From the chilly depths of the ocean comes an album so fierce, so metal, that only an exquisitely kickass piece of artwork could do it justice. While not a strict concept album, Mastodon’s 2004 metal opus Leviathan is loosely based on the story of Moby Dick. Of course that much should be obvious, as one of the songs is entitled “I Am Ahab”. I took a chance on this album when I bought it a few years ago (I don’t care for the majority of current metal), having only heard snippets of a few songs. Part of the reason, I suspect, was the cover art.
Even better is the expanded version of the illustration:
C’mon, if a cover with a giant killer whale, guys with spears, and a flaming tower doesn’t say “kick ass metal inside”, I don’t know what does.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 6:28 am.
Categories: Album Covers.
Tags: Album covers, Albums, Herman Melville, Mastodon, metal, Moby Dick, whales.
Other swell posts I'm sure you'll dig:
- Album cover of the week: British Steel
- Album cover of the week: Things Fall Apart
- Album cover of the week: A Day in the Life
- Album review mini-roundup: Russian Circles, Four Tet, Midlake, The Roots, Portishead, Tapes ‘N Tapes
- Album cover of the week: Down on the Upside
- Album cover of the week: Equinox
- Album cover of the week: News of the World
That cover alone is one of the reasons I really wanted to like Mastodon. Similarly, I really want to like Lacuna Coil’s Karmacode and Meshuggah’s ObZen.
A former co-worker recommended ObZen, but it was just a little too intense for me. Not enough melody either (which Mastodon does have, if you can get past the vocals).
Why does so much metal these days have that stipulation “if you can get past the vocals”? So much great music ruined by silly growling.
P.S. I’m glad you installed the comment subscription plugin - one of my favorites!