Since it started, metal has been using sonic intensity and unsettling lyrics to try and frighten the pants off the mainstream. That desire to freak out the uninitiated doesn’t start and stop at the songs, either: heavy music has a storied history of terrifying, ominous and gory album art, which also stretches back as far as the genre itself. Below, Metal Hammer’s listed the 10 most chilling covers in the heavy metal canon, with entries spanning from Black Sabbath’s debut album through to the present day.
