Reign in Blood is the third studio album by the thrash metal band Slayer, released in October 1986 on Def Jam Recordings. The album was acclaimed on release and brought Slayer to a mainstream metal audience. Alongside Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica, it helped define the sound of the American thrash scene in the mid-1980s. Its opening track, Angel of Death, about Josef Mengele's experiments at Auschwitz, caused controversy and delayed the album's release.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.