2 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 2 album covers documented under the "gothic" design theme, all from the 1970s. These covers sit within the rock, metal tradition and feature work by Meat Loaf, Black Sabbath. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
Fantasy comic artist Richard Corben painted this hellish motorcycle scene after record executives rejected dozens of concepts. The underground comics legend created one of rock's most theatrical covers for an album that sat unreleased for two years.
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.