Best VK/Jrock Album Art

[accede 3]

A Ghost of Flare's "鼓動"

 

[alone_tsubasa 59]

D=OUT - Aoi Tori (Type A)

 

Matenrou Opera - Kassai to Gekijou no Gloria 

 

 

 

 

[TakaGacktHyde 19]

i love kagrra's album art.

 

from their shiki album.

 

 

hyakkikenran album

 

Yotogi Banashi release

[sai 868]

Kagrra,'s cover art is gorgeous yeah, never seen a Kagrra, cover that I disliked.

 

Also agreeing on B-T's 13kai wa gekkou and the 9GOATS covers.

 

 

Shugo Tokumaru's In Focus? has really nice, simple cover art imo (he's not j-rock though, more like indie-folk)

 

 

school food punishment's light prayer single. Loving all the colours.

 

 

M-Koda's (Japanese electronics artist) Generating Arrow Diagram. Also his cover for his Inga album:

 

 

Incredibly simple, but I love it.

 

 

Not a big fan of the album itself, but the cover art was very good.

 

 

BUCK-TICK's Gensou no Hana (one of the few covers of theirs that I actually like. Great albums but omg guys learn how to cover)

 

 

Alice Nine's Hana limited A cover. Loving the colours and effects.

[orangetarts 249]

i love kagrra's album art.

 

from their shiki album.

 

 

hyakkikenran album

 

Yotogi Banashi release

wow all of these are really nice. Im not really a Kagrra fan so i guess i never looked at them before lol

[keyinjpop 89]

Kagrra, always had some nice album art.

 

Looking up some Dir en grey stuff and found some album art I thought was impressive.

 

Gauze era had some nice album art too, though I'm probably just bias when I see women in suggestive poses.

[Zeus 7997]

Topic is simple. Show a picture of an album cover you really like (album and artist name would be helpful too!) and briefly explain why you like it.


陰陽座 - 鳳翼麟瞳

 

 

Reason: If there was ever a mysterious album cover that conveyed the mysterious, ethereal nature of an album without having to listen to it, Houyoku-Rindou would be that album cover. Also, it has Kuroneko on it and everyone that knows me should know that I fancy myself some Kuroneko.
 

UnsraW - GUILTY

 

 

Reason: UnsraW always tried to be a band with unsettling visuals, but this is the only album cover of theirs I find remotely unsettling. It's also one of the only album covers I feel like they put effort into. Too bad I can't say the rest about the mini-album.

 

Versailles - Ascendead Master

 

Reason: To me, this is Versailles best attempt at mixing their concept with an album cover. I generally don't like seeing band members on album covers, I think the Holy Grail album cover is very simple and the Versailles album cover bland. JUBILEE is take it or leave it. Plus, it's hand drawn and that's pretty boss.

[sai 868]

Interesting thread Zess! I have quite a few album covers that I really like, but I'll try to narrow it down to three of my biggest favourites.

 

Boris - New Album

 

 

Reason: Well basically Boris is kind of hit/miss when it comes to album covers to me. Their covers are usually very simplistic, a single colour and the name of the album + artist. New Album however matches the style of music the album presents. It's light, yet even though there are a lot of things going on in the image, it still manages to portray a very calm atmosphere. The use of colour and mixing of such is done really well, yet Boris didn't drift far from their usual methods, as the woman painted here is most probably Wata, the band's guitarist.

 

 

虹の彼方 - Seven Colors Variations -

 

 

Reason: The album cover is actually made up of two parts, the other side is on the back, but as it was hard to find in a normal size, here's the front. This is an album of an electronics artist, and what I love about electronics is how calm and atmospheric that music can be. A cover like this matches the type of music well. It's simple, the brush strokes rough but accurate and the font clear but not over the top. The wooden border looks better in the complete picture, to be quite honest, so I'm going to disregard that one.

 

 

RADWIMPS - Xと○と罪と

 

 

Reason: I guess this is a very personal choice, but I do love this cover. The black background with the huge mash-up of colours that are all unorganized yet still manage to show recognizable shapes are in some strange compatible with how this album sounds. And let's be honest, it's just pretty to look at.

[Asakusa 95]

FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT - FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT

 

 

Reason: This one has been my favorite since years ago, I don't have an specific reason actually, the thing is simple... it's gorgeous, mysterious, pretty well made... I don't know, it amazes me every time I stare at this piece of art.

