Reign in Blood: the cover Slayer said they were stuck with
A goat-headed figure carried on a throne through a red and black hell, bishops with horns, faces stretched like melted wax. It does not look like any other metal cover of 1986. That is exactly the point.
Give your eyes a minute with this one. In the middle, a figure with a goat's head sits on a throne that is being carried through the scene. Around him, horned creatures in tall pointed bishops' hats. Heads lined up along the bottom, a body hanging high on the right, a crowd of tiny figures far away on the left. Everything is twisted, stretched and stained in red, black and dirty yellow. Up in the corner, the Slayer pentagram looks almost polite by comparison.
Not a metal artist
The painting is by Larry Carroll, and he was not the obvious choice. Carroll was a political illustrator who drew for papers like The New York Times and The Village Voice. He was brought in by Rick Rubin, Slayer's new producer and the co-founder of their new label, Def Jam. The story goes that the brief was short, a goat's head on the cover, and that Carroll got a tape of the album to listen to while he worked.
He did not paint it the way metal covers were usually painted. He mixed paint with collage and used a photocopier to stretch and resize faces, which is why so many of them look as if they have been pulled out of shape. He came back with more than one version, and the final cover combines them into one picture.
Stuck with it
The band were not impressed. Kerry King later said, more or less, that nobody in Slayer wanted that cover and they were simply stuck with it. Tom Araya, on the other hand, said he thought it was amazing. Over the years King came round too, admitting that it had changed what a metal cover could look like.
The record company had bigger worries. Columbia, which distributed Def Jam, reportedly refused to handle the album. Araya always said it was the lyrics of Angel of Death that scared them, not the picture. Geffen ended up distributing it, quietly, without even putting its logo on the sleeve.
29 minutes
Reign in Blood was recorded at Hit City West in Los Angeles in early 1986 and came out on 7 October 1986. Ten songs, just under 29 minutes, from Angel of Death to Raining Blood, with Tom Araya, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo. Carroll stayed on as the band's painter and also made the covers of South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss.
About the poster
This is the Reign in Blood sleeve printed as a 55 × 75 cm (22 × 30 in) portrait poster, from 2007. It is an original magazine insert, never hung, with no staple holes, folded three times as issued. The sheet is double-sided, with Opeth on the back.
Browse all original Slayer posters.
Quick answers
Who painted the Slayer Reign in Blood cover?
Larry Carroll, a political illustrator who worked for The New York Times and The Village Voice. Rick Rubin brought him in.
Did Slayer like the Reign in Blood cover?
Not at first. Kerry King said nobody in the band wanted it, while Tom Araya said he thought it was amazing. King later admitted it changed metal artwork.
When was Reign in Blood released?
On 7 October 1986, on Def Jam.
How big is the poster?
55 × 75 cm (about 22 × 30 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 Opeth poster. The sheet is double-sided, so you choose which side goes on the wall.