Banned, Cursed and Disturbing: The 30 Scariest Album Covers of All Time

Shocking Album Covers That Made Music History

The scariest album covers are not always the goriest. The Beatles' "butcher cover" was recalled in 1966, several Cannibal Corpse records were pulled from open sale in Germany, and an innocent-looking group photo of Throbbing Gristle turns chilling the moment you learn where it was shot. Censorship, true crime, psychological dread: here is our top 30 of the scariest, most disturbing and most banned album covers, each with the true story behind the image.

This ranking sorts them into four groups: banned and censored covers, creepy album art that disturbs without a drop of blood, full-on horror (monsters, demons, gore) and covers tied to real-life tragedies. Entries are numbered 1 to 30, from the first group to the last. Every date, label and anecdote has been fact-checked, with sources at the end.

Ten iconic covers from this ranking

Banned and Censored Album Covers: The Industry's Biggest Scandals

Factory recalls, youth-protection indexes, a destroyed pressing, plain slipcases at the supermarket: these seven covers were pulled, hidden or altered. Together they show how the record business scrambled to handle images it decided it could not sell.

#1 The Beatles, Yesterday and Today (1966): the recalled "butcher cover"

On March 25, 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker put the Beatles in white butcher smocks in his Chelsea studio and draped them with raw meat and dismembered baby dolls. Capitol picked one frame for the cover of Yesterday and Today, a US-only compilation, and printed roughly 750,000 sleeves. Retailers pushed back hard, and on June 10, 1966, the label launched a full recall it called "Operation Retrieve."

To save time, some plants simply pasted the replacement shot, the four The Beatles posed around a steamer trunk, right over the old one. The album finally hit stores on June 20, 1966, and the recall reportedly cost Capitol about $250,000. That rush job created a collecting category of its own: "first state" covers (never pasted over), "second state" (trunk slick still on) and "peeled" copies where an owner steamed the trunk off. It remains the most famous banned album cover in rock history.

Where to listen: A real butcher cover is a used-market hunt, through specialist dealers or auctions, and the price climbs fast with condition. Always check the Capitol details and the paste-over before you buy. For listening copies on vinyl or CD, head to the band's page, The Beatles.

#2 Autopsy, Severed Survival (1989): one album, two nightmares

The debut album by Bay Area death metal pioneers Autopsy, Severed Survival came out on Peaceville in 1989. Its original cover, known as "Hooks" and painted by Kent Mathieu, showed a man being torn apart, and it was quickly pulled as too extreme. The replacement, a Kev Walker painting nicknamed "Surgeons," is arguably creepier: it puts you on the autopsy table, staring up at the masked doctors leaning over your body.

So one record, two covers, and a headache for collectors who want both. Peaceville solved it for the 35th anniversary in 2024 by reissuing the album in two separate editions, one with the "Surgeons" art and one with the long-banned "Hooks" cover. If you want a scary album cover with a real censorship story behind it, this is one of the easiest entries in this top 30 to track down.

Where to listen: The 35th-anniversary reissue comes on marbled vinyl with either cover. If you only buy one, the "Hooks" edition is the one that tells the censorship story. Every edition is gathered on Severed Survival.

#3 Cannibal Corpse, Tomb of the Mutilated (1992): the most disgusting cover ever?

Released on September 22, 1992, by Metal Blade, Tomb of the Mutilated is regularly named the most disgusting album cover ever made. Longtime Cannibal Corpse artist Vince Locke painted two rotting corpses locked in a sex act inside a crypt. A telling bit of label lore: Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel reportedly rejected an earlier version for not being gory enough. A censored version has existed since day one.

The censors did their part. Germany placed the album on its youth-protection index in November 1995, meaning adults-only sales and no display in regular stores, alongside "Eaten Back to Life" (August 1995) and "Butchered at Birth" (indexed back in 1991). Australia banned the sale of every Cannibal Corpse recording in 1996 until the catalog was reclassified in 2006-2007. For collectors the choice is simple: the censored sleeve you can leave out on the shelf, or the original art for a shelf nobody else gets to see.

