BEST OF 2011 MUSIC: Best Album Covers

These album covers were chosen for their unique and artistic design.

   

   

   

   

Bayside Killing Time That astronaut is straight flossing. Chevelle Hat Off to the Bull Nice mid-action shot. Funeral for a Friend Welcome Home Armageddon An awesomely morbid, (literally) nuclear family. In Flames Sounds of a Playground Fading That's a very interesting way of depicting death. Not just a crow, but a cloaked crow of death. Raphael Saadiq Stone Rollin' It's cool that the cover projects the audience he's aiming for. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Am I the Enemy The gas mask stencil is a great way to symbolize the dichotomy between good and evil in the listener. Simple Plan Get Your Heart On It's cool how they designed so many different band posters with styles from different decades. Speed of Darkness Flogging Molly The title may be disturbing, but the pinwheel sketch of a guy wrestling a skeleton looks cool. The Lonely Island Turtleneck and Chain They look ridiculous, but they've perfectly captured the overly confident cool of the 90s--both for boy bands and rap groups. The Antlers Burst Apart From afar it looks like a stain of something that splattered on the floor, but the more I stare at it the more it looks like the glittery entrance into an enchanted forest. Intentional or not, it looks beautiful. The Roots Undun This band has always been true to their name, never straying from their roots, and this black and white photo of black kids finding an unorthodox way of having fun is a perfect homage to a ghetto childhood. Wale Ambition My brother told me that an artist actually drew this (and that she didn't get to finish before they released it). I didn't even realize it was drawn. It really does look like him, which is rare with album portraits.