Metallica’s The Black Album cover uses a coiled snake derived from which historic flag?

Metallica’s The Black Album cover uses a coiled snake derived from the Gadsden flag.

The original cover places the band’s angular logo in the upper-left corner and a coiled snake in the lower-right. Both emblems were embossed against a nearly black background, making them deliberately difficult to see. This restrained design gave the album its enduring nickname, although the official title remains Metallica.

The snake connects visually with the album’s song “Don’t Tread on Me,” which shares the motto associated with the Gadsden flag. The flag itself features a rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me,” a design rooted in American Revolutionary-era symbolism.

The cover is sometimes mistaken for a completely blank black sleeve or for a design copied from another rock album. Metallica also joked about similarities to Spinal Tap’s fictional album Smell the Glove in the documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. Later editions made the logo and snake more visible in dark gray.