Where to listen: The recent vinyl reissue is easy to find. As with "Butchered at Birth," check which cover ships before you buy. Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Tomb of the Mutilated.

Listen

Tomb of the Mutilated

Cannibal Corpse (1992)

See the album →All Cannibal Corpse records

#4 Cattle Decapitation, Humanure (2004): the cow that flips the food chain

Cattle Decapitation built their grindcore around animal-rights politics, flipping the script so that humans become the livestock. On Humanure, released by Metal Blade in 2004, a cow stands in a barren wasteland and defecates human flesh and blood. It reads as absurd for about a second, then turns your stomach once you register what you are looking at.

Most retailers refused to carry it as is, and some stores kept it out of sight, which made it hard to find. Metal Blade eventually issued a version with the cow removed, leaving only the empty landscape, an oddly haunting cover in its own right. The band had already hit trouble with the previous album, "To Serve Man," which Metal Blade's distributor refused to handle in Germany. Both states of the "Humanure" sleeve circulate today, which makes it a fun one to hunt.

Where to listen: Vinyl mostly turns up through Metal Blade reissues, with either the original cover or the cow-free version. Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Humanure.

#5 Slayer, Christ Illusion (2006): destroyed in India after protests

Twenty years after "Reign in Blood," Slayer went back to Larry Carroll for the cover of Christ Illusion, released on August 8, 2006, by American Recordings. Carroll painted a mutilated, stoned Christ with one eye gone and both hands cut off, standing in a sea of blood and severed heads. The band planned ahead with a non-graphic alternate cover for retailers who would not stock the original, plus a censored version.

India is where it escalated. After protests from the Catholic Secular Forum, EMI India recalled the album, and on October 11, 2006, it announced that all of its stock had been destroyed. Pulping an entire run over cover art is rare, even by metal standards. The alternate sleeve (a bloodied hand on red, shown here) is the common one; Carroll's painting is the one collectors want. Recent reissues make it easy to get on vinyl without months of digging.

Where to listen: A recent vinyl reissue is available. Check which cover ships, Carroll's painting or the alternate, before you order. The album is waiting for you on Christ Illusion.

#6 Manic Street Preachers, Journal for Plague Lovers (2009): the painting UK supermarkets covered up

Released on May 18, 2009, by Columbia, Journal for Plague Lovers holds a special place in the Manic Street Preachers catalog: every lyric comes from writings left behind by guitarist Richey Edwards, who vanished in 1995. For the cover the band chose "Stare," a 2005 painting by Jenny Saville of a child's face in raw reds and purples, eyes locked on yours.

There is no gore here, yet it became one of the most talked-about creepy album covers of the decade. The four biggest UK supermarket chains judged it "inappropriate," with many people reading the red on the boy's face as blood, and sold the CD inside a plain slipcase. The band pointed out that far more violent imagery sat on the same shelves. What unsettles is the painting itself, that stare you cannot shake, and the context of an album haunted by Edwards' absence.

Where to listen: The vinyl presents Jenny Saville's painting with no slipcase, the way the band intended. A standout in their catalog, best heard in one sitting. Every edition is gathered on Journal for Plague Lovers.

#7 Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010): "Banned in the USA"?

For My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, released on November 22, 2010, by Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella, Kanye West hired painter George Condo. The main image shows the rapper half-naked on a couch, straddled by an armless winged creature with a long spotted tail. Condo later said the goal was a cover provocative enough to get banned, publicity included.

In October 2010, Kanye West tweeted "Banned in the USA" and took a swipe at Walmart, which denied rejecting it and stressed how excited it was to carry the album. Still, some retailers passed on the original: a Condo painting of a ballerina holding a glass of red liquid went into stores instead, and a pixelated version (shown here) appeared on censored copies and digital. Condo painted five covers in all, every one included with the album. It is one of the few rap records with a real place in any list of controversial album covers.

