I'd say the old one is better.
On the new one, the text it difficult to read, especially the letter S that almost blends into the image. What you have there also doesn't seem to match the image in any way, neither in colors nor in style. If you want to keep the colored frames, I recommend to either shade them to make the letters more distinct or create a single gradient background for all the letters, to create a separate element for the text instead of just putting them over the image.
The second thing, consider how you want the cover to feel; is it supposed to convey mystery, fear, melancholy, or yet something else. The newer is much brighter, so it feels lighter, but the pose of the character (especially how he's looking to the side) and the colors give a completely different, weaker impression than the intense colors, contrast, and direct stare of the character in the old cover. I'm not sure what effect you want to achieve, but based on your synopsis I'd say the new one doesn't fit. It feels melancholic, calm, uncertain, even almost sad.
The old one could also use some polishing and smaller changes, but overall it looks much better to me.
. It translates roughly to "My artistic side ain't worth a damn" 
