Which song closes Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, known as The Black Album?

“The Struggle Within” closes Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, known as The Black Album.

The song is the record’s twelfth and final track. Its fast, aggressive attack provides a sharp contrast with the spacious opening of “Enter Sandman” and gives the album a forceful conclusion after the slower textures of songs such as “Nothing Else Matters.”

The lyrics focus on internal conflict and emotional turmoil, themes that fit the album’s broader interest in fear, isolation, faith, and personal responsibility. Musically, the track reconnects with some of Metallica’s thrash-oriented energy while retaining the tighter production associated with the record.

A frequent track-order mistake is placing “My Friend of Misery” last because it is the album’s final song before the closing track. In the official sequence, “My Friend of Misery” is track eleven and “The Struggle Within” is track twelve.