Also from Blabbermouth
willy
2003
Tom Johnson of Blogcritics.org writes:
"Shortly after revealing what the band claims to be
the cover art for its new album, 'Dance Of
Death', fans flooded the official IRON
MAIDEN message board with complaints (16
pages worth in the case of this one thread
— and there are many more.) Skunk, the
webmaster for the band's official site, insists that
this artwork is real and is what will arrive
in stores in early September, but some fans aren't
biting — the rest are depressed.
"Why the big stink over this artwork? IRON
MAIDEN has long been known for its
elaborate artwork, save for a few instances
(such as 'X Factor' and 'Virtual XI', both
post-Bruce Dickinson albums that sported
lackluster artwork in the eyes of most fans.)
The image of IRON MAIDEN is forever tied to
artist Derek Riggs' creation for the band,
Eddie, who has adorned every album and single
cover since the band's first release. Derek
and band have since parted ways, but Eddie
has remained as the band's mascot, being
replicated by other artists in the spirit
Riggs would have used. This time around, however,
something is amiss.
"In what the band claims is the real album
artwork, Eddie is seen masquerading as the
reaper, a scythe held in one hand and the
other outstreched — to you — beckoning for a
dance (of death, presumably.) This in itself
seems fitting material for Eddie — who has
characteristically acted out something
associated with the album in question every time.
What is so wrong here is not that Eddie is
surrounded by people, but that these people
have been rendered by a 3D program — Poser
from the look of it. And it's particularly
badly executed computer graphics, at that. So
here we have a typical Eddie figure —
painted, or created using paint-simulation
software such as Painter — evoking the greatness
of past artwork, yet surrounded by the
cheapest and cheesiest 3D artwork to be found on a
legitimate band's artwork.
"But some fans are insisting that this is a
joke — a poorly played joke, but a joke
nonetheless. The band and webmaster aren't
budging, but there are some hints here and
there — this tour poster, for example,
shows Eddie alone, with only one CG figure
appearing out of the side of the poster.
There have also been comments that the artwork has
shown up on EMI's site that is different than
what's been shown on the official site — the
wolf's snout behind Eddie, one of the
dancer's arms not around him. And the artwork has
even reached beyond music borders and put
even graphics guru at arms — as evidenced by
this seven-page thread on CG Talk.
"So is this childishly executed artwork for
real? Die-hard fans are practically having
seizures at the thought, but singer Bruce
Dickinson has slyly hinted that this may not be
so set-in-stone. On MTV-Europe's
'Headbanger's Ball', Bruce is reported to have
indicated that fans won't see the real
artwork until the release date, indicating, in a
roundabout way, that what's on the site isn't
really the real artwork. We'll just have to wait
and see, he says.
"So what's the deal? Is it a joke on fans -
and a way to expose the fickle fair-weather fans
— or is it a ploy for exposure? The world -
well, the portion that care about IRON
MAIDEN — will have to wait, apparently."
See some of MAIDEN's past covers and read
the comments to this article at
Blogcritics.org.
(Thanks: Tom Johnson /
www.unproductivity.com)