A coiled snake appears alongside Metallica’s logo on the original black cover of Metallica.
The snake is derived from the Gadsden flag, an American historical flag associated with the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” On the album cover, the band’s angled logo sits toward the upper left while the coiled snake appears in the lower right against the black background.
The design was intentionally understated. On the initial release, both the logo and snake were embossed so they were difficult to see, which helped give the album its popular nickname, The Black Album. Later editions used dark-gray emblems that stand out more clearly.
The cover’s imagery also connects directly to the track “Don’t Tread on Me,” whose title is the Gadsden flag’s famous motto. The design is sometimes remembered as featuring a skull because of Metallica’s broader visual imagery, but the original album cover’s distinctive emblem is the snake.