Where to listen: The recent vinyl reissue is the easiest to find new. Check which cover comes with the edition you pick. The album is waiting for you on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Listen

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West (2010)

See the album →All Kanye West records

Creepy, Disturbing Album Covers: Dread Without the Gore

No blood, no monsters. These six creepy album covers get under your skin through what they imply: a location, a shadow, a face that should not be there.

#8 Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970): the woman in black at the mill

Released on Friday, February 13, 1970, by Vertigo, the debut from Black Sabbath is widely called the first true heavy metal album. Its cover, designed and shot by Keith "Keef" Macmillan, is a masterclass in unease. He drove out to Mapledurham Watermill in Oxfordshire before dawn and used Kodak Aerochrome infrared film, made for aerial photography, which turned the foliage pinkish red; he roughed up the film to push the grain even further.

In the middle stands a pale figure in a black cloak, staring straight at you. Who she was stayed a mystery for fifty years, until model Louisa Livingstone was identified in 2020; she mostly remembers being cold. Inside the gatefold, an inverted cross carries a poem the band reportedly hated. On vinyl, Black Sabbath is still the natural starting point for any heavy metal collection.

Where to listen: Go for a gatefold edition so you get the inverted cross inside. Recent reissues are easy to find new, while original Vertigo "swirl" label pressings are for bigger budgets. The album is waiting for you on Black Sabbath.

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Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath (1970)

See the album →All Black Sabbath records

#9 Throbbing Gristle, 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979): smiling at the cliff edge

At first glance it is harmless: four neatly dressed young people smiling in a flowery meadow on a clifftop, like a 1960s easy-listening sleeve. The title, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, promises a jazz-funk record. None of it is true. Throbbing Gristle, the pioneers of industrial music, released it in December 1979 on their own Industrial Records, and it is cold, ironic electronics.

The location is the punchline. Cosey Fanni Tutti put it plainly: the photo was taken at Beachy Head on the Sussex coast, "the most famous suicide spot in England." Once you know that, those catalog smiles turn chilling. It is the purest kind of creepy album art: no blood, no monsters, just the gap between what you see and what you know.

Where to listen: The recent vinyl reissue keeps the Beachy Head photo and the original lettering. It is a good way into industrial music, and more approachable than the band's earlier records. Vinyl or CD, it is all on 20 Jazz Funk Greats.

#10 Korn, Korn (1994): the swing and the shadow

A sun-blasted playground, a little girl on a swing shading her eyes, and in the foreground the long shadow of a man walking toward her, holding something nobody can quite identify: a horseshoe, or blades, depending on who you ask. The debut from Korn, released on October 11, 1994, by Immortal and Epic, shows nothing violent. It makes you fill in the blanks, which is worse. One more grim detail: the logo's placement makes the girl's shadow look like a hanging body.

Stephen Stickler took the photo. The girl, Justine Ferrara, was 6 at the time, the niece of Paul Pontius, who signed the band. The image fits a record on which Jonathan Davis confronts the abuse he suffered as a child. Thirty years later it is still one of the most recognizable covers in nu metal, and 180-gram reissues are easy to find.

Where to listen: The 180-gram reissue with insert is the most common. At 12 inches, the shadow in the foreground looks even more threatening. The album is waiting for you on Korn.

#11 Aphex Twin, Come to Daddy (1997): kids who all have his face

With Aphex Twin, the horror is Richard D. James's own face. For the Come to Daddy EP, released by Warp on October 6, 1997, the sleeve uses two photos of children by Stefan de Batselier, with James's grinning face digitally pasted on by Chris Cunningham. The rest of the packaging is plain black type on white, which only makes the faces creepier.

Cunningham also directed the now-legendary video, where a pack of kids wearing James's face terrorize an old woman on a London housing estate while a creature screams out of a TV. The track, which James has described as a death metal parody, became an electronic music classic. A scary album cover without a drop of blood, built on one simple fear: something is wrong with those children's faces.

Where to listen: Warp has reissued the EP on vinyl with packaging true to the original: black type, white background, face-swapped kids. Essential for electronic music fans. Every edition is gathered on Come to Daddy.

