Metallica Artist Addresses Album Cover Controversy was a Top 3 story on Monday: (Classic Rock) One of the leading creatives behind the artwork for Metallica album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct has admitted his team were "shocked" when they were told about its similarity to the cover of Crowbar's 1998 record Odd Fellows Rest.

Both images feature four band members merged into one multi-faceted head, with the face on the left sticking its tongue out. The comparison was flagged by fans almost as soon as the Hardwired sleeve art was revealed, prompting Crowbar leader Kirk Windstein to say: "I seriously doubt that any member of Metallica stole this idea from us. Any way you slice it, it's a cool cover idea."

Now Dimitri Scheblanov of the Herring & Herring agency tells Decibel: "It was pretty shocking that there was such a similar looking thing. But I had never heard of the band or the music. It was also interesting that it was another metal act. I still haven't listened to it, unfortunately.

"We went out to Minneapolis to see Metallica play. When we were at the afterparty with the band, somebody brought up the Crowbar thing. Everyone was like, 'Who the f*** is Crowbar?'

"That made it feel a little bit better, because we were kind of shocked. But because other people within the community didn't really know about them either we felt it wasn't such a huge deal." Read more - here.

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