South of Heaven: who moved into the eyes of Slayer's skull?
A giant bleeding skull in front of a Gothic cathedral, and something living in its eyes. The man who painted it said his work was too dark for most people. Slayer were not most people.
A giant cracked skull, blood running down its face, an ornate cross driven into its crown. Behind it rises a Gothic cathedral full of spires and crosses, and if you look at the round windows, the Slayer pentagram is glowing in them. Then you look into the eye sockets and realise they are not empty. Small twisted figures and animals have moved in.
You can stare at this one for ten minutes and still find something new. That was rather the point.
Too dark for everybody else
The painting is by Larry Carroll, an Australian-born artist raised in America, who made it together with illustrator Howard Schwarzberg. Carroll had started working with Slayer two years earlier, when producer Rick Rubin brought him in for the Reign in Blood sleeve. He went on to paint Seasons in the Abyss and Christ Illusion too.
Carroll once said that his work was usually considered too dark for most clients, which made Slayer a perfect match. He never tried to link the covers into a series. He read the songs and the lyrics, noted what they made him see, and painted that.
Paint, scissors and a photocopier
None of it was digital. Carroll's Slayer pictures were mixed-media pieces, acrylic and oil combined with collaged, photocopied drawings, a way of working he had used since the mid-seventies and preferred to any computer. That is where the raw, layered look comes from: lines that do not quite meet, colours bleeding into each other, details pasted on top of details.
The skull itself was reportedly inspired by KNM-ER 1470, a fossil skull of an early human found in Kenya in 1972. So the centrepiece of one of the darkest covers of the eighties may owe something to a natural history museum.
Slayer hit the brakes
South of Heaven came out on 5 July 1988 on Def Jam. It was Slayer's fourth studio album and their second with Rick Rubin, made by the classic line-up of Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King and Dave Lombardo. After the fury of Reign in Blood they decided not to make the same record twice. They slowed down, used clean guitars for the first time and let Araya sing more than shout.
Not everybody in the band was happy. Kerry King later called it his least favourite Slayer album. Fans saw it differently, and both the title track and Mandatory Suicide stayed in the live set for years. In 1992 the album went gold in the US.
Larry Carroll died in 2019. His skull is still staring.
About the poster
This is the South of Heaven sleeve printed as a large 55 × 75 cm (22 × 30 in) portrait poster, from 2022. It is an original magazine insert, never hung, with no staple holes, folded three times as issued. The sheet is double-sided, with Cradle of Filth "Dusk" on the back.
Browse all original Slayer posters.
Quick answers
Who painted the Slayer South of Heaven cover?
Larry Carroll, together with illustrator Howard Schwarzberg. Carroll also painted Slayer's Reign in Blood, Seasons in the Abyss and Christ Illusion covers.
How was the South of Heaven cover made?
By hand. Carroll's Slayer covers were mixed-media works combining acrylic and oil paint with collaged, photocopied drawings.
When was South of Heaven released?
On 5 July 1988, on Def Jam. It was produced by Rick Rubin and the band.
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?
Cradle of Filth "Dusk". The sheet is double-sided, so you choose which side goes on the wall.