Raise Your Devil Horns! 13 Spooky Album Covers

By Alex Scordelis

  • "Piano Man," Billy Joel (1973). Hands down, the creepiest album cover ever.
  • Master of Puppets," Metallica (1986). Metallica used to be one of the scariest bands in rock, until they released "Some Kind of Monster," a documentary about their squabbles in group therapy.
  • "Black Sabbath," by Black Sabbath (1970). This freaky album cove features an ominous figure dressed in black standing in front of a manor in the English countryside. Is it a witch? A demon? Ozzy out for a stroll?
  • "The Devil's Rain," the Misfits (2011). Released this month by the legendary horror-punks, this LP features another in a long line of fright-inducing album covers by the Misfits. Danzig, punk's scariest (and shortest) front man, does not appear on this record.
  • "Melted," Ty Segall (2010)
  • "Bad Moon Rising," Sonic Youth (1985). This seminal noise rock record also features a creepy tune called "Halloween" that features a spooky vocal by Kim Gordon.
  • "Satan Is Real," the Louvin Brothers (1959). Although this looks like a joke album, "Satan Is Real" is a critically-acclaimed gospel record that influenced generations of country-rockers.
  • "Water," Salem (2008).
  • "Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose," Meat Loaf (2006). Maybe the best example of an (awesome) album cover not matching the (cheeseball) music contained within.
  • "Embryonic," Flaming Lips (2009). It's unclear what's going on here, but this album cover has surely appeared in many nightmares.
  • "Creole Moon," Dr. John (2001).
  • "Faces of Death," Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (1993). Bone Thugs released a string of creepy looking albums, but their debut (featuring a cameo by the Grim Reaper) is a pure fright fest.
  • "I Am a Bird Now," Antony and the Johnsons (2005). The cover of Antony's second LP features a truly creepy (and famous) photograph of Warhol star Candy Darling on her deathbed taken by Peter Hujar.
 
They say that rock 'n' roll is the devil's music, so in honor of the fast-approaching Devil's Night, here's a collection of album covers that haunt our nightmares and give us the creeps. 

This story was published on Oct. 25, 2011

MORE IN: Word of Mouth

TAGS: Antony and the Johnsons, Billy Joel, Black Sabbath, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony i, Dr. John, Flaming Lips, Meatloaf, Metallica, Misfits, Salem, Sonic Youth, The Louvin Brothers, Ty Segall

Your Comment

Posted at 5:03 on Oct 26, 2011

Chez

nice..in time for Haloween!