Slayer Art work - Larry Carroll

The album art work s that have been used by the band over the years.

http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-06-06/the-stories-behind-every-slayer-album-cover




Larry Carroll's art work for Slayer's albums

And sure enough: there is something nauseating about Carroll’s Slayer covers, as though they were depicting the sickest aspects of society of the 1980s. Not only could modern life come back to us in dreams as collages of twisted, disproportionate human shapes with pope hats and erect penises (cf. RiB), but the netherworldly use of colour in Carroll’s paintings was one of a kind. Black and red are the classic colours of blood/fire/death – Carroll’s black strokes are high-contrast burns reminiscent of coal or oil – but to this Carroll added revolting tints of green, brown and yellow, a fitting backdrop to the fires of mental hell.

http://www.deathmetal.org/news/the-art-of-larry-carroll/

The art of Larry Carroll

http://www.deathmetal.org/news/the-art-of-larry-carroll/




'Slayer aren't just known for their extreme music, their artwork will go down in history as some of the most controversial and bloodcurdling in heavy metal history. '

http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-06-06/the-stories-behind-every-slayer-album-cover  

This art feels really significant in how controversial it is, and got me thinking about why these type of bands indeed many of the illustrators I like use these themes and also where they come from. There appears to be a lot of links to religious imagery. My research question has started to develop in how and why heavy metal bands use the images that they do. The alum cover Reign in Blood
in an article by Rolling Stone this album was described as;

‘lurid cover art, a Hieronymus Bosch–like tableau that featured demons sporting erections and Pope mitres.’ 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/inside-slayers-shocking-thrash-classic-angel-of-death-w443605

Bosch was religious historical artist.