Altars of Madness

Artwork, which featured as an album cover for Morbid Angel's 1989 release. 'Altars of Madness'.
This was a painting I had been working on at home for my own portfolio at the time and not commissioned. I had drawn some earlier versions of this, and an ink rendering prior to making the final painting.
The face details are based on that sketch, but in concept only. Each one was created by improvising as I went along, starting from the centre and working outwards.
Its not supposed to be spherical like a world. It’s more like a flat disk of stone that has captured souls. and is slowly petrifying them into stone.
Reminiscent of the 'Mouth of Truth'.
The original title of the piece is ‘Soul Catcher’.