Iron Maiden Album Art With Giant Robot Impaling a Man in His Palm
Oh, hullo there! Welcome to Iron Maiden Week!
Some guy having a meltdown amidst wild flowers
Expect, what? Isn't, like, every week at Last Rites effectively Atomic number 26 Maiden calendar week? Well, yes… Yep, it is. But that steady servility is largely relegated to ongoings behind airtight doors at LR HQ, and this calendar week nosotros get to be freaks out in the open up amidst all the birds and the bees and the wild flowers and the Bigfoot scat and the loosely cached radioactive alien corpses and, yeah, simply generally out hither in front end of the whole world, so we're extra enthusiastic. Plus, there'southward a little event entitled Senjutsu dropping this coming Friday, which was clearly the impetus for this 5-24-hour interval celebration. However, unlike our two other week-long dedications to a single band—Judas Priest week back in 2018 to coincide with the release of Firepower, and our dearest-fest with Opeth back in 'xix—we will exist walking into Maiden's seventeenth full-length on the very aforementioned level playing field as all of you lot, because we remain underground underdawgs whose celebrity (*cough*) does not grant us promotional considerations from the almighty music group known equally Warner (who are probably at least ten% responsible for the to a higher place-mentioned loosely buried aliens. Shhhhhhhh!)
So, yep, we don't have any sort of inside scoop on the new Atomic number 26 Maiden, and we will not accept a review for Senjutsu leading up to its release this coming Friday. What we Volition have, however, is a stack of other fun lists that…apparently kicks off today, and we will reserve Friday for a possible NEW excursion that involves creating a very temporary weekend Discord server that's Final Rites-centric and open to whomstever might enjoy spending Fri (Sept 3rd) gathered enmasse to discuss all things Senjutsu / Iron Maiden…which is probably what Eddie would well-nigh want us to do anyway. No inkling if the Discord server side of the plans will really work, because that obviously requires, i) involvement, 2) "digital customs app" platform aptitude, and 3) some level of civility, merely we'll requite 'er a go. Expect to meet some sort of link / invite this Friday on the homepage, through FB, and on Twitter, and we hope to encounter as many of the former-schoolhouse Metal Review forum folks lurking virtually as possible.
Right, enough with the intro'ing! Permit's shift the attending to our very first day of Iron Maiden calendar week! Take 'er away, Rydawg. [CAPTAIN]
A wife had a infant, only it was born with only a head and no trunk. 'Don't worry,' says the doc. 'Bring him back in five years time, and we'll probably have a torso for him'. And then five years go past, and in that location'southward Eddie the 'Ead, as his parents have called him, sitting on the mantelpiece, when in walks his dad. 'Son,' he says, 'today'southward a very special mean solar day. It's your fifth altogether, and nosotros've got a very special surprise for yous.' 'Oh no,' says Eddie. 'Not another fucking hat!" – Dave Murray
Poor chap has no thought what he'southward going to go through in the side by side 41 years.
Not to put words in the ol' bloke's mouth, but if Eddie were sick of wearing new hats by his fifth birthday it certainly seems every bit though he'south come up 'round to the idea. Certain, by the fourth dimension Iron Maiden was released, Motörhead already had their affair with Snaggletooth, and Priest were beginning a long, symbolic journeying with their trident. Yet, no one expanded on the mascot idea in the way that Iron Maiden did. Satan had their little reaper fella, Riot had their nature-defying furry seal animate being in all sorts of scenarios, but no one did it as cohesively or elaborately equally Maiden. While it's omitted from the post-obit list, Derek Riggs' iconic Iron Maiden holds a particular reverence. The expression on young Eddie's confront, both fearful and fear-inducing, has a certain naivety to information technology, at least in retrospect. Eddie has no clue the worlds the music of Atomic number 26 Maiden is about to take him through; from backstreet, blueish-neckband Killers , through the biblical realms of hell to sanitariums, ancient Egypt, cyperpunk dystopias, globe wars, 3-D rendered disasterpieces, and beyond.
