{"id":144093,"date":"2025-08-14T03:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T03:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144093\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T03:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T03:42:13","slug":"4-underrated-tracks-from-metallicas-landmark-self-titled-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144093\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Underrated Tracks From Metallica\u2019s Landmark Self-Titled Album"},"content":{"rendered":"

Metallica<\/a> released their self-titled album, commonly called The Black Album, in August 1991. It quickly became their most successful album. Later, the Diamond-certified LP became one of the best-selling albums of all time. It was also their first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In short, it marked a major milestone in the band\u2019s long and legendary career.<\/p>\n

Metallica\u2019s self-titled album marked a departure in sound for the band. They moved away from thrash metal into something more accessible that brought them major mainstream success. Songs like \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d and \u201cThe Unforgiven\u201d were top 10 hits on the Mainstream Rock chart and got plenty of attention. However, some of the best songs on the album, unfortunately, get overlooked.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: On This Day in 1991, Metallica Released One of the Best-Selling Albums of All Time]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. \u201cOf Wolf and Man\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been plenty of metal songs about werewolves and other horror movie monsters that fell flat. However, Metallica nailed it with this track from the perspective of a werewolf. It\u2019s not overly gory or violent. Instead, it speaks to the freedom that comes from leaving one\u2019s human form behind. Lines like We shift, pulsing with the Earth and Wildness is the preservation of the world \/ So seek the wolf in thyself, made everyone want to shape shift and creep through the new day\u2019s mist.<\/p>\n

2. \u201cThe God That Failed\u201d<\/p>\n

James Hetfield wrote all of the lyrics for Metallica. Some of the songs were a little more personal and introspective than others. \u201cThe God That Failed\u201d is one of those songs. While many think this was just the band being edgy and giving the middle finger to religion, it was inspired by Hetfield\u2019s mother\u2019s death. She was a follower of the Christian Science doctrine and, as a result, refused medical treatment, believing that her faith would heal her. \u201cThe God That Failed\u201d was Hetfield working through his anger over her passing.<\/p>\n

3. \u201cHolier Than Thou\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHolier Than Thou\u201d is another track that many believed was a shot at religion. However, that wasn\u2019t the case. Instead, the lyrics were inspired by James Hetfield\u2019s irritation at people in the music industry who were more than happy to point out others\u2019 mistakes while ignoring their own, according to Songfacts<\/a>. Initially, producer Bob Rock wanted to release this as the album\u2019s lead single. However, when they finished the album, \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d became the unanimous pick.<\/p>\n

4. \u201cMy Friend of Misery\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Friend of Misery\u201d is one of the more relatable tracks from The Black Album. Nearly everyone knows the kind of person the lyrics describe. At the same time, it\u2019s an important one for longtime fans of Metallica because it is one of only three songs on which Jason Newstead received a writing credit. He wrote the intro riff on which the whole song is built. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat wa a moment where those guys kind of bowed and said, \u2018Here you go, man, put your song on there,\u2019 being the guy who came up with that, as opposed to being part of the team, I got to be myself for a minute there, which was a real accomplishment,\u201d Newsted said<\/a> of the song.<\/p>\n

Featured Image by Vinnie Zuffante\/Archive Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metallica released their self-titled album, commonly called The Black Album, in August 1991. It quickly became their most…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[14201,171,981,29034,975,4185,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-144093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1990s","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-metal","11":"tag-metallica","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-rock-music","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115025054487984434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}