Red - 'End of Silence' Cover Analysis

This album cover is rather interesting. As with a lot of album covers, this one matches the title of the album itself. Being titled, ‘End of Silence’, the cover shows a man - actually the lead singer of the band, Michael Barnes - with his mouth wide open, implying that he’s screaming. The cover does not show the upper-half of his head, but instead leaving the focus on his open mouth to emphasise the implication that he’s screaming. On top of that, there is an overlaying texture on the cover, which adds somewhat of a cracked glass effect; this effect gives the impression that the man’s screaming is breaking the glass, which in itself implies that he is trapped and is breaking free. Furthermore, there is a strong red ‘colour correction’ and tint on the cover. The colour, red, is often associated with danger, which adds the implication that this trapped man may be dangerous.

The band, Red, are a Christian ‘Rock’ band, and generally have religious-orientated lyrics, however left to one’s own interpretation. With the added knowledge of the band’s religious standing, one may then begin to wonder if the implication of the trapped man being dangerous is actually an implication that he is only dangerous to evil.

Aside from the implication of danger, the predominant red colour scheme of the cover also refers to the band’s name, Red.