Art and Music

Music Art

This is a random post that is all about the connection between the art in music, or more specifically how artwork and music are combined to display a feeling or emotion and the importance of this.  I am referring to cover art for Cd's and records and their promotional art. I think cover art is very important and can become a signature style used by the band and can be used as their trademark to give them something specific to them that can be just as special as the music and make them stand out or become recognizable. 
Cover art can sometimes be striking and attract the same if not more attention that the music held within, for example Cannibal Corpses infamous album covers such

as their 1991 release 'Butchered at Birth' and 2012's 'Torture'.

 

This style of artwork has not only become trademark for a CC album but it for the entire genre, with it becoming a iconic genre staple, you wont find many bands releasing albums without using this style of artwork to accompany it. Usually the idea behind this images are nothing more than to create shock, horror effect and create controversy to help shift the album and appeal to fans, and is not normally an visual representation of the music. The artwork of Cannibal Corpse (impressive as it may be) does not necessarily communicate the musical feels of their albums (that is my personal opinion anyway).  Many bands Have taken this theme and used even more extreme illustrations for their music, however I feel that this can be just bands competing to be more 'extreme' and 'brutal' than the next band, just overly exaggerate their cover art for the sake of it and not for artistic reasons. Examples of this are probably bands like Cesspool of vermin with their album cover on 'Swirling carnivorous mass'. look it up.
A better example of similar album artwork that has more accurate feel to it, or put another way connects with the music in a better way would be 'Legacy of the Ancients' by Pathology released in 2010 or 'The Anomalies of Artificial Origin' by Abnormal Putridity from 2012.  
I was interested in the band Pathology from this image below, which is why I think good album artwork is important for bands to use to sell their albums and attract fans.
 I Think the cover for Abnormal Putridity's latest release is an exceptional piece of Album artwork that captures the musical and lyrical themes perfectly and superbly compliments the brutality and energy of the music with brutality and energy of its own. It really makes the album an exceptional package, with the more original use of colour rather than traditional red and black which helps the album stand out and the piece really has depth and endless potential in triggering emotive and imaginative responses in the viewer unlike Cannibal Corpse's artwork, which really is more limited in the emotions it conjurers.  I think that both of these pieces of art are exceptional in their own right but combined with their respective music really create something special. Both of these images are illustrations of the albums and the albums are sound tracks to the artwork . Both are highly recommended. 

You can see from the pictures that the artwork is becoming more refined and technical with more modern bands however it still displays similar themes. Both these images are by Par Olofsson where as the CC artwork is done by Vince Locke.
 I think the newer pieces are very cleverly constructed  as they omit most of the gore but can still create a brutal, powerful and satisfying piece of art (not to mention looking really cool!) by focusing on the composition,  of the characters and colour and textures of the picture.I really cannot say enough good stuff about these pictures and could write about them forever but I think I've covered my main points.

Moving on I would like to give a few more examples of what I think are great pieces of art that go with great pieces of art (music)

Parkway drive

 

The artwork on Parkway Drive's 2007 albums horizons may perhaps look to some uninteresting ,basic or random however if you know anything about this band or this music then you should understand why I think that this artwork is just a perfect companion to their music.  Personally I think this art is more epic than words and could spend an age contemplating its awesomeness.

It is not so much the technical ability of the images that I find inspiring but the whole emotions that I associate with it and the I feel that it is an absolutely superb representation of the emotions and concepts contained within the music. From the image itself to the colours and added embellishment, this art really hammers home the feelings from the songs and ideas and values of the band as well as more generic genre specific themes. 

The main image itself is of a pretty nondescript snow drift or sand dune, however with some alteration to the colours it is transformed with this picture now speaks volumes to me as I can instantly relate it to the band, the music and the genre and all the emotions and perspectives that go along with it. This image has been chosen (or created) as it has some disturbance in the surface indicating someone  has walked along it, in pursuit of the horizons. I feel that this image gives creates more questions than answers and entices you to explore the album from which you can draw your conclusions. If I had to describe the exact emotions and feel that these images portray I would probably say it is of lonesomeness and longing, hope and struggle. The whole feeling of this album is that of a journey, which begins with the front cover and ends with the last track, however only then do you realize that the journey is not over (it has just begun) hence the art on the reverse side looking over the horizon seen on the front cover of the Cd, you are then constantly related to your own journey called life via the songs and illustrations,  its an intense and epic experience, with what once looked like a plain lazy front cover now having great depth and meaning.

 The embellishments and colours are not strong but are added in with careful thought of their composition and scale. The style of the whole artwork is very 'beachy' which represents the overall genre very well but also feels very personal for the band .

 The epicness continues along with their subsequent albums 'Deep blue' and 'Atlas.

Again the art from this album tell a story and tracks along with the music, telling a story and being the visual representation of the feeling of the songs. 

The art from Atlas however does appear to have any chronological purpose however it is very awesome looking and provokes emotions.

BREAKDOWN OF SANITY

This is another example of what I think to be an exceptional piece of Album artwork which just suits the album perfectly. This picture from the cover of BREAKDOWN OF SANITY's new albums is clearly a very artistic piece and has been created very skillfully and has lots of depth with a very clean finish,the viewpoint and angle gives a very definite perspective, it looks very driven and precise. Minimal colour has been used in this image but a large range in tone instead gives the image incredible depth and an almost 'clinical' feel. 

This image in my opinion is very striking and really portrays a feeling of freshness (in both senses) and cold. It even reminds me of breathing cold air into my lungs on a crisp morning and the immensely fresh and crisp feeling that washes through the body, which is basically what you feel when this music hits your ears.

 I think this is an A* music and art match, because the emotions caused by the harsh and beautiful visuals match the beautiful melodies intertwined with the Gnarly rhythm.

I think the overall presentation of the cover would persuade anyone to listen to this album, with complete expectations of what they will find, I think the cover image describes the sound perfectly. Djent.(Musical) Art and (visual) Art at its best. 

Completely unlike their previous album 'Mirrors' which features  dull artwork with I think offers not suggestion of the great work within and is very off putting, this piece is so incredibility cliche and mind numbingly dull its annoying. It does not allude in anyway to the epicness of sound that awaits within and I would say it is very off putting and deterred me from trying this band for a long time. Again this is why I think that carefully considered art is very essential in promoting and describing music, images speak a thousand words.

A SKYLIT DRIVE

My last example of brilliant and beautiful album art is of the new album of A SKYLIT DRIVE called 'rise', 

I think this is just a superb, superb piece of art . It is probably one of if not the best album cover I have ever seen even thought  this theme has been done and done again and is so generic, I feel this is why this artwork is so amazing is that it takes two very generic and over done cliche and knocks them out of the park and into another dimension. The delivery of the image is just insane, I can not think about anything else that would make this image any better, again its a piece of art that you can really stand back and take a moment to appreciate. 

 For example the image content is quite morbid but at the same time look incredibly beautiful, her expression and they way the artist has positioned her hair and the ripples in her clothes paints this into a tranquil picture. Art like this just redefines the standard and just blows me away, I believe this is an album that many people enjoy and relate to and I think people can find many different meanings in the artwork that accompanies it. This piece of art is just epic basically, really awesome and good looking, it shows both power and finesse and combines them to make something both equally beautiful and awe inspiring. 

This cover art is just what fans want and I would definitely buy the album on the art alone if i had not heard the music,this is why I think this is great art.