Behind the Covers

heavy-metal

1 cover story in our archive

Behind the Covers' archive includes 1 album cover documented under the "heavy metal" design theme, all from the 1970s. The cover sits within the metal tradition and features work by 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.

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath — album cover art

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath (1970)

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.

Label
Vertigo Records
Designer
Keith Macmillan
Photographer
Keith Macmillan
Genre
Metal
Decade
1970s
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