#12 Boards of Canada, Music Has the Right to Children (1998): the family photo with no faces

A faded 1970s family snapshot, the kind you find in a shoebox: a row of adults and kids posing in front of a landscape. Except their faces have been washed out until they are gone. The cover of Music Has the Right to Children, the 1998 debut by Boards of Canada on Warp and Skam, is not horror in the usual sense. It plants a quieter dread, the feeling of childhood memories going wrong.

The music does the same: slightly detuned synths, sampled children's voices, tape that sounds like it has aged too long. The Scottish duo built their whole world on that uneasy nostalgia, often compared to 1970s Canadian educational films. If you prefer a slow chill to gore, this is the creepy album cover for you. Warp's vinyl reissue is easy to find and reproduces the artwork faithfully.

Where to listen: Warp's vinyl reissue comes with a download code, and the 12-inch format makes the photo even more unsettling. The album is waiting for you on Music Has the Right to Children.

#13 Aphex Twin, Windowlicker (1999): the bikini and the beard

Two years after "Come to Daddy," Aphex Twin pushed the idea further. The cover of the Windowlicker EP, released by Warp in March 1999, mimics a beach fashion shoot: a young woman in a bikini, blue sky, big smile. The face, though, is Richard D. James's, bearded and leering, grafted onto the model's body.

The video, again directed by Chris Cunningham, takes the parody of rap and R&B videos to absurd extremes, with dancers who all wear James's face. Musically it is one of his most accessible tracks; visually it is one of his most disturbing. The unease comes from pairing the most generic advertising image there is with a face that has no business being there. The 12-inch is the object to own, and it has been reissued.

Where to listen: Warp's reissued 12-inch keeps the original cover. It is one of the easiest Aphex Twin records to share, even with people who do not usually listen to experimental electronic music. Vinyl or CD, it is all on Windowlicker.

Horror Album Covers: Monsters, Demons and Gore

Horror movies, the occult, undead mascots and all-out gore: thirteen horror album covers, from goth rock to death metal, built for a Halloween turntable.

#14 Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi's Dead (1979): the birth certificate of goth

Nine minutes of looping bass, dry percussion and a voice from beyond the grave: Bela Lugosi's Dead, the first single by Bauhaus, released in August 1979 on the tiny Small Wonder label, is widely considered the starting point of goth rock. The song is a tribute to Bela Lugosi, the screen's definitive 1930s Dracula.

For the sleeve, the band went to silent cinema. The grainy black-and-white image comes from D. W. Griffith's 1926 film "The Sorrows of Satan," a huge winged shadow rising inside a parlor. (You will often read that it is from "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"; it is not.) The 1979 original is scarce and pricey. The easiest way to own the track on vinyl is "The Bela Session," which collects the band's earliest recordings; it is also a fixture on post-punk compilations.

Where to listen: The original Small Wonder 12-inch is a collector's item. To hear the song without months of searching, The Bela Session collects it alongside the band's earliest sessions, on vinyl.

#15 Iron Maiden, Killers (1981): Eddie with the axe

The second album from Iron Maiden, Killers came out in February 1981 on EMI, and it was the band's first cover fully created by Derek Riggs. Mascot Eddie, a grinning undead ghoul, holds a bloody axe on a nighttime street while an off-frame victim clutches at his shirt. The building in the background is based on the block where Riggs lived at the time, in North Finchley.

It kicked off a long tradition: Eddie became the most famous mascot in metal, and every new cover was awaited like the next installment of a horror franchise. Riggs also started hiding small Easter eggs in his paintings here, and fans still hunt for them. As a Halloween record that sets the mood without scaring off your guests, it is ideal, and official reissues are easy to find in our heavy metal section.

Where to listen: Several official reissues are out there, including a recent pressing with the original artwork. It is an ideal first Iron Maiden record. Every edition is gathered on Killers.

