Bombfactory: Swap Meet Gold

I've often said I'll buy anything for a buck. And I think most people's impulse-purchase threshold also probably hovers right around the magic dollar mark. Apple must think so too, as most of the songs available in their iTunes music store, as well as the majority of apps available for the iPhone, go for 99 cents. So it'll come as no big surprise that little brightens my day at the local swap meet more than a huge stack of CDs with a hastily-scrawled-on-cardboard sign reading 'CDs $1.00' leaning against the pile.

In these days of iPods and MP3 files, a lot of people are dumping their CD collections - just like in the 90's when they dumped their vinyl record collections once they had replaced everything with CDs - so there have been a lot of compact disc collections showing up at swap meets lately.

Sometimes the stuff is even worth risking a sunburn on the back of my neck to take the time to flip through, and that's just how I came across the two Korn CDs I'd like to share with you here. They're both multi-disc albums and for me what really made the sale was the high-quality creative package design. It isn't often that a band will spring for non-standard (read: more expensive) packaging for a CD release - the form factor is just too small for impressive design to have much of an impact.

Lucky for us, the boys in Korn, a multi-platinum selling hard rock outfit originally from Bakersfield, California, decided to make the investment on these two albums.

:: Click on images to see them larger ::

1. Korn - See You on the Other Side - Cover and back cover

Inside the front cover there's this pop-up book style flap...

...and the whole thing slides out of this slip-case style clear sleeve.

The amazing paintings for See You on the Other Side were done by David Soupakis. More artwork from this deluxe CD release, and some work-in-progress photos, can be found here.

2. Korn - Untitled (yes, that's the name of the album) - Top and bottom sides to the 3/4" tall box that holds the CDs and other cool bonus stuff.

3 insert cards (front and back sides) featuring the band members.

Printed CDs and their disc sleeves...

...and the opened box with some of its contents.

Richard Kirk did the illustrations and design for Korn's 'Untitled' album, released in 2007. You can see more of his strange and beautiful artwork at his website here.