[JukaForever 758]

Versailles Rose

 

 

This one is the most memorable to me as a Versailles fan. Like the typical metaphor for "after your life blooms, comes the eventual death as part of life," there is a hidden skull hidden in the rose foreshadowing the final outcome of life. This is the same theme that Versailles used in their mini drama. The death of the girl at the end is comically sudden and almost seemed like a Make a Wish Foundation thing going on.

[Augie1995 325]

David Maxim Micic / BILO3.0: I really don't know what to say about this except that it just feels like something that I saw in a children's picture storybook and I love it... Either that or Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends or whatever that cartoon network show was haha. It connects to me on a younger level, plus the album is a compositional masterpiece with a great mixture of orchestral pieces, piano interludes, and some very melodic guitars.

 

Scale The Summit / THE MIGRATION: Honestly, a friend of mine introduced me to these guys but I never paid much attention until I saw this artwork for their album a few months before it came out. The fact that all of their cover artworks (minus The COllective) have been of barren landscapes and then getting this lush creature made a huge impact on me. Also it fits with the theme organic that Letchford was going for with their music and the artwork fits that. Plus, I'm curious if that creature has a name. (Also, these guys are amazing, no guests vocalists, no djent, no dubstep crap, just pure unrivaled melodic tunes to take you upon a journey)

 

MUSE / THE 2ND LAW: Basically all of their album covers hit strong and look awesome but this one just attracts me so much. Something about the way that it looks like an actual brain ( or at least the shape of) and the huge spectrum of colors that it's been painted with. I wish our brains would look that beautiful when we were in a creative process, exactly how I felt the band members brains would have looked like as they were creating this album. There's a reason these guys are a highly-regarded rock band, they just create some spectacular music and some delicious eye candy for you to look at as you enjoy their music

 

Protest The Hero / VOLITION: This isn't the original artwork for the album but this is the special one that we croudfunders got for supporting the creation of the album (seeing as how the album was created using only the money that us fans gave the band in support of their next release). There's nothing to say other than the artwork is just stunning. I just love the brushwork even though this was done on computer and I love eveything about the outcome of this. Plus, seeing Dan Mumford creating this through a speed-through video uploaded by Luke Hoskin of Vimeo is mesmerizing to say the least.

 

Serj Tankien / IMPERFECT HARMONIES: I just really love this artwork for his solo album. Serj Tankein has one of the most unique, yet odd voices and it's amde me fall in love since i heard SOAD's Question song. This artwork features some really cool duality going on (Especially since Serj is a very strong political speaker with his songs, just listen to Harakiri) with one side of the landscape being lush green plains with a sunny sky and the other side a cityscape destroyed, covered in a fog with a concrete road. Plus, the way his suit seems to be getting covered up by the blackness almost as if the human body is being corrupted. I'm getting to analytical about it but it's a really cool and strong image. (Another duality album cover I like is Alice Nine's GEMINI)

[Champ213 1858]

ElDorado - AULA

 

It may not look that special at first, but I really like the simple look of it. But more importantly I love how the cover is tied in with the booklet. I made this photo to illustrate:

 

 

There are more member photos inside the booklet, followed each by a page of reflective material. If you hold it the right angle, the members are getting mirrored by it, just like they are mirrored by the surface of the lake on the cover photo. I think that's really neat. Although technically it's not just the cover art as such.

 

 

So, are we doing non-japanese too? Because I really love this:

 

Tenhi - Saivo

 

It's just so dark and eerie and mysterious, yet beautiful, and it totally describes their music to me. It's also very simple and iconic. It makes you wonder, who are these people? What are they doing there?

 

Ironically, it also features something on a lake being mirrored by the water, but that's just a coincodence, I swear!

 

 

There's tons of stuff I'm forgetting though.... if I can think of some, I'll post more.

 

 

[Pretsy 1343]

DIR EN GREY - Rinkaku

 

 

Reason: I think DEG didn't really have any beautiful illustrations earlier as album/single artwork (Glass Skin cover is not counted for reasons) - and to think that Kyo himself drew this, is just mind-blowing. I dig avant-garde-like elements in this cover (made me think of Resident Evil in the first place tho, lol), and that makes it much more memorable out of their visual repertoire.

 

 

L'Arc~en~Ciel - True

 

 

 

Reason: No one could argue with the fact that L'arc guys were really into late 80s/early 90s pop artwork during Tierra-True phase, and this is the perfect example of it. "Seductive eyes" here works quite well as a visual description of what will come out of your speakers during the first listen. Album's content is very charming, floating, emotional and yeah, seductive! Early 90s-iness of font used in the cover works as so-called "sound indicator" too. Wish they could really get back to this kind of romanticist approach...

