DW - Digipak Analyisis

The genre of the artist is noise rock, a style of rock music that uses a lot of dissonance and distortion to create extra noise. This is made prevalent through the grungy overtones of the album cover and the use of visual techniques to covey this.

The black and white colour scheme is very minimalistic, and stereotypical of the genre as it is harsh and bare, lacking contrast, depth and emotion. The typeface used is also very edgy, and looks distorted in some way.

The titles and artwork mainly lie in the centre line of the frame, and little attention has been put into the rule of thirds. There is also equal lettering on either side of the centre line, royal - blood. This connotes a polished feel and a symmetrical, clean look.

The use of a Victorian style image connotes the bands isolation, as it is seen as a regressive step back in history. The way only the eyes and hands are fully shown also connotes this. The head of the person is coloured with what looks like the solar system or space, further connoting their isolation and coldness of the digipak.

These techniques are used to connote star status when looking through Dyer's principal of the star image. The ideas of rebellion, anger, disregard for social values and drugs could all be seen through these visual techniques, connoting the band as a teen idol of angst and rebellion.

There are very little linguistic devises used on the digipak. The album is self titled 'Royal Blood', so no analysis can be undertaken of the album name, and the only other writing is the song listings on the back. The songs however can be used to connote isolation and anger, for example such song names as "You Can Be So Cruel", "Little Monster", "Careless", and "Better Strangers".

As an album cover for a rock band, the print text is unlikely to be consumed on a large level, as it will be targeted towards select audiences, who will be likely to have already heard of the band, making them more prone to consuming the record.

Overall, the band are represented to be very alone from the album, and distant from the audience. This could be for two reasons. Firstly, it is their debut album, so they do not have a fully established fan base ready to consume their material. The isolation of the album could be a reflection of their isolation in the music industry, and a metaphor for the start of their careers, as it will build up over time. Secondly, and adding to this, when seen through Dyer's theory, the digipak portrays the band to be absent from the audience and incomplete. This will make the audience go out and actively listen to their songs, and consume their videos, to feel indulged in the incoherence of the band image.