One of the great things about Volta is their album art. Their taste in art is very similar to my own, and it's one of the things that drew me in.

So here is my ranking. Forgive me for being a bit pretentious about this, but this is Volta after all.

1. Frances The Mute - The top spot goes to what is also my favorite album of theirs. This piece, which bears some resemblance to the work of surrealist René Magritte, reflects the sound and themes of the album brilliantly. The characters ghost-like demeanor makes it feel very ominous. Two people not knowing each others or their own identity, traveling in a search for that identity and passing each other unable to notice. The formal attire combined with the red veils indicate how something or someone that is respected and important can have dark and bloody aspects of them hidden or even ignored.

2. Amputechture - “It lacks a human pulse”. This artwork expresses something about the lack of humanity in some of humans creations. Be it physical creations or intellectual and social ones. The facial expressions of the characters depicted in the image looks either indifferent or concerned, yet they seem content to handle this creation. Given that much of the subject matter on this album is about institutional religion, I think that’s how this artwork fits the album. The style also reminds me of Giorgio de Chirico, another surrealist painter, because of the color palette and emphasis on a strange object.

3. The Bedlam In Goliath - A posse of religious police ready, entitled and eager to impose their religious dogma on their surroundings. A man with a red fez behind them, almost stalking them yet seems to be unnoticed. A giant woman also going unnoticed, disrupting the otherwise realistic image, like an otherworldly spirit violating the scene. A man and a boy in the shadow of the woman and some other obscured figures surrounding them. Things used for communication covering the roofs. It’s difficult to summarize this image, yet its content is very clear. Is bedlam the seeming lack of context?

4. Noctourniquet - The most abstract one. Reflects the sound of the album perfectly in its simplicity. Don’t have anything else to say.

5. De-loused In The Comatorium - The expression of suffering and desperation from a man that is disembodied from his own existence, both physically and spiritually. The only light left is that which comes from within, his own mind. But it could also be gagging him. The setting is that of a place of treatment - or is it his autopsy? Someone who cares about this man is mourning in the background, too separated by what is happening to understand or do something about it. An image about something incredibly tragic, but with one possible beacon of light (literally).

6. Octahedron - Last, but not least. Despite its seemingly chaotic composition it gives the feeling of serenity and peace. Which reflects the calmer mood on this album compared to the bands previous work, while still very much being Volta.