DUSTY PETERSON’S TOP 5
Dusty Peterson checks in with RIA to give us his top 5 favorite covers of all time. Â Dusty is best known for his work with Six Feet Under, Cattle Decapitation and the new Oceano cover. Â If your not already familiar then check out his work at www.dustypeterson.net
5. Samael – Ceremony of Opposites (Unknown?)
One of the first bands to really get me into black metal and I just always thought this cover was so striking. When you take the individual components away from it, it seems pretty simple. I mean it’s a floating Jesus head. But it still manages to be incredibly iconic and it perfectly matches the music inside. You knew exactly what you were getting. That’s how album art should be.
4. Opeth – Blackwater Park  (Travis Smith)
Travis Smith has made a career out of deeply atmospheric and beautifully composed cover artworks. This was the first album that introduced me to his work and the first Opeth album I bought. When I saw this cd while flipping through the racks, I said to myself “This looks like it has to be quality with a cover like this”. And I was right! Quality artwork did in fact equal a quality album. There was a sense of importance to it, like you knew it was going to be big.
3. Cannibal Corpse – Butchered at Birth (Vincent Locke)
I’ve been a fan of Vincent Locke’s work for years and this is my favorite from him. Back when this came out, I was really into a comic series that he was a large part of called Deadworld. It was the comic for zombie fans before zombie culture got so annoying. So when I saw that he was doing the album covers for this band, I just had to pick it up. So this album cover (and of course this album) are pretty important to me nostalgically.
2. Dio – Holy Diver (Randy Berrett and Gene Hunter)
It’s hard to even say anything about this cover that hasn’t been said hundreds of times already, but it’s just awesome. Something I see get thrown around a lot with classic metal album covers is people will say “..like those old cheesy 80′s metal album covers” as if to discredit the artist. While I agree there are some really poor album covers from that era, this one stands the test of time. It’s composed well, has great color and contrast, and it does it all without a ton of random “greebly” details. The subject matter just screams “metal”, too.
1. Sepultura – Arise (Michael Whelan)
I just couldn’t have any other album cover artist as number one other than Michael Whelan. He’s the artist that most impacted me as a teenager and made me realize that I wanted to be a professional artist. He’s done a lot of really good ones (Obituary’s “Cause of Death”, for example..which could just as well tie for first for me), but this one just blows me away on every level. I think the ability to take something surreal and make it believable, like it could be right in front of you is an amazing feat. This cover is straight out of the depths of my worst nightmares.
As for what I am working on, I am working with an Italian band named “Dawn Under Eclipse” for their next release, the 2nd album from “Behold! The Monolith“, and sometime this year the next “Six Feet Under” LP….other than that, nothing else has been nailed down so I shouldn’t say anything yet.
Arise! Awesome!
Ceremony of Opposites! Awesome!