Heavy Metal Cover Girls...On Halloween

 Hello and welcome to another, belated, edition of Heavy Metal Covers Girls. If you don't know what that's all about, it's where I post a bunch of Metal/Rock album covers that share a loose theme  and, you know, have women on them. 

 It  originally started off as me noticing how many Metal albums had sword/gun/chainsaw toting beauties on them and then subsequently realising how many covers are using similar ideas. As a general rule of thumb, if one band did it, at least one other band has had the same idea.  Go check out my Album Covers page if you don't believe me. ALBUM COVERS

 Anyway, the theme is inspired by the date. Since it's halloween, why not give you a selection of women from the dark side: Witches,  Vampires, Zombies and just plain spooky. 

 In true Halloween tradition, some of them aren't wearing much clothing. I apologise for nothing. 

Let's start with some VAMPIRES

Evil Minded: Lucy's Fate (France 2022)

 She really is a deep sleeper, huh?

Incubus Sukkubus: Vampire Queen (UK 2018)

 You never see ugly female vampires. Funny that. 

Nighties and long flowing dresses seem compulsory too.  

Claymorean - Eternal Curse (Serbia 2025)

This does not look like a woman regretting her eternal life. 

She may be regretting not paying attention to the weather forecast 

 I could do an entire post on vampires but let's move on, shall we. 

Time for some WITCHES

Hellonight - Witches Sabbat (Bahrain 2026)

Leaving teh cover aside for the moment, a Middle Eastern band releasing an album with this title and this cover...
Massive, massive balls, guys. 
This is a definite throwback to a  classic 80s metal  style, naked buttocks included. 
Remind me to check these guys out. 

The next two, again, prove that albums by completley different people can come out with the same vibe.   

John Rhys Voerman - Cry of the Witch (UK 2022)

 So, she was just minding her own business and people kept giving he a hard time...

Now they're all on fire and she has to move on  again. . 

I'm not sure if this next young lady is a witch or not. 

Definitely somebody who parties hard on All-Hallows Eve though

Galkin Sergei - Shadows of History (Russia 2025)

  Interesting how  two artists end up with an album cover that seems to ahve similar composition.

Also, how they both went for "Woman Of Mass Destruction" vibes 

Are these women related? 

Moving on to another Halloween favourite: ZOMBIES

Same basic idea. Three very different results. 

Night Crime - Metal Pollution EP  (Finland 2014)

Buffy The Vampire Slayer's  estranged cousin on her twilight patrol.

I'd invest in some sort of breathing mask, love.

This next lot are apparently a Punk/Electronica project but I just HAD to include them

Ed Banger And The Kardashits (France 2023) 

 I just know some of you deviants would hit her up. 

To be fair, for a rotting corpse, she does have a nice rack.

Morroz - Гады и ублюдки (Russia 2024)

Not sure if she's a zombie herself, a necromancer or the barmaid at the local Undead bar. 

Either way, tonight is her night to shine

This one sort of fits here because I saw it and thought "Zombie Apocalypse"

Or particularly bad night at A UK A&E unit.

The Black Rose Syndicate - Down The Hall EP (USA? 2026)

The Final Girl walks away from the carnage..

Or the Killer moving on to her next target. 

Sticking with the undead for a moment, how about some tributes to the Bride Of Frankenstein? 

Ypericon - Piecemeal (USA 2019)

Clearly not happy about being woken up.

O.S.S.Y - Paholaisen keksintö (Finland 2004)

This is the Bride after she went off on her own and got a job at a Burlesque Club.

Next up..the only GHOST I seem to have.

Phantom Divine - The Wraith Of The Lake Ep (Canada 2022)

She seems sad, doesn't she? 
Yearning for the lights and laughter she can't touch.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

And because this post is getting a bit long I will finish with this

Ozzy Osbourne -The Ultimate Sin (Uk1986)

 

RIP Prince Of Darkness

Anime: Dragon's Heaven OVA 1988

 

Way, way into the future the robot rebellion is finally crushed. During the last battle, sentinet mech Shaian  loses his human partner and misses his ride home so decides to find a nice spot and shut down for a nap. 

1000 years later he is found by wandering scavenger Ikuru and they become partners, getting the gig to protect a desert city-state from post-apocalyptic marauders and the aggressively expansionist Empire of Brazil. 

Then Shaian's  arch-nemesis shows up with the Brazilian forces looking for some revenge.   

Once you get past the odd live-action opening sequence, he first thing you notice about this anime is the visual style, which is unusual. If anything, it looks like something from the "Heavy Metal" comic - or movie, if you prefer. 

 Everything - mechs, landscape, buildings -  has this gritty, weatherbeaten look to it that I don't think I've ever seen any other anime use.  This makes Dragon's Heaven a novel experience. 

Of course the one exception to this is female lead Ikuru who is your standard 80s anime cutie. She's quite perky considering the desert hellscape she's living in but whatever.  

 The story itself is faitly simple. Girl meets robot, they become pals and then there's some stuff exploding at the end., all wrapped up in half-an-hour. 

Like a lot of OVA's this is basically a taster for the manga so you get a brief snippet and the rest? Buy the damn book.  That can get frustrating if you want more and this is definitely one of those anime where you want  more than just 30 minutes. 

To sum up: Interesting visuals, fun characters and some impressive action bits. Worth checking out. 

Here's a little trailer if you're interested:

Credit: Heavy Armoured

And the full thing can be found on several Youtube sites.