Heavy Metal Cover Girls...And Ravens

 I started doing HMCG because I noticed that certain themes kept being used time and time again: Women with swords, women with motorbikes, women doing magical stuff . You get the general idea.

  Along with the above, I also found something else: Even if the artist stays away from the regular cliches, if one artist is using an idea, a trope or a theme then there will be others doing the same. Case in point: What we're going to look at today. Ravens. (or Crows. I've never been able to tell the difference.)

Ravens/Crows whatever have a long, long tradition as birds of omen, links to the world of the dead, possessors of wisdom and cunning  and generally being a wee bit more magical than your average bird. Nobody ever puts pigeons on album covers; there's a reason for that.

  All of which means that if the artist wants a quick, visual clue that things are getting weird, sticking one or more big, black, ominous looking birds is a guaranteed win.

   So you might ask yourself "How many different ways can a cover artist fit a beautiful woman and some big black birds into the same pic." and my answer would be  "Come and see."

 I am not going to do the Poe line. You know the one. 

The first two share common elements but do things very differently.

Against Myself - Odyssey To Reflexion (Greece 2015)

A woman stripping off in front of a mirror held by giant, disembodied hands that shows
the Scales Of Justice over a deserted city. Meanwhile ravens try to avoid being eaten by a burning eagle.
Umm...

It's a really well done cover but can somebody clever please explain to me what the actual fuck it's meant to represent?

Against Myself are from the less bombastic end of Symphonic Metal

Persona - Elusive Reflections (Tunisia 2016)

A lonely young woman sits in front of her magic mirror, her two pet ravens ready to fly off and do her bidding.
One's going to the newsagent for 20 Benson and Hedges while the other has instructions
to put £10 on  Tunisia beating Senegal in the African Cup.
In the days before smart-phones, people used what they had available.

I am always keen to hear bands from metal scenes I don't know very well, so the prospect of checking out a Tunisian band has me intrigued.

For some reason Persona sound like they ought to be Dutch.
Have a listen and see if you agree.

Ichy - Princess Of Death EP (Russia 2015)

This is one of those covers that gets a lot more disturbing when you get up close.

Far Away: Pretty girl in a pretty dress chilling with her avian buddies.

Close up: Bloody woman with no freaking eyes waiting for her minions to bring back a fresh soul.

There's no music available on Youtube, sadly.
So here's a link to their Google Play page
Princess of Death album

Akoma - The Other Side Ep (Denmark 2012)

If this were a horror movie, everybody in the room would be yelling at her.
"Stop walking towards the glowing thing. Are you mental?"
Then again, she is wearing a nightie so Mr Conscious Thought might not be home right now.

Akoma are Symphonic Gothic Metal with a bit of a Kate Bush in places.

Ex Animo - Neverday (Ukraine 2016)

 Something about this just screams "Witch" to me.
A pretty witch in an elegant ballgown with a thing for clockwork, mind you.
Whether she's a good witch is something you'll have to find out for yourself because I'm not getting close enough to ask.

Ex Animo are a Gothic Metal crew with a Harsh Male/Beautiful Female vocal tagteam.


Can I take a moment away from snarking for a sec?

  So far, we've had band from 5 different countries all working with the theme "Beautiful woman + ravens" and coming up with a range of end results. 

  Every single one of these Cover Girls is elegantly dressed and every single one of these covers is well put together, while clearly meant to have some meaning. 

  As I write this sentence right now, I haven't heard a single note from any of these bands but I've already got a mental image as to how they're going to sound. I'm expecting a lot of Symphonic/Gothic stuff. 

  When I've finished  adding the pics and captions I'm going to go back and add some songs. Let's see if I was right. (Ninja Edit after hearing the bands: Mostly.) 

Now back to our cover stars and their feathered friends. 

Moses Bandwidth - The Golden Ages Of .. The Era Of Moses Bandwidth (Indonesia 2013)

You don't need to look closely to get that whole "Run Away. Run Away Now!" vibe from this young lady. 

Correction - young lady Ageless Vampire Queen Of The Night And Empress of All Scary Shit. 

She really rocks that satin corset though. 

Moses Bandwidth are another one with Gravel/Silk vocals

 And finally, a bit of cheating on my part. 

Human Temple -  Murder Of Crows (Finland 2010)

Not Ravens but close enough to slot into the post without too much filing. 

Wonder what she's summoning them for? 

Possibly to sit on the roof of her mortal enemy's house and wake him up at 5am with their bastard cawing. 

You know they do it deliberately.    

Human Temple are classy Melodic Rock 

  I hope you found a band to like or a cover you really dig. 

Let me know in the comments and I'm really not kidding when I say I want to know what that Against Myself cover is all about. 

It's bugging me.

 Quoth the Big D : That's All Folks.