Molly Hatchet, The album covers
When I was a sophomore in high school the first Molly Hatchet record came out and I was mislead by the ass kicking Frazetta cover. The cover, Frazetta’s Death Dealer promised a brutal assault of heaviosity (at that point of my life heaviosity was defined by Judas Priest, UFO and early Scorpions). What I got was southern rock, boogie shop, powerfully disappointing. Being stupid, I also bought their next record Flirtin’ with Disaster on the strength of another Frazetta cover. Again I was disappointed. Here’s a short overview of selected Molly Hatchet album covers:
Molly Hatchet, Flirtin’ with Disaster, Beatin’ the Odds- three of the greatest album covers ever, my introduction to Frank Frazetta’s work. If only the rock enclosed lived up to these covers, the mind reels.
Take no Prisoners- The band decided to put themselves on the cover, albeit in extreme fantasy art version, courtesy of Boris Vallejo. “Why not us on the cover, the real warriors.” Actual photographs of Molly Hatchet show them to either be Waffle House doughy or meth addict skinny.
No Guts…No Glory- The first time they used the actual band in a photograph for the cover. It looks like a snapshot from a southern gentlemen fantasy camp.
Silent Reign of Heroes- This is a later record but they’re back to Frazetta like art. Unfortunately the cover of this album looks like the work of a white power band.
You like Boris Vallejo ?? Man, do I have something extremely cool for you … gotta be in RB next week, see ya then.
I think they should have used Basil Wolverton to do the cover art. Could have gone in a completely different direction.
Yes, i will always remember the giant bloody axe (Frazetta) and the helmet with those two eyes peering out – the face being the only detail missing – really amazing
until people started to try to re-create it in airbrush on the side of their own vans – bad anatomy and all. Maybe they should have used the bad Frazetta van-paint copy for the album covers…