The Art of Metal: Joe Petagno

 

Recently, I got lazy, and I still don't have the mojo back, so for this week exclusively, I will release another batch (in english only, to save time) about the greatest Metal artists of all time.

Joe Petagno, does not need any special introduction, does he? That near-80 years old tough guy genius artist (his latest work was painted in 2023!) is probably known first and foremost for his iconic works for Motorhead, including designing the iconic Snaggletooth mascot. I wanted to joke that he designed this creature after himself, but honestly, Joe looks more like Zangief from Street Fighter, just take a look:

 

Suffice to say, his co-operation with Lemmy goes back to the beginning of their respective careers, back when Lemmy was still with Hawkwind, and when Motorhead initially was supposed to be called "Bastard". And among his early works constitute his collabos with Hipgnosis, doing "Swan Song" logo for Led Zeppelin, cover for Nazareth's "Rampant", as well as participating in doing an illustration for the obscure Pink Floyd's tour programme.

Obviously, what we care about here the most, are his contributions to Metal, with Death Metal genre naturally becoming his most frequent assignment, which he certainly didn't mind, as judging from the interviews, he totally breathes Heavy Metal music, which frankly, might be the first instance in this series, as Metal cover artists usually prefer some Jazz / Prog Rock, and so on.

Like with many other artists in this series, there is some serious wealth of the art, both in regards to quantity AND quality, just look (from the tip of my hat):

Angelcorpse "Exterminate", Vader "Tibi Et Igni", Marduk's live album "Infernal Eternal", Infamy's sole album (might be personal fave, albeit my version has different cover), Autopsy's underrated "The Headless Ritual", Avulsed & Nominon debuts, recently covered Deiphago, Centinex, Diabolic, obscure Brazilian Black Metal band Murder Rape (highly recommended), iconic Sepsism's sophomore masterpiece, Sodom's best modern albums ("Decision Day" & "Genesis XIX"), poingant Satan's Host work "Great American Scapegoat 666", even Japanese avantgarde freaks - Sigh ("Scenario IV"), etc. etc. etc. The list just goes on and on...

What is really cool about his works is that it doesn't matter how popular a band is, or where they come from, they can always count on good ole Joe, as the man himself has a no-bullshit, straightforward attitude. His most obscure work might be for Power Metal band Conquest's second album "Rage", released by Unisound. I sincerely doubt they had budget to pay for art, as they were (and kinda still are) extremely amateurish label, so I do wonder if there is some juicy backstory behind this particular work.

Petagno's personal wish was to draw some painting for Behemoth, Mastodon, Machine Head and Judas Priest, alas, it never happened :( 

The guy is also totally old school in regards to craft, namely the tried acrylic paintings, without any computer programs or special effects. Looking at his covers, it's easy to guess that the favorite color scheme involves a lot of hellish orange color. And sure, a criticism could be drawn, that it's all some variations of skulls, barbarians, demons, and Petagno's favorite subject - apocalyptic warfare. But you know, that's the charm, some proper masculine stuff with hairy balls, in this pathetic, effeminated world. I would compare his style to Simon Bisley's work, only Petagno looks much more smoother and confident with his lines (but that's just my opinion), albeit they both use darker palettes.

He also did go weeeell beyond covers. As you can see clicking the links below, he did much more work, usually involving sci-fi, like Martian Chronicles, as well as illustrating cards from "Deck of Death" series.

Cheers and long live Petagno!

LINKS:

https://www.petagno.dk/index.html 

https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Joe_Petagno/20163 - you have to see it, to believe it