3 album covers in our archive
Black Sabbath is featured in Behind the Covers' archive with 3 album covers from the 1970s. Released across Vertigo Records, the artwork sits in the metal, rock tradition. Each cover is documented in our archive with design notes covering photography, controversial, iconic, band photo, infrared, gothic. Below you'll find the full story behind each Black Sabbath cover — designers, photographers, label history, and the visual choices that defined the release.
Keith Macmillan's War Pigs concept became iconic mismatch when label changed album title to Paranoid last-minute. Roger Brown posed as the fluorescent warrior in Black Park for heavy metal's most confusing cover.
A cloaked figure stands frozen before a haunted-looking watermill, draped in false-color crimson and shadow. For fifty years no one knew who she was. The mist on the water was faked with dry ice, then a smoke machine, in a morning shoot that helped launch heavy metal.
Paranoid by Black Sabbath — album cover art and credits.
