A snake is depicted in the lower-right area of Metallica’s The Black Album cover.
The cover is intentionally minimalist: it is almost entirely black, with the band’s logo in the upper-left and a subtle coiled snake visible in the lower-right. The restrained design helped inspire the record’s widely used nickname, The Black Album, even though its official title is Metallica.
The snake also connects visually with “Don’t Tread on Me,” a song whose title and imagery reference the Gadsden flag. The album’s artwork does not display the full historical flag design, but the snake provides a recognizable symbolic detail against the dark background.
The cover’s simplicity contrasts with the album’s enormous cultural presence. Its understated appearance became one of the most recognizable covers in heavy metal and remains closely associated with Metallica’s 1991 breakthrough.