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Covers seem to be complicated. If I remember right, Random House released "A Game of Thrones" first with a cover similar to normal bestsellers. They thought the book to be above most other fantasy and saw the possibility that it would attract people from outside the genre. A try to make the book look more "serious". It was not successful at that time: fantasy fans didn't easily recognized it as fantasy and other readers were not interested in a fantasy book.
Now they are more abstract again, because it is now mainstream and it is not just read by fantasy readers. And like you I have the feeling more and more fantasy books are getting more serious covers and the genre gets more accepted.
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