British
Heavy Metal in Techinicolor
da: Musica per immagini, Immagini per la musica
In the early
'80s, ebbed the fires of punk first generation, the music industry was ready
for the next "big thing". From England then, imposes a fierce group
of band in love with the old hard rock, revised with new
technologies production and cultural backgrounds who finds inspiration in
the “fantasy” tales and in urban myths of adolescent (male) initiation: this was
the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The album cover of this genre are a
"corpus" rather homogeneous in style: bright colors, high technology,
a little of Japanese manga, a bit old Marvel Comics.
Among so many authors and many works worthy of interest, Rodney Matthews
certainly deserves a place of respect for his wild imagination and
personality. Born in Paulton (England) in 1945, he attended the West of
England College of Art where he is also a member of several groups of
undergrowth prog; he is active for all ‘70s as illustrator and designer; it
will be the meeting with the Heavy Metal of the Magnum to provide the
inspiration for his the best works. His style is a direct evolution of what
Roger Dean made years ago for the progressive; Matthews will continue, after
Dean, the collaboration with Asia. Where the views of Dean were
exquisitely natural, geological and related to the primary elements (air, water),
Matthews forcefully inserts in his drawings the technological element,
artificial and mechanical, projecting in a post-nuclear future the Earth's
ancient techniques. His collaborations with Magnum and Asia are real
monumental cycles: the tract is safe and precise, the attention to detail is
sometimes manic, color is metallic and glossy.