It's a lot of hats to wear, but ol' Ed The 'Ead has taken it in stride. Through countless albums, singles, EPs, flyers, T-shirts, and all sorts of assorted merchandising, Eddie has remained a steadfast centerpiece of the band. Hell, he'due south almost as essential a member of Iron Maiden every bit Steve Harris and Dave Murrary. Eddie and the worlds of history, fantasy, and reality that he's placed in are interwoven with the ring–information technology's about impossible to carve up the music from the visual fine art in a multimedia bout-de-force that no ane else in heavy metal has e'er been able to replicate with such consistency and longevity. What follows is not only an appreciation for the visual attribute of the ring, just our favorite snapshots of Eddie throughout his journeying in the ever-expanding universe of the one and simply Iron Maiden. [RYAN TYSINGER]
10. PIECE OF MIND
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I had shrieking, lobotomized Eddie on my wall when I was in early high school, between Unleashed in the E and Ride the Lightning (and yes, secretly, each of these hid a sexy little surprise for anybody savvy enough to lift a corner and sneak a peek). I stared at that poster a lot equally a young teenager, thinking most poor Eddie and fifty-fifty relating to him in his sorry predicament; in a sense, Eddie was me!
It'southward a very elementary cover at commencement chroma, particularly up confronting so much of Derek Riggs' other work for Iron Maiden. Simple still deep. I wondered what (or who) had gotten to Eddie. Padded walls, directly jacket and chains, sure, but that's not a common kind of crazy in Eddie'southward dying star eyes. At that place's a terrible desperation in his madness that Riggs but nails every bit Eddie strains against his shackles, pushing, vehement, snarling at… me!
My copy of Piece of Mind was a cassette tape, so the encompass was small, but it folded out to the full gatefold art, revealing what I supposed had Eddie so very well pissed: a door ‒ his escape! ‒ tantalizingly near and impossible to attain. Freedom's promise pours into those expanded panels as moonlit clouds in a broad open up heaven, cool and serene against the dry, jaundiced heat of Eddie's prison.
Then in the corner, taunting, a floating glove (disembodied mitt?) holding a concatenation and… the key to Eddie's irons?! Alas, we know today that the hand was just a clever way for Riggs to leave his marking (his signature on a trinket fastened to the chain), and the cover art generally was just Riggs' astonishing interpretation of some cool ideas that didn't actually mean annihilation in a big picture sense. But at the time I was convinced that Eddie'south plight mirrored my own. I was trapped as well, god damn it, by the suffocating confines of barely understood Christianity and all the starchy rules of a country upbringing in minor boondocks traditional America. All I really wanted was escape and Atomic number 26 Maiden gave me countless hours of information technology that I go on to treasure even afterward all this time. [LONE WATIE]
9. "STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND" SINGLE
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When asked to choose his favorite Iron Maiden album cover, Derek Riggs chose four. Amongst the 4 was "Stranger in a Strange Land." It's non difficult to come across why.
The strange, seemingly seedy land here appears non too distant from Ridley Scott'southward vision of 2019 Los Angeles in Blade Runner. Strange creatures, both futuristic and non-so-futuristic-looking, announced to be engaged in a smorgasbord of sin. Or possibly that'south the green creature'southward Lord's day best.
Ignoring for a second the very matter that grabs you lot—the Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name meets Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard Eddie—it's the lighting that makes this fine art extraordinary. The axle of fluorescent light on the 2 ant-like robots and the hairy little guy in the helmet hanging out in the bar area. The stage-like light illuminating whatever it is the same light-green brute and the gun-toting robot are engaged in on the far right. And, of class, our Eddie, standing in the dark between the two, cigarette in mouth, lit lighter in hand. In that location'due south smoke. There's a little fire. The glint of beer and rocks glasses. The shiny helmet on the hairy little guy. And the yellow street light and neon signage just outside of this fine establishment.
Riggs' command of lighting creates the atmosphere of risk and danger that makes this strange land strange and, ultimately, kind of cool. That feeling of isolation, of loneliness, that the song itself so finer captures is depicted perfectly hither in visual course. Ane is left wondering just what Eddie intends to do here. In one case upon a time I thought information technology obvious that he was but two minutes shy of tossing that lighter over his shoulder. Whatever the case may be, this Eddie—this futuristic and not-so-futuristic-looking Eddie, this caught somewhere in time Eddie—is, without a incertitude, i of my favorites. [CHRIS C]
8. Seventh SON OF A SEVENTH SON
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Most days, Seventh Son is my favorite Maiden anthology, but it was one of the early-run albums that took me the longest to runway down and sink my teeth into. (In my unsophisticated and generally pre-internet youth, I was at the mercy of whatever I might stumble across at a used CD store.) Perhaps because of the relative lateness of when I acquired it, I already had a fairly well-formed idea of what Maiden covers looked similar, and Seventh Son, while yet plumbing equipment that mold, too felt wildly dissimilar.
