A snake is depicted in the artwork for Metallica’s 1991 album, commonly called The Black Album.
The cover is almost entirely black, with a subtle coiled snake visible near the lower-right area and the band’s logo placed in the upper-left. The restrained design gives the album its familiar nickname, even though the official title is simply Metallica.
The snake image connects with the album’s song “Don’t Tread on Me,” whose title and lyrics reference the Gadsden flag and its traditional rattlesnake symbol. The cover does not use bright colors or a detailed scene; instead, the dark presentation makes the faint image easy to miss.
This minimalist artwork is sometimes confused with the album’s title. Metallica never officially titled the record The Black Album. That name is an informal but widely accepted nickname, used to distinguish the self-titled release from the many other albums associated with the phrase “Black Album.”