Hell Awaits: the Slayer cover that was painted overnight
Bleeding red walls, skeletal demons fighting in mid-air, claws reaching up from below. It looks like months of work. Tom Araya says it was done overnight.
Red paint runs down the whole sheet, as if the walls themselves were bleeding. At the top hangs the Slayer logo, a pentagram ringed with swords. Below it, skeletal demons with horns and leathery skin tear at each other in mid-air, one of them swinging a sword, while clawed hands reach up from the bottom of the frame. It looks like someone opened a window onto a very bad corner of hell. That was the whole idea.
One night, one painting
The painting is by Albert Cuellar. According to Tom Araya, it was put together overnight. Slayer were still a young band on a small label, with no time and no budget for a long commission. Cuellar delivered anyway, and the result became one of the most recognisable sleeves of eighties thrash.
A familiar crowd of monsters
Here is the twist. For more than twenty-five years nobody noticed that the skeletal beasts look remarkably like the creatures in Approaching Centauri, a 1977 comic story by the French artist Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius. The likeness was only pointed out in 2011, when a metal blog posted the old comic pages. Whether Cuellar borrowed on purpose, or simply had those pictures in his head that night, has never really been explained. With a deadline like that, you can see how it might happen.
Join us
Hell Awaits came out on Metal Blade in April 1985. It was Slayer's second album and their last for the label. It was recorded at Eldorado Recording in Los Angeles and produced by the band together with Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel, who also helped pay for the sessions. The line-up was the classic four: Tom Araya on bass and vocals, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitars, and Dave Lombardo on drums.
The record opens with a creepy little trick. Play the intro of the title track backwards and a voice repeats "join us" again and again. Then the riff kicks in, and the songs are longer, faster and darker than anything on the debut. The cover promised hell, and the music kept the promise.
About the poster
This is the Hell Awaits sleeve printed as a 50 × 70 cm (20 × 28 in) portrait poster, from 2025. It is an original magazine insert, never hung, with no staple holes, folded three times as issued. The sheet is double-sided, with At the Gates on the back.
Browse all original Slayer posters.
Quick answers
Who painted the Slayer Hell Awaits cover?
Albert Cuellar. Tom Araya has said the artwork was put together overnight.
Is there a hidden message on Hell Awaits?
Yes. Played backwards, the intro of the title track repeats the words "join us".
When was Hell Awaits released?
In April 1985, on Metal Blade Records. It was Slayer's second studio album.
How big is the poster?
50 × 70 cm (about 20 × 28 inches), portrait. It is a separate insert, so it has no staple holes, and it is folded three times as issued.
What is on the other side?
An At the Gates poster. The sheet is double-sided, so you choose which side goes on the wall.