 

Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist

 

 

 

Reason: Might be pretty, say, dirty for some people - but we, Deftones' listeners/fans (I know you are in this community), should admit this already (despite the early disliking towards the cover above like 6-7 years ago): after listening to the album more than once, you will realize why they used this kind of album cover. It's pretty sensual! Just like album's musical content, haha.

[fitear1590 2414]

DIV - 夏の行方 (natsu no yukue)

 

Reason: Not sure what it means or if it's just random, but I simply love the composition.  Who knew goldfish and marbles (?) would be a winning combination?  Plus, the black background also makes the colors pop intensely.

 

戸川純 (Jun Togawa) - 玉姫様 (Tamahime sama)

 

Reason: It's mysterious and creepy in a subtle way.  I can easily imagine this being a still from an 80s horror movie, like The Fly - or in this case, The Dragonfly.

 

Ehpion - Re:union

 

Reason: Once again, simple, yet stark imagery.  It's gorgeous and reminds me of an old Dutch still life painting.

 

the god and death stars - addle apple

 

Reason: So simple, yet so iconic!  It definitely makes an impression. I'll never forget this album cover.

I think I've learned that I tend to like the following in my album art
a. simple
b. mysterious
c. black backgrounds with bursts of color
d. any combination of the above

Of the albums that were already posted, I'm also enjoying Boris' and FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT's.

[PsychoΔelica 648]

Reviving this thread because I wanted to post this somewhere.

 

Epica - The Quantum Enigma

 

 

I just came across Epica's The Quantum Enigma album cover by randomly googling for name ideas and it really impressed me, although I don't care much for Epica's music. But the cover is really beautiful. Can't really judge by the relevance to the music but it kinda makes me curious because the image looks really mysterious and quite powerful. Everything just blends really well together and the colors are beautiful.

[ShanethVarosa 1209]

Get ready for my most biased post yet: 

 

 

Versailles's Rose: Simple, elegant, gets the point across while also being a little dark and totally Versailles. This is easily the best of their single covers. I have to say I agree with Zess that I don't typically enjoy seeing band members on the cover of their album, but I think Versailles does it well.... Or maybe it's just because I am actively in love with them.... I don't know. What I DO know is that I love Rose's cover.

 

 

Versailles's Versailles: Even if it isn't my favorite of their albums.... (It's my second favorite) the concept behind this cover is incredible to me. I like that it literally is a depiction of their "last supper" for what is allegedly their final album, but I also love the light sacrilege that is insinuated by putting them in a scene that's religious in nature and have them eating roses. Also, big ups to the alternate cover art for keeping it hella simple and still pulling off elegance.

 

 

Madonna's Rebel Heart: Cue a small bit of promo for an album that dropped recently, but really though. This cover art is pretty cool. She doesn't look stunningly beautiful or anything, which I believe to be part of the point. It's just... Artistic, weird, over the top, nonsensical, and most importantly Iconic. 

 

 

Div's Zero One: Last one for now because I have to take a shower, but my love for this album art goes no further than the fact I fervently believe it to be one of the best albums of all time and it's a really pretty birdy.

 

[herpes 1597]

^ in what world is the rebel hernia cover iconic

 

 

Seiko Oomori's Mahou Ga Tsukaenai Nara Shinitai. A parody of Shiina Ringo's Shouso Strip, it replaces the faux innocence of Shiina's image at the time with Seiko's mocking half smile and the blurry decoupage style flower crown with a spray that looks potent enough to give you hayfever from the CD.

 

 

Plastic Tree's tsumetai hikari. It looks like Mark Rothko collaborated on a Christmas card line with Lana Del Rey. 

 

 

Janet's together again. Praying for the haters. Praying for your taste. Praying for her sales. In a qipao. Also I love her Busta Rhymes mtv music awards 1997 hair. 

 

 

Bjork's Vulnicura. It doesn't get much more instantly iconic as this. 2015's album of the year is centred around Bjork's break-up and the cover just shows her vulnerability and openness. 

 

 

 

 

!!!! BONUS !!!!

 

 

 

 

It's really fun and meghan is the queen of pop! Buy Title on itunes.

[eiheartx 1310]

n°1: BlutEngel - Monument (2013)

 

 

This artwork is a fascination for me. it was my twitter pic profile for a long time too.

I love everything, the colours, the model's position, the stones grimping slowly on her.

 

 

n°2: Courage My Love - Becoming LP (2015)

 

 

Despite the crappy band name, I really love this cover. The atmosphere, the colours, the boat, the classy logo which fits perfectly. Very poetic.

