Swiss design legend H.R. Giger, whose portfolio included a number of stunning album covers, has passed away.

According to Swiss television channel SRF, the artist died following a fall down a flight of stairs earlier this week. He was 74.

Working across a range of disciplines – including painting, set design, illustration and sculpture – Giger built up a body of work that remains instantly recognisable – nightmarish, intricately detailed, and steeped in fantasy and sci-fi. Inspired by his early studies in architecture and industrial design, his output often presents eerie hybrids of the organic and the mechanical.

Although best known as the visual brains behind Ridley Scott’s Alien, Giger also produced a string of attention-grabbing album covers over his career, including Debbie Harry’s 1981 LP Koo Koo (see above), Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s 1973 album Brain Salad Surgery, Joel Vandroogenbroeck’s recently reissued Biomechanoid, and records for Carcass, Magma, Danzig, amongst others.

Giger was namechecked as an influence in our recent in-depth feature on our favourite contemporary sleeve designers. The Vinyl Factory, meanwhile, have run down their favourite 20 Giger designs.