Reckless Love Album cover

Reckless Love

Reckless Love label

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me talking about the Finnish rock band Reckless Love over the past few months. The 4 boys in the band, Olli, Hessu, Jalle and Pepe hired me last year to create the band’s visual identity including the logo, a couple of cd single covers and their official label debut album cover.

I’m happy to announce that their debut is due to be released on February 24th, coincidentally my birthday! Shown above is the final album cover design I created for the guys.

I mentioned this in a previous post about the band, but there is nothing better then working with someone who is excited about their project. That makes me excited, and inevitably makes the work better. Reckless Love’s sound is inspired by hard rock and hair metal bands from the 80s, polished and updated nicely. So naturally, the design hearkens back to that era being inspired by bands such as Mötley Crüe and Van Halen:

Reckless Love inspiration

I’ve been listening to the final album for a little while now as I worked on the designs and I really can’t wait for the release. Its construction is honest, and they capture perfectly the elements of fun from the era that inspires them, without any irony. It’s no secret that I love modern updates of things past, so I’ve enjoyed every second of working on this project.

More to come on Reckless Love, but in the meantime you can pre-order the album from Record Shop X.

February 24th, rockers . . . mark your calendars.


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20 responses to “Reckless Love Album cover”

  1. Ole Avatar
    Ole

    Have you seen Karate Kid I? I think you would love the poster for the tournament, couldnt find a good screenshot of it, but here is the bottom: http://www.fast-rewind.com/kkid/dojo2.jpg

  2. andrew Avatar
    andrew

    one of the worst cover art i´ve ever seen.

  3. james Avatar

    Andrew, lucky for you the internet is a big place so there’s no need to dwell on things you don’t enjoy. Go find something you feel good about.

  4. Luke Desroches Avatar

    Wicked job, James. I’m a huge Crüe and Van Halen fan, and you nailed it on capturing the feel of the hair metal era.

  5. Max D Avatar

    Excellent job!

    BTW the moment I saw that cover, colours and all, I immediately thought of this picture: http://yfrog.com/3t2427wj
    Was it anyhow a conscious inspiration, too? I’m just curious to no end. :)

  6. james Avatar

    Luke, thanks a lot, buddy. Had so much fun working on this one.

    Max, that is crazy! Oddly enough, I’ve never seen that cover before. The Reckless design was influenced mostly by the Van Halen cover shown above (centered metal logo, 4-panels) but I certainly can see why that Wasp design came to mind, especially the colors. I just did a search and I guess that image was on the back cover of an album?

    Also, and to a lesser extent, Poison’s ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’ was another influence. Check it.

  7. Jukes Avatar

    Pretty cool, James. This totally makes me think of the old “He-Man” movie from the ’80s.

  8. David F Avatar
    David F

    I like it. A nice sort of update!

  9. Mbithi Avatar

    I love it. It really screams 80’s! I would love to see that on a store shelf. Great work!

  10. Max D Avatar
    Max D

    James,
    Yeah, I can see where the Poison one comes in :) So you’ve never seen the WASP one? Amazing really :) The back cover of The Last Command it is.

  11. Chris Avatar

    Great work James! You rocked this piece. It must have been a blast to work on. If only every client needed awesome jobs done like this!

  12. Brian Oz Avatar

    James,
    I’ve been a fan of your for quite some time. I was originally drawn to your work because of your effective use of Bookman Swash. I was turned onto the world of retro-futurism around the same time you were as well. This cover is stellar. I recently designed one just like it! The similarities are striking, i just don’t want you to think i’m ripping you off. The project has not been announced yet, so I can’t post a link, but i will be sure to when it’s out, within a month or so. Props James, keep it up.
    Brian

  13. David Behm Avatar

    Great job!

    I will have to give them a listen!

  14. MATT Avatar
    MATT

    This is an Epic Fail…worst cover art EVER

  15. ADA Avatar

    this is really not my cup of tea. it should look more retro. i dont know… i donk like the supermarket look of it

  16. Kelley Toombs Avatar

    Amazing work, as usual! The type work is so damn nice :D

  17. Jennifer Romita Avatar

    It looks metal to me, so I don’t know what that earlier commenter is talking about.

  18. Luca Avatar
    Luca

    Worthless. I guess they asked for 80s metal glam thrash feel, but…no traces of originality here. Just a technically perfect, soulless execution.

  19. Matt Sauter Avatar

    I’m really not sure why people keep ripping on this. James has, once again, nailed a style perfectly. He knows what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, and how to do it better than it’s been done before. And given the way that James talks with and about his clients (especially Reckless Love), it’s difficult for me to believe that he’d be content to produce anything “soulless”.

    As usual, awesome work James. I’m looking forward to whatever else you share with us here.

    Cheers!

  20. Andrew Campbell Avatar

    I’m loving it as usual man. I was never a huge metal head but absolutly love the design style looking back. Modern-Retro is so much fun to look at these days when it’s done right. And you do it right.

    I just read a recent post by you on Twitter and was wondering if this was the collection of posts you were talking about. If it is, you’re right. The internet allows people with no talent, no creativity, no morals or common sense (which isn’t so common these days as it is) to be obnoxious idiots anonymously bashing people and their hard work with no worry of retaliation. I guess the only recourse is to delete the comment and pretend it didn’t happen or just leave it as proof not everyone has evolved as far as we would have liked by now.

    Either way, your real fans look right past these posts and feel bad for the jerks leaving these messages.

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