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 albums established Metallica as one of the leading bands of the 1980s thrash-metal movement, while the 1991 self-titled record expanded their audience dramatically.
The album's position in the discography is important because it marks a transition rather than a debut or a side project. Metallica retained heavy guitars and aggressive vocals, but many songs used more compact arrangements, slower grooves, and stronger emphasis on melody than the earlier records.
The informal name “The Black Album” distinguishes the record from the band's name, which is also its official title. It was followed by Load in 1996, making the self-titled album the central release in the band's original run of five studio albums. Its success made the number five a useful landmark in Metallica's career chronology.