#16 Ozzy Osbourne, Bark at the Moon (1983): Ozzy the werewolf

For his third solo album, released in November 1983 (CBS Associated in the US, Epic in the UK), Ozzy Osbourne turned into a werewolf. Not a painting: that is really him, shot under a full moon, claws out, face covered in fur. The makeup was by Greg Cannom, who later won an Oscar for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

Bark at the Moon leans all the way into B-movie horror, right down to the title-track video shot in the same getup. It is the perfect Halloween cover: instantly readable, more fun than frightening, and backed by a solid heavy metal record, the only Ozzy album with every song credited solely to him. The recent vinyl reissue is one of the easiest finds in this ranking.

Where to listen: The recent vinyl reissue reproduces the full-moon photo and the red logo. A great Halloween gift record, and one of the easiest finds in the ranking. Vinyl or CD, it is all on Bark at the Moon.

Listen

Bark at the Moon

Ozzy Osbourne (1983)

See the album →All Ozzy Osbourne records

#17 Mercyful Fate, Don't Break the Oath (1984): the demon pointing at you

The second album by Denmark's Mercyful Fate, Don't Break the Oath came out on September 7, 1984, on Roadrunner. Thomas Holm's cover shows a horned demon bursting out of a yellow-orange blaze, one clawed finger aimed straight at the viewer. The message is clear: he means you, and the oath in the title binds you.

With King Diamond's face paint, falsetto and openly occult lyrics, Mercyful Fate shaped the extreme metal scene that followed and are often filed as forerunners of black metal. Holm, who also painted "Melissa," became the go-to artist for this world. If you want horror album art built on the occult rather than gore, this is the reference, and the vinyl reissue is easy to track down.

Where to listen: The vinyl reissue reproduces Thomas Holm's painting in its original blazing yellows and oranges. Play it loud, ideally next to King Diamond's "Abigail," and let the cover face the room. Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Don't Break the Oath.

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Don't Break the Oath

Mercyful Fate (1984)

See the album →All Mercyful Fate records

#18 Celtic Frost, To Mega Therion (1985): H. R. Giger's Satan

Six years after designing the creature in "Alien," Swiss artist H. R. Giger lent one of his paintings to fellow Swiss band Celtic Frost. To Mega Therion, released in 1985 on Noise, uses "Satan I": a horned, biomechanical demon holding a slingshot loaded with a crucified Christ, ready to fire. It packs in everything Giger is known for: gray flesh, tubes, bones and morbid eroticism.

The Greek title means "the great beast," a nod to occultist Aleister Crowley. Musically, the album laid groundwork for a slower, heavier extreme metal that fed into death metal and black metal. It is gallery art as much as a metal cover, and it truly comes alive at 12 inches. Recent reissues reproduce it with care.

Where to listen: Recent reissues of the Noise catalog reproduce the painting carefully. Check for the insert and the quality of the grays, which matters with Giger's work, and keep it in a clear outer sleeve. Every edition is gathered on To Mega Therion.

#19 Sonic Youth, Bad Moon Rising (1985): the jack-o'-lantern scarecrow

If you could pick just one Halloween album cover, it might be this one. Bad Moon Rising, the second album from Sonic Youth, released on March 29, 1985, on Homestead in the US and Blast First in the UK, shows a scarecrow whose head is a flaming jack-o'-lantern, silhouetted against a purple sky above a row of buildings. The photo is by James Welling.

The record runs with that warped Americana: one song is called "Halloween," another "Satan Is Boring," both printed along the bottom of the sleeve. It is noisy, hypnotic New York indie rock, Reagan-era America seen from its dark side. Visually, it is one of the most elegant creepy album covers in the top 30. The vinyl reissue comes with a download code.

Where to listen: The recent pressing includes a download code and keeps James Welling's photo. A cover made for front-facing display on your record shelf on Halloween night, right next to the candy bowl. Every edition is gathered on Bad Moon Rising.

#20 The Damned, Phantasmagoria (1985): the madonna of Kensal Green Cemetery

In 1985, punk veterans The Damned went goth. Phantasmagoria, released on July 15, 1985, by MCA, signals the shift right on the cover: a hooded woman veiled in black stands among the tombs and obelisks of London's Kensal Green Cemetery. The photo is by Bob Carlos Clarke, a major name in British fashion photography.

