12. Slayer: Reign In Blood

Designed by Larry Carroll, this was the most controversial cover of the time, so much so that the then distributor Columbia Records refused to carry the album and Geffen distributed it instead, but even they didn't let it appear in their release schedule. A devilish, Satan like figure is on the center throne, with severed heads, blood and all sorts of stuff going on around it. It amazes me merely thinking about how much imagination and creativity Larry must have put into this. As of right now, Slayer have been around for nearly thirty years and we have seen similarly themed covers from them and from plenty of other bands, but in 1986 when this was first released, the mere sight of it must have been enough to flip anyone out of their minds. Two words; pure evil.