The cover of Metallica’s The Black Album features a snake based on which flag?

The snake on the cover of Metallica’s The Black Album is based on the Gadsden flag.

The original sleeve places Metallica’s angled logo in the upper-left corner and a coiled snake in the lower-right. The snake is a visual reference to the Gadsden flag, whose familiar design includes a rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.”

That motto also supplies the title of one of the album’s songs. The song’s introduction incorporates the melody of “America,” written by Leonard Bernstein for the musical West Side Story, creating another detail often discussed alongside the artwork.

The initial cover made both the band logo and snake extremely subtle by embossing them against a black background. Their low-contrast appearance helped produce the nickname The Black Album, even though the official title is simply Metallica. Later editions used dark gray emblems that stand out more clearly, so modern reproductions may look slightly different from the original release.