Sleevage is a site that looks into the artwork and design of classic album covers. As someone who spent ages poring over my Metal album covers as a kid, it’s nice to get some insight into the largely uncredited artists who create the iconic images that accompany our favourite music.

For instance, in a post about Lenny Kravitz’s Baptism cover, the designer, Len Peltier, actually took the time to drop some comments about the creative process (and to correct the author on a typographical faux pas).

Also worth a look is the write-up on Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album covers. It shows you the progression of the monster bat/motorcycle theme that carries through all the albums. Would have been worth referencing some of Jim Steinman’s album covers, because I think he’s used the same cover art concepts in his own work.

The site is missing one very important thing however – it currently has absolutely no Iron Maiden covers. You can’t write about cover art without covering the history of Iron Maiden and their grizzly mascot, Eddie. And, of course, the artist responsible: Derek Riggs. I trust Sleevage will rectify this immediately!

Anyway, Sleevage is as addictive a site as you’re likely to find. It’s based on the WordPress blog platform, so there’s an RSS feed if you want to keep up with new album art they’re adding.