SLAYER: 'World Painted Blood' Artwork Revealed

SLAYER's "World Painted Blood", the band's highly-anticipated new album set for a November 3 release (American Recordings),will initially ship with four special collector's edition CD covers. Each of the four covers will display one-fourth of a provocative continental map illustrated with human skulls and bones; when placed together, the four images form a complete and grisly map of the world. (See images below.)

All four of the initial CD packages will include a special blood-red, see-through top panel with the map displayed beneath it.

The "World Painted Blood Deluxe Edition" will have its own special layout of the map cover art and will be in a double-digipak housed in a blood-red, see-through plastic sleeve. The "Deluxe Edition" will include the "World Painted Blood" CD, the "Playing With Dolls" DVD, a 20-minute animated graphic novel featuring music from the album (including part of a new non-album song),and an expanded booklet.

"World Painted Blood" track listing:

01. World Painted Blood
02. Unit 731
03. Snuff
04. Beauty Through Order
05. Hate Worldwide
06. Public Display Of Dismemberment
07. Human Strain
08. Americon
09. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God

"As we're so excited about 'World Painted Blood'," said the band's drummer, Dave Lombardo, "we wanted to do something special for the packaging, and have been working with some really cool ideas. They've taken time to get just right, and with our headlining the Mayhem tour for most of the summer, it's just taken that much longer to get all these great ideas exactly the way we want them."

There will be three different editions of "World Painted Blood" — a limited-edition CD with multiple CD covers, a deluxe edition CD/DVD, and a high-quality, 180-gram vinyl edition; specifics for all editions will be detailed shortly.

"We hope our fans will like everything about 'World Painted Blood' as much as we do," Lombardo continued. "Recording this new album has been one of the greatest experiences we've had as a band. We were together during the writing process more than we had been for past albums, we worked more collectively, everyone's suggestions and ideas were heard and considered, and that camaraderie is definitely heard in the new album."

"World Painted Blood" was recorded in Los Angeles over two time periods, during October 2008 and then between late January and March 2009. The CD was produced by Greg Fidelman, who's spent time in the studio with METALLICA, THE GOSSIP, THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY, SLIPKNOT and others, and executive-produced by longtime SLAYER colleague Rick Rubin, who suggested Fidelman for the project.

SLAYER — Tom Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and Lombardo — recently co-headlined the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival with MARILYN MANSON, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, among others.