A huge piece of that difference is that Seventh Son has arguably the lightest overall color palette of whatever of Maiden'southward albums. (Powerslave is the just one that really comes close.) Further, the lightness of the blues, yellows, and whites amplifies the relative sparseness of the prototype. So many of Derek Riggs'due south other Maiden covers are dumbo compositions that cram as much fascinating and wickedly cool detail as possible into the frame, but this one just… breathes more. That spaciousness dovetails neatly with the audio of the anthology itself, from the guitar-synths to the unhurried songwriting to the vivid and often pop-sheened choruses.
The mixture of outer space, aquatic, and landscape elements feels more than a little inspired by some of Roger Dean's celebrated work for Aye (e.m., Fragile or Tales from Topographic Oceans), and overall represents ane of the more fantastical tableaus in Maiden'southward career. The apple tree resting against Eddie'southward spine, the bizarrely suspended lightbulbs, the water that somehow has a abrupt crevice in the bottom left: all these details seem to hint at lyrical themes or hidden messages in the way that and so many progressive metal groups of the 90s and across would proceed to comprehend.
But most important of all, of course, is that the 7th Son fine art is only apartment-out awesome. Eddie's muscle and sinew appearance on the cover is near an extension of the cyborg motif from Somewhere in Time, and the sleeve'southward dorsum cover offers a more restrained take on the Easter egg-packed Sit down art. In fact, if yous're not looking closely, it's piece of cake to miss how the figures in the sculpted water ice hint at Eddie's appearance on (from left to right) Number of the Fauna, Piece of Mind, and Live After Death. Packed with subtlety and depth, cool professionalism and passionate mysticism, Riggs'due south fine art here is the perfect lucifer for an album packed with exactly the aforementioned. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]
7. "ACES High" Unmarried
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Every bit anyone who's suddenly found hockey through Gritty volition likely confirm: Mascots work. Accordingly, I am not the least bit ashamed to admit that Eddie the Caput played a significant role in my decision to jump into Fe Maiden those many, many moons agone. Indicate of fact: Throwing a largely zombified rager that adapts with ataraxy to whatever maniacal situation he's forced into in front of a bunch of wild youths only getting into metal was a genius motility, and as an individual who offset dipped into the endless well of Eddie's frantic adventures through a chance run across in the mid-80s, I was totally smitten by the mummified version tacked to everything related to Powerslave, particularly the interpretation Derek Riggs offered up for the cover of the "Aces High" vii" that pitted Ed in the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire amongst a fiery airborne bit during the Battle of Britain in 1940. At the time, my local tape shop offered a posterized version of the soaring monkeyshines, which felt like a far-too-affordable cheat to the side by side level of metal fandom for a kid with a crap allowance. Merely at that place I stood, with what felt like a remarkable mystical scroll tucked nether my arm, trying to make up one's mind if my parents would allow such a grim visage to hang on my bedroom wall. Much to my surprise, non only did my folks give Aces High the okay, they secured honey Edward the flying ace on affiche board to improve preserve him for the years to come. And lo and behold, information technology worked! I still own the very same poster today. Luv u, Eddie! BFFs to the end! [Captain]
half-dozen. SOMEWHERE IN TIME
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Full disclosure: the Somewhere in Time art is my favorite Derek Riggs art and i of my favorite album covers ever. The start fourth dimension I saw information technology I was absolutely blown away. This wasn't the street toughness of Killers, religious imagery of The Number of the Beast, or ancient history of Powerslave, this was THE WOOOOOOOOOORLD OF TOMORROW! It instantly shaped my impressions of the album, and the futuristic sheen of the music matched Cyborg Eddie perfectly.
Like many of Riggs' works, the perspective lines work to lead your eyes to Eddie, but Somewhere In Time'south crisscrossing is oft interrupted by the vertical lines of skyscrapers. Eddie being street level amidst all these towers of unknown heights stands in stiff dissimilarity to his gritty rooftop location on the Killers comprehend, and the many references to Maiden's past ‒ the debut affiche and graffiti on the right, neon Eye of Horus in the background, etc. ‒ add to the feeling that this isn't just futuristic music, merely an bodily glimpse into the future of Eddie's earth. And the near stoic look on Eddie face? He's just a guy doing a chore, man.
