Entertainment Earth

3/19/2014

3/18/2014

3/17/2014

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 1: 175-160

As a fan of cool artwork and metal music, I've always liked that our genre has some of the coolest covers in the history of the world. Other forms of music seem content in giving us half-assed, boring pieces of shit for covers. But, since this is the greatest type of music in the universe, the cool covers go with it. I have ranked the best of the best, and this was not an easy list to make. As such, it is THE biggest list I have ever made on this blog. I wanted to fit as many as I could. all types of subgenres are included here: nu-metal, industrial, metalcore, deathcore, black, death, etc. I even threw in some hard rock bands. Now, remember the quality of the album does not at all weigh in with being included, its the artwork that counts here.

You will notice that the artwork includes lots of zombies, skulls, demons, babes, gore, and scary stuff cause that's what I like. The list will also have some admit ably satanic, sexually graphic, anti-Christian, intensely violent, and other potentially offensive material, so be for warned. But, if you been following this blog for long enough, you should that I could give a flying fuck about offensive material. Anyways, you have been warned...
Now let the countdown begin!!

175. Disturbed- Ten Thousand Fists- Disturbed's mascot, The Guy, makes his album cover debut here along with a bunch of others looking to stand in defiance in the very first album on this list. Props for the punk rocker hottie next to him. 

174. Municipal Waste- The Fatal Feast- This cool cover by Justin Osbourn of Slasher Design is pure trash/ horror cheesiness with zombies eating human flesh in some sci-fi setting. Easily my favorite album cover of this crossover thrash band.






173. Dokken- Tooth and Nail- 80s metal band Dokken had a lot of hair, but I always thought that they were miles ahead of the other hair bands. This cool cover with a Creature form the Black Lagoon type monster hand reaching out of the water kind of adds to that coolness factor.






172. In This Moment- Blood- The first photography based cover to make the list comes courtesy of this alternative metal female fronted band. It's both sexy and kinda creepy, but all cool!






171. Helloween- Metal Jukebox- German power metallers Helloween have their pumpkin-headed mascot put some tunes on the jukebox on this cool cover to an all covers album.








170. Slayer- Hell Awaits- The first Slayer album to make the list is filled with demons in hell, and, coolest of all, a dude getting his guts ripped out by a trio of them. Gore, demons, and hell! This had to be here!







169. Metallica- Kill 'Em All- The fast as fuck debut from Metallica is the next of the Big Four to make the list. Simple but cool and bloody, the image of the hammer and the blood tell you a nasty murder has been committed.







168. Disturbed- Asylum- The second Disturbed album to make the list has a real pissed off looking The Guy looking cool as fuck. I love it when bands have their own mascot!








167. Halestorm- Halestorm- Philly hard rockers continue to get more and more popular, but it's this debut that ranks in the list. Featuring robotic versions of the band, it's a cool concept and the artwork looks great. Also, I wouldn't mind having a cyborg Lzzy Hale! 






166. Behemoth- Evangelion- Blackened death metal masters Behemoth get on the list with this cover that looks majestic and evil. According to front-man Nergal the cover is:
"The picture is of The Great Harlot of Babylon riding the seven-headed beast. Saints bow before her in worship whilst the tablets of the Ten Commandments lie broken at her feet. It represents our vision and the interpretation of the New Testament parable where the “Whore of Babylon” is a symbol of rebellion and resistance against God."


165. Suffocation- Effigy of the Forgotten- Some sort of robotic horror is the focus of this cool death metal cover that is just that just perfect example of that the best of that type of cover.







164. Overkill- Fuck You... And then Some!- Badass and simple this rerelease of the classic live EP from New Jersey's king's of thrash is just too cool and memorable. Especially, when you first see it as a teen on someone's shirt and are like "Fuck! I NEED that t-shirt!!"






163. Scorpions- Blackout- The best album from Germany's hard rock/ metal gods has a self portrait of artist Gottfried Helnwein. Rudlof Schenker would play the character in the video for "No One Like You".





