The snake shown on Metallica’s album cover, commonly called The Black Album, was inspired by the Gadsden flag.
The cover of the self-titled album places the band’s angular logo near the upper left and a coiled snake near the lower right. The snake comes from the Gadsden flag, an American historical flag associated with the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” That same motto became the title of one of the album’s songs.
The album was officially titled Metallica, but its nearly black packaging encouraged the nickname The Black Album. On the original release, the logo and snake were embossed so subtly that they were difficult to see against the black background. Later editions used dark gray emblems with greater contrast.
The cover also prompted comparisons with Spinal Tap’s fictional album Smell the Glove and Status Quo’s black Hello! cover. Those references are part of the album’s visual history, but they are not the source of the snake itself: that specific image derives from the Gadsden flag.