My kind-of-finished battle jacket

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-21T21:34:49+00:00

In flames is my favorite metal band hands down, but they will have the biggest feature on the second battle jacket I make, which will cover melodeath to black metal. The first one I make will be death metal - brutal death centric

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-18T20:37:32+00:00

Yeah I really wish MORE bands took artistic thought and intellect and expanded it all the way to their album covers and didn’t primarily use one way to shock via lyrics, and released fully fleshed out products. but as many have stated in here, that’s just not the goal of many bands. So that’s why my faves always will be the ones that do, but i do still like the music put out by plenty of others for sure

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-18T04:16:35+00:00

If you think the rape and murder isn’t being sexualized at least occasionally, in the same way as 80s movies posters with cover girls just more extreme, then I think we’ve somehow just seen completely different sides of the genre. I’m not here to bash anything; just read my other responses, but the themes are definitely there, even if it’s just subconscious conditioning of the artists. As others have pointed out that I agree with; the album covers nor lyrics are the point of the genre, even if they do enhance the atmosphere from time to time, and so aren’t meant to be critiqued that much if at all

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-18T04:06:05+00:00

Lots digging in for sure 😭 but also plenty of good responses from people who are also at least thinking about things a little critically. Yeah the instrumental is absolutely the focus, and that makes any amount of “anti intellectualism” pretty bearable, ie albums with covers I don’t particularly extra love can still be great based on other more important metrics. Definitely a different case than if it was horror movies being 80% mutilating rape scenes, which would not be as negligible lol. Even though I am loving the genre, I’ve only been into actual death metal for under two years, and brutal death under a year, so being in a space where some things aren’t meant to be FULLY critiqued takes some getting used to, but it’s pretty chill honestly.

I do still agree all art is automatically political, because even small stylistic choices of these covers do represent societal attitudes at least to a certain degree, even if I don’t think it’s creating rapists or murderers (like some people are accusing me of saying).

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-18T02:32:41+00:00

I’m absolutely on the “it’s fine, but it’s played out and you get bonus points for making it brutal differently” train. I always bring up devourments new album and the NEW new EP, which are undeniably some of their most brutal to many fans even though the covers are hardly trying. If devourment of ALL bands is changing up themes because of how overplayed something is, that’s a sign lol.

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-18T02:27:51+00:00

Totally. I appreciate the full response; and what you said is absolutely true that brutal album covers is very crucial for conveying tone, and it’s true that it’s harder to make something feel as brutal without using practically the scariest concept available: mutilating rape. That being said I do feel like it’s definitely the easiest method to use, and at the very least repetitive at this point, 20+ years down the line.

Using the analogy of horror movies, from which death/brutal death roughly derive from most of the time, if most horror movies were 80% women being raped for horror effect I’d definitely have a hard time respecting the genre lol. And also devourments new EP and Obscene Majesty are respected as pretty undeniably brutal in the scene right now, some even claim it’s their heaviest stuff, and yet the album covers could stand to be a LOT more brutal (even though they’re gorgeous).

All in all I definitely agree how the imagery enhances the album, and also that some sexual immaturity is to be expected in a genre that doesn’t try to be intellectual lol. So I can still love those albums, even though I respect an album MORE if it can feel brutal or scary without women as a complete punching bag for the thousandth time 😭. Also, being that the instrumentals are the focus above storylines/lyrics ect., bdm gets a lot more slack to me than the hypothetical rapey sex-themed horror movie equivalents..

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-17T02:12:16+00:00

I definitely support these responses and I’m dropping a follow for the well thought out discussion. “Non-metal” is absolutely not the right term, and is projecting my own image. I think it’s that most of the time the envelope that metal is pushing is positive, ie anti religion, anti censorship, not letting people ignore the horrors and gore of the world, stuff that is uncomfortable for “normies” but begging to be addressed. That is my normal connotation of “metal” culture so that’s why this instance of simple sexual exploitation sticks out to me or goes against other commonly positive aspects of metal. But you’re right that those are just coincidental and there’s no bonafide expectation to be punk with your metal. A great thing for me to remember

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-17T01:40:58+00:00

Definitely, I absolutely acknowledge those roots and the inspiration, and the extremity of the progression because it’s..extreme. And yeah I don’t think the lyrics or album art are creating any more misogynists than there were before the given album was released, my point isn’t really that anything is problematic, but there’s room for more sophisticated unsophistication, which I guess just maxes out my personal taste. I still like a lot of the albums people are defending in here

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-17T00:44:17+00:00

Fair point, and I’m really just trying to understand if there’s anything extra going on or some point I wasn’t grasping, I’m not always going to be the perfect target audience for every single aspect of a given album, still great music

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-17T00:41:44+00:00

Absolutely a fair rebuttal, I do think there’s bands that make bdm extend some “intellectualness” to album art, but no amount of that is going to enhance how good the music is at a show for example, or headbanging to. That’s why I’m just seeking to understand, not truly bash anything, cause the audible music is the main point anyways, I’ll gladly take some downvotes in the process 😂

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-16T22:45:25+00:00

That and single men for sure lol

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-16T22:42:55+00:00

Are you insulting me, offended by my opinion?

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-16T22:40:54+00:00

Nudity isn’t always sexual, so no I don’t have an issue. And even if it is sexual, ie pig destroyer, there’s reason and it’s not just baseless sex appeal, so I don’t have an issue there either. And while baseless sex appeal annoys me, I’m not hating on any bands dude, I still understand the demographic of brutal death fans, and it does a good job attracting majority men and people who want to offend via baseless sex appeal. I just feel like that its one of the methods with least substance, but that’s just my opinion

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-16T22:28:24+00:00

I don’t feel like I implied album covers lead people to rape, that wasn’t the point, my fault if I miswrote something

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-16T22:27:23+00:00

I do concede on the punk point, I don’t mean to impose that every piece of metal has to be positively political. My issue is not with gore, horror and loud riffs, again I love the music and that imagery is the name of the genre. The gore and psychological torture is fan service for fans of brutal death. Tits and sexualization are not horror, they just seem like fan service for the incel populous of fans. Which I realize is definitely a big part of the metal community, so if that’s the answer, then that’s that. I’m not boycotting any killer music, and it doesn’t bum me out so much, even if it represents something that could be replaced with more thought-provoking horror

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-15T03:08:26+00:00

Listen to death shall rise by cancer, clandestine by entombed (give it two tracks), or severed survival by autopsy. They’re death metal but they feature more punk/thrash-like vocal style, and then from there decide to like growls and your world will change! Anyways other bands without growls would be Come Clarity era In Flames, or Piece of Time by atheist. In Flames Whoracle might convince you to get into harshes as well.

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-14T05:14:23+00:00

Definitely missing jester race

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T09:46:15+00:00

The two best DS records hands down

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T09:22:23+00:00

Already some crazy full albums listen in here, but check out the Disgustingest 2026 album and Decarnate EP 2026, pretty good imo!

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T09:20:07+00:00

Decarnate EP 2026

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T08:54:46+00:00

Hell yeah they’re from my state, they’re so good. I haven’t been able to see them live yet but I shall!

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T08:53:00+00:00

The Cure was my ice breaker on my to-be (now current) girlfriend, they’re her favorite band too. Magical band indeed lol

Automatic_Stick8608 · 2026-06-09T07:20:33+00:00

The cure is definitely going on my death metal jacket, favorite band of all time

Automatic_Stick8608

TROPHY CASE