I love when a sense of horror or dread are created by something just being bizarre since something weird/strange could easily be whimsical or even calming with a different presentation.
Anyway for me, the album artwork for Muse's Absolution hits that vibe. I don't have the case on hand so I'm pretty sure the image I'm sharing from Wikipedia is the artwork sans text?
Nothing outright horrible is happening, we're not dealing with blood, gore, or "monsters"... but whatever is going on doesn't seem outright positive or reassuring either.
Art is a subjective experience so I don't doubt that my perception of this image is heavily influenced by listening to the album before I ever saw it. You've got this lone man holding a gas mask in his right hand as he gazes upward at the sky. We see multiple shadows cast onto the ground, one from the man with the gas mask and then the rest are shaped like humans with their arms outstretched.
With no other bodies standing on the ground we can make the assumption that they may be flying, floating, or perhaps even falling. Why?
Don't know! And something about the blueness of the shadows contrasting with the pale gray ground unnerves me. This whole thing feels unnerving.
And we haven't even looked at the back of the album yet.
We have... a small blonde white girl in a red dress without shoes, also staring at the sky. I'm not feeling better about this situation, whatever it is. Looking at the shadows here, some of these flying bodies are very high in the air! Have this little girl in the man been left behind by something, or perhaps something is coming toward them?
And lastly- just how big are these bodies that they can cast a shadow this detailed from a high distance?
I'm not trying to make you feel like you should be scared or admire these pictures, I'm more just trying to walk through the process of how the image informs my feelings about it. It's weird and it unnerves me, and I would love to find horror with this approach!
Anyway, this was a pretty influential album for me growing up and it was fun to practice talking about art and my feelings. Thanks for reading if you got this far!
(Obligatory note: this cover was photographed by Rupert Truman and designed by artist Storm Thorgerson- who also designed the cover for Muse's next album, Black Holes and Revelations! I think both are visually striking!)