Metallica’s The Black Album was the band’s fifth studio album.
It followed Kill ’Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All. Those four earlier records established Metallica as one of the central bands of the 1980s thrash-metal movement.
The self-titled fifth album changed the group’s public reach without abandoning heavy music. Songs such as “Enter Sandman,” “Sad but True,” and “Wherever I May Roam” used more direct structures and prominent grooves, making the record especially accessible to a broad international audience.
Some listeners mistakenly count live releases, compilations, or the band’s 1987 cover-song EP when numbering the studio albums. The Black Album is the fifth full studio album, not the fifth release of any kind. Its success made the number especially important in Metallica’s career chronology.