by Joe Wallace

Easily one of the most offensive album covers of all time, the Predator Easy Prey vinyl album defies logic–IF the guiding principle of album artwork is to sell the music inside. “Hey kids, buy this record–it’s about SEXUAL ASSAULT!”

What were these lunkheads thinking when they came up with THIS crap? It’s difficult to blame the band 100% on this one–the fault rests squarely with the record label, Metal Blade Records if an interview with Predator’s Jeff Prentice is to be believed. Prentice was interviewed by Sleazegrinder.com, saying “I laughed my ass off that they actually used it. Talk about low budget!” Prentice added, “It was all in good fun. Nowadays the politically correct liberal f*cks would be all over it. Heh heh.”

Some would counter that by saying that it’s not so much a question of political correctness per se, but rather the idea that–as presented on the cover and the infamous back cover (see below) the band might be misinterpreted as saying “We don’t actually have a problem with this.” Or maybe they’re saying, “We like hot chicks in beachwear, but didn’t have the balls to just show that cuz it’s like, you know, not METAL enough. Party on, Garth.”

Prentice nyuk nyuks about this cover, but the presentation actually would have been far more interesting if the roles were reversed on the back cover of the LP instead of what we get here:

But it’s not really Turntabling’s gig to discuss effing philosophy of art with this crap–it’s more about first impression factors and whether the album art does its job well. If you spot THIS winner in the shops, do you want to BUY it?

In this case the cover makes you think the band’s either totally clueless–or maybe they think this sort of thing is kinda sexy. The only thing that could salvage this cover is…well, no. Nothing can save it. It looks dumb, it’s got little to do with the music on the record (thankfully) as near as can be judged without actually being forced to LISTEN to it. FAIL.