 


162. AC/DC- If You Want Blood You've Got It- The first live album both on the list and released by AC/DC has Angus getting impaled by his guitar. The cover was once pointed out as being some sort of satanic ritual by some jackass (who he is unimportant really), but that guy can suck it. Gore and great hard rock FTW motherfuckers!!





161. Kataklysm- Heaven's Venom-  The tenth album by Canadian death metal band Kataklysm has their demon mascot getting attacked by some pissed off looking angels. For some reason he rips out his own heart like a self version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!



3/12/2014

Toy Fair 2014: 3A, J. Marcus Company, and The Loyal Subjects

3A had some pretty nice statues at Toy Fair 2014. Here are some of my favorites:
 This one is from the video game Portal.
 
 
 
 I am loving this Dr. Doom!

J. Marcus offer wholesale awesomeness, like these Halloween decorations:
 
 
 

Finally one of my favorite booths was The Loyal Subjects. I LOVE their Transformers toys!! they are just so cool! I want these! Like really bad. Some are out, some will be out by Spring or later. Check out how cool they are:
 This Shockwave might be the one that I want the most!!!
 
 
 

 Two of my personal favorite characters: Megatron and Grimlock!
 They are also making Mr. Potato-Head figures!! The punk rocker is all kinds of awesome!

3/11/2014

Monster-Mania Convention March 8, 2014

This past Saturday, I went with my friend Freddie to Monster-Mania in Cherry Hill, NJ. It marked only the second time I had ever been to the convention. We had a blast!

We got there about 11AM, when the show started but with some parking closed off at the hotel's parking lot, we had to park some 5-7 blocks away from the hotel! Yes, parking was fucking awful. This con is getting more huge all the time, not the least of which is cause of The Walking Dead guests. But, more on them later.
 
I should also mention that prices for some guests were crazy, including The Shining twins charging 60 for an autograph plus 20 for a pic with them, Gunnar (the original Leatherface) Hansen charging 25 for an autograph plus 10 for a pic with him, and others like this. I've been doing these shows for years and still don't get this. And, when they rise their prices, well, I get that even less. Whatever. The person, I most wanted to meet was Nastassja Kinski, but she missed her flight and was not there. Damn it. But, if it sounds like this post will be all bitching, no it won't. But, I have always prided this blog on telling the truth, the good with the bad, if you will.


Anyways, the first of the two people that I went up was the lovely Sofia Shinas, who played Shelly in the action/ horror/ comic-book classic film, The Crow. She has stunning eyes in person, and I got to tell her that that movie is one of my personal favorites.


The only other person I went up to was the beautiful Dea DeMatteo of The Sopranos and the actually quite good Assualt on Precinct 13 remake. I wanted to meet her for the longest of time, but when I saw that she was charging 20 for an autograph and 20 for a pic with her, I was a little turned off. But, with no Ms. Kinski, I was like "what the hell, why not?" She was very sweet and friendly in person and all smiles. But, the best part was when she asked my name for the autograph, and I told her my name was "Gio, well Giovanni, but everyone called me Gio" She said "Gio. I like that!" THAT made my entire day!! If not, in fact, week! 


I promised I would tell you about The Walking Dead cast. Well, much like last year, the lines were AWFUL, and everyone was charging 40 for an autograph plus 20 for a pic with them. No fucking way was I gonna go on those lines! That said, Emily Kinney, who plays Beth on the show, is soooo cute in person! 

There was some cool cosplay at the con including the following two:
 

Finally, we tried to attend the Candyman panel, but it was hot as fuck in the room! We couldn't take it and left the room. I did get to snap some pics of the still beautiful Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd, though.


In all, we had a fucking awesome time. I bought tons of shit, including: a 20 buck Fright-Rags Maniac Cop tee (come on I dress like the guy, had to!), from HorrorMerch I got a two for 30 deal of Jaws and Slumber Party Massacre tees, 25 bucks for Michonne and her Pets from The Walking Dead box set Pop! figures, Jason Voorhess Pop! figure, Maggie Green's McFarlane The Walking Dead action figure, and a Return of the Living Dead 3 mini-poster for a buck. We look forward to returning to this convention in the near future.