10 Best Rock Music Album Covers Of The 2010s
2. Simulation Theory - Muse
Subtle album covers are good and all, but sometimes what you want is a bit of good old-fashioned 80s excess.
British rockers Muse based their eighth album Simulation Theory on the decade they grew up in, drawing influences from the sci-fi movies and synth sounds of the era.
When the album came out in 2018, there was another pop culture staple that had gained popularity thanks to 80s nostalgia - Netflix's Stranger Things.
Kyle Lambert, a British illustrator, helped design some of the famous artwork for the show. Muse were clearly fans of his work, as they got him in to do Simulation Theory as well.
With his trusty iPad and Apple Pencil in hand, Lambert set about rendering the band members in the style of the time. The end result was a huge, neon picture that would have been right at home in Hawkins, Indiana.
Simulation Theory's artwork is simply that - a piece of art. It harks back to a time where album covers were designed to be hung up on bedroom walls and wouldn't look out of place in an exhibition celebrating the 80s as a time of bombastic glory.