Inner Sleeve: Abdul Qadim Haqq

Iron Maiden – Powerslave (EMI 1984)
Designed by Derek Riggs

Perhaps my favourite record sleeve artist of all time is Derek Riggs, who did the original artwork for the English Heavy Metal group Iron Maiden. I started liking Heavy Metal in high school in the early 80s, and Riggs influenced much of my early work while I was a student. I liked his style so much I used to copy his paintings for some of my art class assignments. I started off listening to Iron Maiden in about 1983 with their album Piece Of Mind. I was thoroughly impressed with the music, and the artwork matched it perfectly. It seemed like each song was a glorious epic. The paintings that Riggs did for that project gave Iron Maiden a style that no other Heavy Metal band could match. His character of ‘Eddie’, the mutant hybrid monster that graced their covers, is perfectly suited for a group like Iron Maiden. With their next project, Powerslave, Iron Maiden and Riggs both took their work to a whole new level. It was an album with an Egyptian theme, and Riggs’s cover painting is exceptional. With the character Eddie in the temple pyramid structure, Riggs perfectly captures the megalomania of an Egyptian pharaoh, the subject of the song ”Powerslave”. I think that feeling of being a slave to power and a slave to the fear of death is all conveyed in the artwork and the lyrics. I considered it the best of the Iron Maiden covers in its concept, scope and detail. His painting for Aces High is wonderful as well. This is my favourite Iron Maiden album of all. In my own career, I’ve had the opportunity to create characters to match to the artist or group and its music, and it’s one of the most satisfying feelings I get doing artwork for record labels. Although on a much smaller scale, I feel in some way that I’m following in the footsteps of a great artist like Derek Riggs.
Abdul Qadim Haqq makes sleeve art for Underground Resistance, among other labels. Website: www.thirdearthvisualarts.com.