Royal Blood’s Debut Album Takes Home the Award for Best Vinyl Art of 2014

British rockers Royal Blood’s debut album has taken the award for Best Vinyl Art in 2014. Run by Art Vinyl and chosen by 12,000 voters, the top prize went to the artwork on the duo's critically acclaimed self-titled album, beating out fellow 2014 breakout acts FKA Twigs and Future Islands.

Art Vinyl's awards seek out the year’s albums that best combine art and music, and Royal Blood’s record sleeve certainly accomplished that. Designer Dan Hillier was inspired by Victorian etchings when creating the cover art, which he titled, ‘Falls.’

“I made this image in the spring of 2014 as one of four pieces made at that time, the others being ‘Midpoint,’ ‘Meta,’ ‘Suit.’ I named her Pachamama after I returned from Peru, where I had the privilege of sitting in ceremony with Shipibo master shamans in the northern Amazon and wandering about the southern Andes,” Hillier told Art Vinyl. (Pachamama is a Quechuan word for "Earth Mother.")

Hillier’s work on Royal Blood’s album -- along with 50 other albums boasting the best artwork of the year -- will be showcased in an exhibition that will travel through the U.K., Italy and Hungary.

Previous winners of the best vinyl art award include White Lies, the Temper Trap, Bright Eyes, Thom Yorke and more.