, while "Retaliation" was issued in '87.



Carnivore approached the market without their logo we all treasured from their first album. Instead the cover had a digital type of font we all know from Iron Maiden's "Somewhere In Time" which was out in 1986. I suspect a lot of record label involvement within this release, non the less, it's a hell of an album. No trademark violations here, unless the machines rise and tells the public they are offended by the slobbish ways we have used some of their sources to communicate.

As you can see the album later on got a "Parental advisory" stamp on it, when relaunched in 2001. "About time" some parents thought to themselves. "We can't have people speaking their mind freely to our children, they might be enlightened."

"The power of the atom at our disposal 
Yet it's called unsafe 
Nuclear energy so clean and pure 
Your ignorance is a disgrace"

ROTTING IN BLOOD

I think it was said in an interview that the artwork for Swedish Coldworker's second release "Rotting Paradise" was inspired by the, much deserved, cult album "Reign in Blood" by Slayer.



Both albums are great and highly recommended.. in your physical collection. Just writing this triggered me to revisit "Rotting Paradise", which I haven't done for ages. One of those albums I know are good, but somehow has fallen into oblivion.

I think it's much more fun to discover for oneself what's been loaned and inspired in this one. Some stuff are facts, some we can only just speculate upon. Me pointing it out feels kind of redundant.

The lower right corner with the title in grey above a black and red background reminds me of the sublime artwork for Obliteration's (also sublime) album "Black Death Horizon". I hardly think this was a inspiration, but it's still nice to have a reason to post this cover art as it is majestic and beyond.