TTWAAR Presents - Rad Album Covers : A Collection Vol. 4

Welcome to the first Rad Album Cover collection of 2019. There will be no special preferences here however, as rad album covers cannot be given special treatment above others simply because a new year has started. Nay, rad album artwork is eternal. Let us gaze upon some of these timeless wonders today.

The Sword - Warp Riders, 2010

Space is pretty cool. There's all kinds of shit happening out there, I mean like right now, right this second, there's a storm on Jupiter that's been bringing the thunder since at least 1830 - how cool is that? It seems daft then to feel the need to make up fictional stories about space when the limited information we already have about it is insane, but for some reason we do it, and in the genre's defense, the outcome is usually pretty sweet. The Sword have a strong appreciation for the sweetness of sci-fi, and thus decided to do away with fantasy tales which had served them well as an inspiration for their previous album, and thus they created Warp Riders. Warp Riders is a pretty dope name, but you know what's even doper? Some nice album art depicting a spaceship shooting across a mystical space setting of blood red and floating space rocks and the like. It has that groovy vintage sci-fi feel to it, an intentional look by artist Dan McPharlin who wanted to pay homage to the old skool sci-fi authors who inspired the lyrics to Warp Riders. Pretty cool.

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun, 2014

Mastodon are no stranger to top tier album artwork, but I personally think 'Round the Sun stands above the rest simply for the sheer amount of noise it features. What we've got here is some kind've inter-dimensional vegetable nightmare being, full of all kinds of wonderful shapes and colours, holding what could either be an egg or a seed of sorts, though it really is of no great importance that we know what it is. This visual masterpiece was conjured up by the brilliant artist Skinner, who specialises in some pretty mesmerising and psychedelic imagery. I will say though that this probably isn't his best work he's ever done, but it certainly is the best Mastodon album artwork.

Dio - Holy Diver, 1983

HOLY DIVAH. Holy Diver is a bad-ass song, and I firmly believe when Dio crafted it in the fiery pits of Van Nuys, California, he knew he held in his hands something very powerful. It was so powerful in fact, that it's very name was chosen to be the album's title upon which it appeared, and from there it demanded an album artwork of radical caliber. Metal fans of the mid 80s got exactly that, too - a big ol' demon dude flashing us the metal horns as he casts some chump-ass priest into a raging sea, the waves swallowing him up as he gasps for air, unable to escape the chains that imprison him and seal his watery fate. After a stint in Sabbath and reading a whole load of fantasy tales and sci fi novels, it seemed fate that Dio would deliver unto us the most majestic of debut metal albums.

The Misfits - Bullet, 1978

There was a time when The Misfits weren't a bunch of pisspoor imitators of their old selves surviving solely on merchandise in Hot Topic. They used to be pretty cool, especially when Danzig was involved, and especially when Bullet was released. Adorning the cover to this illustrious single, we see a black and white photo of John F Kennedy smiling from his limo, accompanied by a violent spray of blood from the back of his head. Because, y'know, he got shot in the head, didn't he? You probably never forgot this fact since the day you heard it, and neither did The Misfits, seeing as though the featured track on the single is about just that. As well as being about getting sucked off by Jacqueline Kennedy. Punk rawk.

Czarface - Czarface, 2013

Much like rappers such as MF DOOM and Ghostface Killah, who both feature on this hip-hip supergroup's debut album, Czarface have a delightful appreciation for comic books. It makes sense then for them to use comic book inspired artwork on their album cover, which looks a little like how a comic book conjured up by artist Jim Phillips at Santa Cruz would turn out - something I'm pretty much rolling with due to the severed demon hand featured top left. There's a whole lot of action happening before us, most notably the titular Czarface straight up melting a police officer who stands before him, eliminating the threat of resistance to his formidable onslaught. Whoever that is standing to the left firing his piece at Czarface must be feeling pretty silly right about now.

Primus - Frizzle Fry, 1990

Primus love using claymation for both their album covers and music videos, and the product of this clay-based obsession is some of the most striking album covers going. The cream of the crop is probably the album above us, Frizzle Fry. Here we see some dopey looking dude's head staring up at us from a frying pan, bathing in some kind've grimy looking oil. In fact, as with most Primus albums, the overall colouring of Frizzle Fry looks kinda dirty and grimy, a sensation that can also be felt through the music featured on it. Funky stuff.

Scooter - Jumping All Over the World, 2007

Scooter aren't rad you say? Fuck you, Scooter are most definitely rad, but in their own, unique, Scooter way. Anyone who says they don't like unapologetically upbeat and boompin' songs written with precision engineering to make you feel like you're on cocaine is a bare faced liar, a Snow Patrol fan, or both. Do they have any rad album covers? Yes they do, it is Jumping All Over the World. Sporting frontman HP Baxxter in his signature anorak and thick chain front and center, this album radiates rad vibes simply down to the sheer level of confidence these men have. Is that guy wearing a tie? He sure is. Behold, your Aryan techno demi-god, and know that his name is HP Baxxter.

Judas Priest - Painkiller, 1990

Much like the previously mentioned Dio with his masterpiece Holy Diver, Judas Priest found themselves in possession of one of metal's other sacred texts - Painkiller. Painkiller not only kicks all kinds of ass, it annihilates it into oblivion. How do you convey the sheer magnitude of a track like this to your audience? By encasing it within a killer piece of album artwork. What Priest felt was an appropriate image to coexist with the track was that of a metallic angel biker flying over some apocalyptic hell on a motorbike/dragon hybrid, fitted with saw blades as wheels and an exhaust which shoots flames. I feel it goes without saying, it most certainly was the most appropriate image to use.

Shut up and Dance - Dance Before the Police Come, 1990

There are certain things that never stop being cool, no matter how much society tries to convince you otherwise. For example, taking cool photos with your buddy in bad-ass stances with toy weapons in your hands was cool if you were ten, but have you ever tried to recreate the magic in your mid-twenties? Well Shut up and Dance did just that for one of their albums, and I feel as though the photo speaks for itself. Apparently these men are no strangers to trendsetting either, as the guy on the left (who we will assume is Shut up, of Shut up and Dance) appears to be sporting cheap replicas of the Chaos Blades from God of War, 15 years before it was released. The choice to oil up their muscles is also a nice touch.

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

If you've learnt anything from this listing today, it should be that 1990 brought us some of the raddest album arts of all time. We end today with our fourth album of that year, Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet. It should be now well established that spacescapes are an almost essential ingredient to rad album art, and so it should be a no brainer as to why Black Planet is featured here today. We've got some real nice spacey colours on show here, along with a black planet which is about to eclipse Earth, with the Public Enemy logo scorched onto its surface for all of space to see. What else did Public Enemy do to spice things up on their third album? They put "The counterattack on world supremacy"on it. Fucking just splashed it all along the bottom. Multiple times. Two of the phrases have been cut off by the edge of the album even. Fuck yeah.

I'm afraid today's lesson in rad album art has come to an end. But threat not, where one list ends, another will surely begin, in an unspecified time frame. But until then, I shall leave you with this final special mention:

Slim Goodbody - The Inside Story, 1974

Slim is here to both entertain and educate, a feat which many have tried and failed miserably. But Slim has something on his side, something special, something unique. What is that you ask? His album cover is rad, that's what. Here we see Mr.Goodbody, or so he claims to be despite missing an incredible amount of skin and flesh, posing somewhat seductively if light body horror is your thing, patting the top of his own name. Is this his pet? Is Slim Goodbody a good boy? I sure wish there is a less pixelated image of this print, because I'd sure love to know what the special bonus is. Skin?