A snake appears on the cover of Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, known as The Black Album.
The artwork shows a coiled snake in the lower-right area and the band’s logo in the upper-left. On the initial release, both elements were embossed and extremely dark against the black background, making them subtle rather than brightly illustrated.
The snake was derived from the Gadsden flag, whose design features a rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” That motto also appears as the title of one of the album’s songs, linking the cover image and the record’s track list.
The cover helped create the album’s enduring nickname. Although the official title is Metallica, listeners commonly called it The Black Album because of the nearly monochrome artwork. Later editions used darker gray imagery that made the logo and snake easier to see.