What symbol is faintly shown near the bottom-right of Metallica’s Black Album cover?

A coiled snake is faintly shown near the bottom-right of Metallica’s Black Album cover. The nearly monochrome artwork places the band’s logo in the upper-left and a dark snake image low on the right, making both elements easy to miss at a glance.

The snake references the Gadsden flag, whose “Don’t Tread on Me” imagery also inspired the album’s sixth track. Cover designer Peter Mensch and illustrator Don Brautigam helped realize the stark visual concept, while photographer Ross Halfin supplied band imagery used in the package.

The snake is not a skull or abstract lightning mark, two common guesses based on the cover’s minimal design. On many editions the image is embossed or printed in very low contrast, so lighting and reproduction quality affect how clearly the coiled form appears.