The imagery of Heavy Metal.
Book design for Harte Klänge.

There is a myth about the being or nonbeing of a metal fan, though this work does not refer to any Shakespearian tragedies, but to the lifelong relationship of many metal fans to their music. Fantastic themes, dark lyrics and guitar riffs in apocalyptic hardness. Contents like these are appreciated by a metal fan, but what about the associated imagery? Where do the figures, elements and spaces come from, which are depicted on the opulent, almost cluttered album covers?

In order to find an answer, we examined the 2800 most important record covers of metal and worked out their visual similarities, which are shown in this publication.