The model is Susie Bick, who would later marry Nick Cave. The black and white, the romantic framing and the Victorian lettering make it a model gothic album cover, more melancholy than menacing. Driven by Dave Vanian's crooner vocals, the record is one of the band's most accessible. On vinyl, look for the original MCA pressing, which often turns up in good shape, or a recent reissue, and file it next to your post-punk records.

Where to listen: The original MCA pressing still turns up on the used market. Look for a jacket with clean corners. Every edition is gathered on Phantasmagoria.

#21 Slayer, Reign in Blood (1986): hell, painted by a political illustrator

Twenty-nine minutes of nonstop thrash: Reign in Blood, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam, is a cornerstone of the genre. The cover was not painted by a metal artist but by Larry Carroll, best known for political illustrations in the press. He delivered a teeming vision of hell: a goat-headed figure carried on a throne, impaled bodies, pools of blood, all in nightmarish greens and reds.

The music caused its own scandal: Columbia, Def Jam's distributor at the time, refused to release it, so Geffen handled distribution without putting its logo on the sleeve. Carroll would paint for Slayer again, all the way to "Christ Illusion" twenty years later. A must-own thrash metal record, on vinyl for the sound as much as for the art.

Where to listen: All 29 minutes fit comfortably on a single LP, and Carroll's painting deserves the full 12-inch treatment. Official reissues are plentiful. The album is waiting for you on Reign in Blood.

#22 King Diamond, Abigail (1987): the hearse and the black horses

After Mercyful Fate, the Danish singer launched his own band, King Diamond, and with Abigail, released on May 29, 1987, by Roadrunner, made his first full concept album. The cover sets the scene: a hearse pulled by black horses races through a stormy night, driven by hooded figures. It feels like opening a gothic novel.

The story is set in 1845. A young couple moves into an inherited mansion despite warnings; an ancestor's ghost reveals that Miriam carries the spirit of Abigail, a child stillborn in 1777, and possession, a deadly fall down the stairs and seven black horsemen follow. AllMusic calls it King Diamond's masterpiece. For Halloween, play it start to finish, side A to side B, like a horror movie.

Where to listen: Vinyl lets you enjoy the full story split across side A and side B like two acts of a film. Turn the lights down first. Vinyl or CD, it is all on Abigail.

#23 Cannibal Corpse, Butchered at Birth (1991): gore pushed to the limit

The second album from Cannibal Corpse, Butchered at Birth came out on July 1, 1991, on Metal Blade, and its cover shows up on every list of the most disturbing album art ever. Comic book artist Vince Locke painted, in watercolor, zombies dissecting a pregnant woman in a slaughterhouse full of hanging corpses. It does not get more blunt than this.

The backlash was fast: Germany indexed the record in October 1991, then moved to confiscate it from 1994. Some US stores refused to sell it to anyone under 18. Drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz calls it the band's most notorious album. For collectors, it is the centerpiece of any gore-focused death metal shelf; handle with care when guests are around.

Where to listen: A recent vinyl reissue lets you get it new. Check which cover comes with the edition you choose, original or censored, before you order, and read the listing photos closely. Vinyl or CD, it is all on Butchered at Birth.

#24 Deicide, Once Upon the Cross (1995): what's under the shroud

Florida's Deicide have never done subtle. Once Upon the Cross, released on April 18, 1995, by Roadrunner, flips the story of Christ's temptation so that Satan wins, as Glen Benton described it. The cover works by suggestion: a crumpled white sheet, soaked with blood, draped over a body. The title and the album's imagery leave little doubt about whose body it is.

The provocation had real-world fallout: according to a 1995 interview with Benton, the artwork cost the band a show in Amsterdam, which did not seem to bother him much. It is one of the most restrained covers in this ranking, and maybe one of the most effective because of it. The recent vinyl reissue is easy to find.

