The Number of The Beast (album) - Album Artwork

Album Artwork

Like all of Iron Maiden's album artwork during the 1980s and early 90s, it was painted by Derek Riggs. The cover was originally created for the song "Purgatory", but Rod Smallwood deemed it of too high a calibre for a single release and decided to save it for The Number of the Beast album instead. The original 1982 artwork includes a light blue sky in the background; this was a mistake by the printers of the album cover, and was later rectified and became black when the album was remastered for compact disc in 1998.

The album was also the centre of controversy, particularly in America, due to the lyrics of the title track and the cover art depicting Eddie controlling Satan like a puppet, while Satan is also controlling a smaller Eddie. Smallwood explains that the concept was to ask "who's the really evil one here? Who's manipulating who?" According to Riggs this was inspired by a Doctor Strange comic book "which had some big villain with Doctor Strange dangling on some strings like a puppet, it was something I read as a child back in the 1960s I think," while the images of hell were "taken from my knowledge of medieval European Christian art which was full of such scenes."

The album's cover art has been parodied several times — by crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death for the cover art of their 1999 album Bigger than the Devil, and on a T-shirt by Streetwear brand Diamond Supply Co.