“The Struggle Within” closes the original track listing of Metallica’s 1991 self-titled album, commonly called The Black Album.
The song is the twelfth and final track on the standard release. It follows “My Friend of Misery” and completes an album whose sequencing moves from the instantly recognizable opening of “Enter Sandman” through several of Metallica’s best-known songs.
“The Struggle Within” was written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, the principal songwriting partnership behind much of the album. Like several album tracks that were not issued as major commercial singles, it became familiar primarily through the complete record and through later live and archival material.
Listeners sometimes confuse the final track with “My Friend of Misery,” which is directly before it, or with “Sad but True,” one of the album’s singles. The answer applies specifically to the original standard album sequence, not to expanded anniversary editions containing bonus recordings.