Where to listen: The recent vinyl reissue puts this record back within reach after years of being hard to find new. File it next to the band's other early Roadrunner albums for a full set. Vinyl or CD, it is all on Once Upon the Cross.

#25 Exhumed, Gore Metal (1998): the head in the microwave

California's Exhumed named their whole style after their debut: Gore Metal, released on October 27, 1998, by Relapse. No painting this time, but a photo: an ordinary kitchen, countertops and appliances, sprayed with human remains, and a severed head sitting in the microwave.

It is all fake, of course, homemade movie props. But photographic realism hits in a way the most over-the-top paintings never do: you are looking at a domestic crime scene, and that is where the unease sets in. The band re-recorded the album in 2015 as "Gore Metal: A Necrospective." For a gore album cover that commits all the way to the absurd, it does not get more explicit.

Where to listen: Relapse vinyl pressings turn up regularly, and the 2015 re-recording is out there too. Keep an opaque outer sleeve handy if your guests are squeamish; this is a record you pull out for the hardcore fans. The album is waiting for you on Gore Metal.

#26 Marilyn Manson, Holy Wood (2000): the jawless crucifixion

Released in November 2000 by Nothing and Interscope, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) landed at a tense moment: Marilyn Manson had been wrongly blamed for the Columbine shooting the year before. The cover answers head-on. Manson poses crucified, blood running from his hand and torso, his lower jaw torn away. The image riffs on the Hanged Man tarot card, with a partly obscured JFK autopsy report behind it.

Manson said the missing jaw stood for "the silencing of people with dangerous opinions." Walmart and Kmart refused to stock the album; Circuit City sold it in a cardboard sleeve with a different cover, and a Memphis pastor threatened a hunger strike until it came off the shelves. A shocking album cover built as a critique of censorship, and promptly censored.

Where to listen: Look for an edition that includes the full artwork and booklet, which matter for following the album's dense concept and imagery. Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death).

Scary Album Covers Rooted in Real-Life Tragedy

Behind these four covers are very real deaths: a painter gone at 24, a singer who took his own life, genuine autopsy photos, a murder. The image changes once you know the story.

#27 King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969): the scream of a painter gone too soon

It is one of the most famous faces in rock: an extreme close-up, mouth wide open, nostrils flared, eyes bulging, in pinks and reds. The cover of In the Court of the Crimson King, the debut by King Crimson, released on October 10, 1969, by Island, was painted by Barry Godber, a computer programmer and friend of the band, who used his own face in a mirror as the model.

Godber died of a heart attack in February 1970, a few months after the album came out. He was 24, and it was the only album cover he ever painted. Robert Fripp, who owns the original, has said the face on the outside is the "21st Century Schizoid Man" and the one inside is the Crimson King. A founding prog rock record and probably the best-known scary album cover in the world. Official reissues are plentiful and well made.

Where to listen: The 2010 40th-anniversary edition is one of the most common, and the album has been pressed many times since. Open the gatefold: the inside shows the Crimson King's face. Every edition is gathered on In the Court of the Crimson King.

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In the Court of the Crimson King

King Crimson (1969)

See the album →All King Crimson records

#28 Joy Division, Closer (1980): a tomb, two months later

On May 18, 1980, Joy Division singer Ian Curtis took his own life at 23. Two months later, on July 18, Factory released Closer. The cover, designed by Peter Saville and Martyn Atkins, uses a 1978 photo by Bernard Pierre Wolff of the Appiani family tomb in Staglieno Monumental Cemetery in Genoa, with sculpted mourners bent over a recumbent figure.

The image had been chosen before Curtis died, with all four band members on board. But nobody could see it the same way afterward, and Factory faced accusations of bad taste. History turned it into one of the most moving covers in post-punk, sadder than it is scary. Reissues are easy to find and stay true to the original typography.

Where to listen: At 12 inches, Saville's design really breathes: the off-white board, the Roman capitals, the black-and-white photo. Reissues are common, and they make a quietly devastating companion to "Unknown Pleasures." Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Closer.