 

 

n°3: AqME - Epithète, Dominion, Epitaphe (2012)

 

 

Stunning and mysterious artwork! It was my favourite artwork back in 2012.

they did a 2CD reedition (with their new vocalist) one year after, with the same image but reversed (the arrow and the moutain was pointed upwards).

[Flame-X 441]

I really like the literal approach with this cover and metaphorical meaning behind it. The simplicity of this image says a lot about the album.

 

Trance cover generally have awesome looking sci-fi imagery. This one in particular is my favorite. Abstract and attention grabbing to me.

 

This may not look anything special to most people but it's simple and professional enough for me to get sold into.

[beni 2149]

Backing up Bjork's, Togawa's and BORIS' ones, in particular, the latter one I was going to include myself. I love the artist, beautiful work. I've got more than enough loves from VK so this is just a VK stash of album covers I've fallen for.

 

Kagrra, - Shu

Reason: On the topic of artistry, my first selection goes to the artist who does Kagrra,'s works. Not just this cover, but all of Kagrra,'s covers are undenirably pleasant and beautiful. This one is my favourite at the moment. Its light pink colour doesn't turn me off but only highlights the cover's elegance. And the traditional appearance of the woman is just perfect in association with Kagrra,'s style. I really love the subtle differences in Limited and Regular additions as noticable above (L/R). 

 

kannivalism - Helios

Reason: What caught my attention with this cover is how similar it is to THE NOVEMBERS' glorious art covers (in which I would include here but they don't fit in >.<). It's right bang in the middle to make for a simple yet striking album cover. The colours are dim and seem grazed, making it look a bit worn with time. But it's the fantasical aspect of it I adore. It's almost like a home unrooted above the clouds, and that is a really pretty thought and representation.

 

cocklobin - Iris

Reason: Probably the most simple of my batch, cocklobin's album cover has some of the prettiest and most elegant curves, swirls and font I think I've ever seen on an album cover. It all mixes wonderfully with the monochrome all together. It's a pattern I'd love to have around my home; it's just so inviting and classy. 

 

VELVET EDEN - Double Twelve

Reason: More elegance comes in the form of dark imagery. I love it when an image can look so haunting, and this comes in one of the best forms as VELVET EDEN's album. The figure's face is taken over by a skull instead, surrounded by darkness. This makes for a really captivating image. Not only this but because the figure is in a fabulous headwear and set from head to toe, it's really flattering and fancy. And the circle pattern behind it just adds to the whole picture. And finally, that text. Everything just works to create a perfect cover.

 

Suzaku - Zessaishu

Reason: More artistry and skulls for my final spot. The skull background/border nicely centers the main piece of the Kimono wearing and smoking woman. It's quite traditional thanks to the whole attire of the woman, and the red colours mix splendidly together with the black and white. More elegance and class delivered.

[ghost 2687]

9goats black out - Karte

 

I love the red color of the sand and the sea of ripples. Contrasted with the clean blue sky, it really pops out.

The font on the cover is appropriate and its placement doesn't distract from anything.

And the 3 distant burning figures add a sort of surrealism to everything.

 

Sadie - gain

 

I'm pretty sure this is some are  art (I canz spell?)  piece so I'm not sure if they should get credit for the cover,

but regardless I like how they used it. It's super creepy and fitting to the mood of the mini-album. 

I just want to try and touch the faces.

 

school food punishment - Riff-rain

 

I love how much there is to see in this cover. You have all the stuff on the models head, the different hues of purple/blue everywhere, the model, the negative space around the model, etc. This is the first album I wanted to hear when I was looking through SFP's discography for the first time. The cover got me so interested to hear what their music was like.

[Pretsy 1343]

Wow, I left off non-vk choices too? Allow me to cheat a little bit:

 

Ringo Sheena - Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

 

You might wonder: "wow, an antique tea cup? Now what?"

 

But this is exactly where such simple cover manages to condense the general, artsy - and maybe even "rare, fragile" aura of this exceptional J-venture. I like how Ringo literally stuck to this mysterious, questionable theme by simplifying the aesthetic part of this album (traditional, legal kanji used etc.), while trying her best at making her lyrical/musical self go for most complicated extremes (subliminal messages, weird wordplays, playful genreisms).

 

Fun fact: the cover itself has a lot to do with the content too, as certain deep-ish lines in "Shuukyou" (the first song of the said album) show:

 

“I can’t find a cup I like anywhere I go. Why/

Even though so many buildings and streets are increasing/

Do we stare at the unreasonableness of the bottle we can’t finish drinking?”