Demon Hunter has always been proud of his album cover, and it turns out the album cover is just one part of a larger artistic endeavor surrounding his next album, Exile. The disc, due out September 9, is their first-ever concept album, set in the aftermath of the collapse of civilized society and examining new modern life through a non-conformist lens.
Additionally, Demon Hunter is planning a four-issue comic book series written by vocalist Ryan Clark to coincide with the new album, allowing the musician to delve deeper into the album’s conceptual themes.
Given Demon Hunter’s affinity for combining intriguing visuals to accompany their hard-hitting musical endeavors, Loudwire reached out to Ryan Clark to discuss some of his favorite album art artists. While singling out some of the album cover icons, he makes sure to feature some of the artists he thinks should get more attention.
We’ll be handing over to Ryan here shortly, but first, keep an eye out for the band’s next album Exile, due out September 9th. discover the catchy cover of the new album Exile. Pre-orders are currently being taken here. Below the artwork, Clark took a look at 10 rock + metal cover artists you need to know.
Demon Hunter (with Max Cavalera), “Defense Mechanism”
Demon Hunter, Exile album artwork
When we discuss the subject of metal and hard rock album covers, we are used to seeing similar lists of great artists such as Ed Repka, Dan Seagrave, Derek Riggs, Kristian Wåhlin and others. These artists have truly shaped what we all love about the face of extreme music. God knows I often favor this kind of album art myself; I hired Dan Seagrave to create eight Demon Hunter covers over the years and has harnessed the incredible talents of artists like Eliran Kantor, Dan Mumford and Justin Kamerer.
The fine art category is well-trodden territory for good reason, but I think the best album cover can’t be all about this aesthetic alone. A true album art lover can’t reference Killers, Soul Slaughter and Arise without also acknowledging the genius behind classic covers like British steel, Vulgar display of power, Roots, Dirt, white pony and Iowa.
Having worked as an art director and professional graphic designer in the music industry for over 20 years, I thought it might be interesting to take a look into the world of graphic design for heavy music. Some of the people below are good artists as well as designers. Some are also photographers, typographers and collagists. My hope here is to shed some light on some of the less discussed graphic designers behind many of my favorite album covers.