The coiled snake on Metallica’s The Black Album cover was derived from the Gadsden flag.
The cover places a subtle band logo in the upper-left corner and the snake in the lower-right corner against a nearly black background. On the original release, both emblems were embossed so subtly that they could be difficult to see, helping create the nickname The Black Album.
The Gadsden flag is historically associated with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” That phrase also became the title of one of the album’s songs, creating a direct connection between the packaging and the track list.
The cover is not a reproduction of the full flag. It adapts the snake image and omits the flag’s yellow field and motto. Later editions used dark-gray emblems that were easier to see. The artwork was also jokingly compared with Spinal Tap’s fictional album Smell the Glove, an association mentioned in the band’s documentary.