Which song closes Metallica’s original 1991 album, commonly called The Black Album?

“The Struggle Within” closes Metallica’s original 1991 album, commonly called The Black Album.

The track is the record’s twelfth and final song. It delivers a compact, aggressive ending after the album’s sequence of major singles, including “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and “Wherever I May Roam.”

James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich wrote the song, as they did much of the album’s material. Its lyrics focus on inner conflict and psychological turmoil, themes that fit the album’s darker emotional atmosphere.

Expanded anniversary releases add many bonus recordings after the original running order, so a streaming playlist may appear to end elsewhere. On the standard 1991 studio album, however, “The Struggle Within” is the final track.