Album Cover Analysis

The Gallows- Belly of the Shark

My first reaction to the band name and the cover was that they should be a metal band as they link with death and destruction. The genre of music is actually hardcore punk, a sub-genre of rock and metal, which means that the band could have certain violent views about politics and life. This aggression comes across on the album cover which as far I can see in the denotation, is a leviathan zombie shark destroying and eating a fishing boat, which gives a sense of irony. The style is almost reminiscent of the famous painting 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' as each brush stroke has detail and both piece convey enormous odds and lack of hope for the figures facing the danger. The mouth of the mountainous shark is open wide and the pattern of the strokes make the insides look like the flames Hell, the spray of water and blood and the loss of hope and here we see the inside of the belly. Even the sea and the body of the shark look like flames and its blank, mad eyes are dead and pale like the moon, the scariest time of the day. The album cover design was created by Dan Mumford, who was given free reign by the band to create "the ultimate version of sea-based carnage". I think the band name 'The Gallows' fits well with the nautical theme as the gallows were used to hang sea criminals. 

Primus- Pork Soda

This odd cover contains many links to the songs in the track list, most that are to do with pork. The band name Primus includes the use of typography in a bold font with use of serif which is created with the effect of looking like carved, smoothed down wood and leaves, which gives the connotations of nature but also of a man made element, which comes from the unnaturally smooth wood. This also links to the album title 'Pork Soda', as pigs are part of nature but pork is extracted from them by man and soda is a unhealthy drink popular with children (who represent innocence and unknowing) and is made by man. The band name Primus itself was based on the name of the Primus stove, used for cooking. Now the facial image of the pig on the cover is figure made out of plasticine clay (also something man made) and it also sounds like gelatin, which is a sweet (link to soda) made from pork. The figure is contorted and grotesque, with a look of fear on it's face, which could indicate that as it is only has a head, it is being decapitated so that it can be used for pork. The idea of pork could be to do with naked flesh, which maybe used as a sickening sexual desire and also the idea of the pig dying could indicate the sort of genre this band plays. Primus use genres from Metal, Funk and Country, so the result is weird. Everything from it's album title is weird and Primus strive to make no musical sense. This music is for a niche audience of fans, and the language, imagery and genres used show that the main audience would be adult male metal fans.