#29 Carcass, Reek of Putrefaction (1988): real autopsy photos

Nothing here is made up. For Reek of Putrefaction, the debut by Carcass, released on July 28, 1988, by Earache (Combat in the US), the band built the cover from a collage of real autopsy photos clipped from medical journals. Several members were vegetarians, and the idea was to rub the listener's face in the reality of flesh.

The result is one of the hardest covers to look at in the history of records, and it has been reworked again and again. The 1994 reissue used a "clean" cover, the 2002 edition a censored outer sleeve, and the 2008 edition came sealed in a white medical bag with a sticker hiding the art. The tamest version is the one shown here. A founding record for grindcore and gore-leaning death metal.

Where to listen: The remastered reissue is available on vinyl; check which cover it uses. Original Earache pressings with the first artwork are more sought after, especially in good condition. Vinyl, CD or cassette: find the editions on Reek of Putrefaction.

#30 Mayhem, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994): the cathedral they allegedly planned to blow up

A blue-tinted monochrome photo of the east front of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. No monsters, no blood. Yet the cover of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, released on May 24, 1994, by Deathlike Silence, may be the heaviest in the top 30. According to Norwegian police, Mayhem guitarist Euronymous and Varg Vikernes, who plays bass on the album, allegedly plotted to blow up the cathedral to coincide with the release; explosives were found at Vikernes's home, though he has denied the plan.

The album never came out as planned: Vikernes murdered Euronymous on August 10, 1993, nine months before release. Euronymous's label put the record out posthumously, with his killer still on bass. Singer Dead had taken his own life in 1991. It remains a landmark of Norwegian black metal, and its cover is chilling once you know the story.

Where to listen: This album has been reissued on vinyl many times, and early Deathlike Silence pressings are highly sought after. Essential for any black metal collection. The album is waiting for you on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

Buying Guide: How to Collect Scary Album Covers on Vinyl

Which banned album cover pressings are the rarest?

The most coveted are the ones that were never supposed to circulate. At the top is the Beatles butcher cover: "first state" copies, never pasted over with the trunk photo, beat "peeled" copies where the trunk slick was steamed off. Next come first pressings of death metal records with their original art (Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Autopsy), which were often swapped for censored versions on later runs, and pressings pulled from the market, such as "Christ Illusion" in India. The reverse also happens: some "clean" variants become collectibles in their own right, and owning both states of the same cover is half the fun.

Original pressing, reissue or bootleg: how to tell

For an original pressing, check the label and catalog number on the center label and the matrix numbers etched in the run-out groove, then match them against the release page on Discogs. Be wary of "original banned cover" listings that look too cheap: reproductions and bootlegs exist for the most famous images, usually with blurrier printing and thinner board. If you mainly want to play the record and display the art, a recent official reissue is the smart buy: new vinyl and a faithful jacket. And if the format matters less than the music, many of these albums are also on CD: browse our vinyl records and CDs.

What jacket condition should you aim for?

On these records, the jacket carries most of the value. Aim for VG+ at minimum: no seam splits, no writing, only light ring wear. Gatefolds deserve a look at the fold and the inside spread, like Black Sabbath's with its inverted cross. Then slide every record into a clear outer sleeve so the art stays visible and protected. Our used vinyl buying guide covers grading in detail, and our list of vinyl records worth money gives you a sense of what top pressings fetch.

FAQ: Scary and Banned Album Covers

Final Verdict: Which Disturbing Cover Should You Own?

Picking from this top 30 depends on what gives you chills. Here are our picks by collector profile, each with a direct link to the records.

Sources

• Wikipedia (articles on all 30 albums and singles; Cannibal Corpse censorship in Germany and Australia)
• Rolling Stone, "That Evil Kind of Feeling": interview with Keith Macmillan on the Black Sabbath cover
• Crack Magazine (Exhumed's Gore Metal); Loudwire (Korn cover); 1995 Glen Benton interview
• Cover images: iTunes, Deezer, Cover Art Archive (MusicBrainz) and Wikipedia; all rights reserved by the respective labels and artists.

Dates, labels and anecdotes fact-checked in October 2026.