Metallica's 1991 album Metallica is the band's fifth studio album.
It followed Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All. The album's self-titled name kept the presentation simple, while its dark packaging led listeners and critics to call it The Black Album.
The record represented a major stylistic shift from the faster thrash-metal emphasis of Metallica's first four studio albums. Producer Bob Rock encouraged a slower, heavier, more polished sound, and the band recorded the songs with a stronger emphasis on playing together in the studio.
A common mix-up is counting live releases or the 1987 Garage Days EP as studio albums. Those releases are part of Metallica's broader catalog, but they do not change the numbering of the band's studio albums. Metallica's next studio album was Load, released in 1996.