Tenacious D’s Jack Black Names the Most Metal Album Cover Ever
This year will see the return of Tenacious D, the rock duo featuring actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Black, who has been a longtime supporter of hard rock and heavy metal through both film and music, has now named the most metal album cover in history.
The actor and musician was a guest on the popular YouTube channel Good Mythical MORE, where he was shown various album covers. Prior to viewing the candidates, Black affirmed, "I'm gonna know all of them, I bet you." A few seconds later, the cover of Amon Amarth's 2011 record Surtur Rising graces the screen. "Right out of the gate, I do not know this band," admits Black.
He notes the metal nature of the volcano on the cover, describing it as "where Hell and Earth meet, where the fires from below from Hell erupt, but I can't help but just think of, like, Hawaii and non heavy metal things."
Moving onward, the panel of three assess artwork from other artists, including Dio's Holy Diver ("what's more Satanic than a Satan demon throwing a priest into the water [while] chained?"), Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast ("you don't really see this kind of heavy metal artwork anymore"), Manowar's The Triumph of Steel ("there's a lot of sexualization of the metal"), Molly Hatchet's Beatin' the Odds ("this guy is definitely killing demons") and Wretched's Cannibal (this one's just depressing to me — I guess it's very metal").
Ultimately, Jack Black sides with Dio's Holy Diver artwork, which isn't much of a surprise given his relationship with the late heavy metal singer. Ronnie James Dio made a guest appearance in Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny and was featured on the Tenacious D song "Kickapoo." In 2015, Tenacious D picked up a Grammy win for Best Metal Performance, having covered Dio's "The Last in Line."
Tenacious D's new album, Post-Apocalypto, arrives on November 2 and the band will kick off a brief headlining U.S. tour the following day. See all of the upcoming tour stops here.
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