Metallica's The Black Album was the band's fifth studio album when it was released in 1991.
The album followed Kill 'Em All (1983), Ride the Lightning (1984), Master of Puppets (1986), and ...And Justice for All (1988). It was officially self-titled, but its nearly all-black cover led fans and the music industry to call it The Black Album.
The record marked a major shift from the band's earlier thrash-metal sound toward slower, heavier, more streamlined songs. That change helped Metallica reach a much broader international audience while retaining its heavy guitars and powerful rhythm section.
A common mix-up is counting The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited as a studio album. It was an extended play, so it does not change The Black Album's position in Metallica's studio-album sequence.