As well, and this can't be overstated, it just looks insanely rad. The particular on Cyborg Eddie is bonkers, and the choice to get with yellow for much of his exoskeleton contrasts brilliantly with the red of the muscles, while matching much of the signage and the ring logo up elevation (too the first fourth dimension the logo was hollowed out on a studio albumto permit more than of the art come up through). The detail in the background is every bit rich, with signage showing non just how international this city is, but how intergalactic, while piffling elements similar the ship and stores have enough going on to be their own pieces.
Equally these rankings reveal, Iron Maiden has covers that are more honey, but as an creative person, Derek Riggs was probably never meliorate than on Somewhere In Time. [ZACH DUVALL]
v. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
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Heavy metal has been intertwined with the devil always since Ozzy Osbourne sang "Satan'due south sitting there, he'southward grin" on the title rails of Black Sabbath's 1970 debut. The 80s saw that connection strengthen further with the advent of the Satanic Panic. While that business organization of connection between music and Satanic ritual corruption was more of an American thing, in that location's no denying that the striking image of our good pal Eddie controlling a Betty Boop-way devil had many a teen across the globe enthralled by the chance to squirrel abroad a taboo detail and go along an exciting secret from their parents.
For those already converted equally fans, the escalation beyond their first three albums had to be similarly hit. The Eddie of the debut seemed a chip powerless and likely a victim of a shrinking head curse, just their sophomore attempt saw him gain maniacal force turning into a terrifying ax-wielding sociopath. How could they top that? Well, Derek Riggs patently thought giving Eddie the power to command the devil was a logical next pace and it worked in making one of the band's near iconic covers. The artwork was originally intended for the single release of "Purgatory" in 1981, but it was decided the piece was just besides damn compelling not to use on a full-length.
It seemed a fitting realization that aligned with the band'southward moves at the fourth dimension. Just as Eddie was learning to wield fire and magic, so too was Atomic number 26 Maiden. The Number of the Beast showed even more than galloping power, infectious melodies and a massive spring in singing quality with earworm hooks thanks to the addition of Bruce Dickinson.
While some bands aimed to exist less overt virtually connections to devilry or leveled their songs at praising Satan, Iron Maiden basically said, "Yous're agape of him? Well, he works for usa!" And work he did, because that iconic encompass adorns one of their greatest albums to date. [SPENCER HOTZ]
iv. "THE TROOPER" Single
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Betwixt all the t-shirts, concert backdrops, patches, posters, flags, and probable tattoos (plus the actual single release), the artwork for "The Trooper" is 1 of the about iconic images in heavy metal history. Repeat: it's a single. Such is the power of Derek Riggs' piece of work and the vocal it represents, which is itself on the short list of serious Signature Fe Maiden Vocal contenders. If you discovered Maiden after the 80s, there's a solid adventure you saw this prototype before you heard the vocal.
For good reason. From both a compositional and content standpoint, it's one of Riggs' biggest winners. The entire page is ready to direct your eyes to the center, from the mode the flag spear parallel'south Eddie's correct arm and the footing to how the saber, cannon, and plooms of "acrid smoke" cut beyond and intersect those lines. And what is in the middle of the page? Redcoat Eddie, coming towards the viewer with murder in his eyes, blood on his saber, and tattered flag in his mitt. Is he running quickly at you? Lumbering with menace? Unclear. Either way, the message is simple: yous are adjacent, and soon you'll join the corpses Eddie passes without a caring glance. (Eddie's right kick being slightly off the bottom of the folio also has a message: it's besides late.)
But like the song itself, the artwork isn't just some "rah rah go England" scrap of patriotism, merely includes messages nearly the horrors of state of war. That grim reaper in the background might non exist every bit gloomy every bit a soldier that "lay forgotten and lone," just it's a reminder that no affair how much glory y'all might think is in that kickoff charge of boxing, all that awaits is death. [ZACH DUVALL]
3. POWERSLAVE
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When information technology came time to buy my 2d Iron Maiden album, "two Minutes to Midnight" and "Aces High" played heavily in my determination, but the striking Egyptian-themed artwork solidified it. The cosmos procedure was described as "a nightmare" past creative person Derrek Riggs, who took the initial cue from a picture of v guys dragging a pharaoh's head and turned it into a sprawling mash-up of elements across multiple pieces of newspaper. The nightmare ‒ trying to recreate his "sketch" into a unmarried piece of work of fine art while dealing with equipment problems working in the Bahama islands ‒ is detailed in his book "Run For Embrace".
