A snake is pictured in the artwork for Metallica’s The Black Album. The cover is almost entirely black, with a dark Metallica logo in the upper-left area and a faint coiled snake visible against the background.
The understated design contrasts with the more elaborate imagery used on several of Metallica’s earlier albums. Its minimal appearance helped inspire the record’s widespread nickname, The Black Album, even though the official title is simply Metallica.
The snake is commonly associated with the song “Don’t Tread on Me,” whose title and lyrics draw on imagery from the Gadsden flag. The cover does not show a brightly colored or highly detailed reptile; the animal is deliberately subtle and can be easy to miss at first glance.
The artwork is sometimes confused with other Metallica visual symbols, including the chained figures from Master of Puppets and the scales of justice from …And Justice for All.