At front and center of a giant pyramid of course was Eddie in pharaoh headdress, flanked on both sides past statues of sphinx and jackals. The top of the pyramid is aflame and crackling with power. If you look closely, you lot can even encounter where information technology all started: a casket existence carried upwards the steps. In an epilogue of sorts, the back art takes us inside the tomb, where the spirit of Anubis stands guard over Eddie'south sarcophagus.
The detail is boggling, from the painted Eyes of Horus to the genuine hieroglyphics adorning the exterior and interior, and you quickly discover yourself lost in the splendor as you lot ponder the audio treasures that await yous within, knowing in your heart that there's no way this anthology volition be anything less than amazing. [DAVE PIRTLE]
2. Alive Later DEATH
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No metal band was flight higher in 1985 than Iron Maiden. By that point, Bruce and his fellow dental floss salesmen were in the midst of a tour that involved an absurd 331 day / 187 show stretch that resulted in one of the finest (if not the finest) live heavy metal albums ever recorded: Alive After Decease.
Having said that, as a child but showtime to secure a foothold in the genre, I actually had piddling interest in live albums—something that bluntly remains true today. (Beloved to see bands play / don't really leap at the chance to hear that coming from the speakers in my living room.) Seeing that explosive cover for Live Later Death staring up at me from the tape bin changed all of that, though. Please keep in heed, yet again, that this was an age where people actually didn't have much of a inkling what bands had up their sleeves until the day a tape was released, and so imagine being a kid in the midst of a budding Iron Maiden obsession and walking away from any sort of object that sported Eddie ripping his way out of a grave whole having his head struck by lightning. Get AHEAD AND TRY TO IMAGINE THAT, FANCYPANTS. Yep, not gonna happen. And yep, literally everything near the Derek Riggs' cover artwork for this record is incredible: all the glowing free energy begging Eddie to spring to literal life; the extraordinary attention to detail given to every element; and, as was tradition from fourth dimension to time, the Easter eggs popping up, particularly scattered amongst the gravestones on the flipside.
All told, Derek Riggs was a master at providing listeners something to really study while a record was playing, and with Live After Death he gets an actress 1000 bonus points for creating the most "please allow me own a van with this airbrushed all over information technology" moment in Fe Maiden's career. [Helm]
1. KILLERS
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This may surprise you, but I take never designed an bodily album cover for a real live heavy metallic band. I as well rarely drive steamboats. There's a lot of things y'all don't know near me…
But I would imagine, based on the approximately 37 seconds of thought I've given it, that the ideal situation for an album cover artist would be non simply to create a slice of art that defines the music within, but to do that and to also create one so hit and so ‒ for lack of a less Bill-and-Ted term ‒ excellent (wheedly wheedly air guitar) that information technology becomes iconic.
Derek Riggs created most a dozen of those works, and of all of them, perhaps none is more iconic than the comprehend of Fe Maiden'south second album, Killers. Spinning off from the self-titled album's introductory portrait of Eddie, Killers takes anybody's favorite zombie mascot to a new level. Hither he'due south more maniacal, more mischievous, more than metal (notation the long hair now, not the punky mohawk from before). Similar the album it adorns, the painting is gritty and street-level, dark and dangerous, only it'due south too cartoonish, equal parts real-world toughness and horror-comic fantasy. The bloody axe, the easily of the (presumably) dying victim pulling down on the shirt, the gleam in Eddie's center, the facial expression that isn't quite (and yet isn't quite NOT) a smile… The Killers artwork is custom-made for t-shirts and posters, and unsurprisingly, it'south adorned who-knows-how-many of both in the 40 years since we first saw it. It'southward arguably the most iconic of all of Maiden's art, with mayhap merely the lightning-bolt frenzy of Live Afterward Decease to rival it. Every metal band wishes they had an Eddie, and here'south the near killer Eddie of them all. [ANDREW EDMUNDS]
HOW WE VOTED
Oh, hello there. The list is over but you're still here! Care to take a peek backside the curtains and see how we voted as individuals? While virtually of us stayed focused on the 80s and the classic Derek Riggs art, at that place were some weird picks across the squad, as yous'll see below. Delight feel free to share your favorite Iron Maiden art in the comments, any personal stories behind your relationships to the covers, and to a higher place all else, shame u.s.a. for our picks…
Specially anyone that somehow omitted the Somewhere In Fourth dimension cover. Seriously, HOW?
Source: https://yourlastrites.com/2021/08/30/fire-up-the-big-riggs-iron-maidens-greatest-album-art/