TOP 5
02
The Unforgiven
“The Unforgiven” is from the self-titled album Metallica. It follows a different mental struggle of a person throughout their life. This is one song that Hetfield wrote which mirrors his battle with his religious parents. In this song, the character is being controlled by the expectations and rules of society and it blocks all of his creative thinking. Moreover, he is also considered the “whipping boy” or scapegoat. This song is one of their slower songs playing at ninety-six beats per minute and is played in A minor. James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Lars Ulrich wrote the song and were trying to achieve a “heavy verse and a soft chorus, something rarely heard in hard rock or metal” (“The Unforgiven”).
This song is able to capture the ballad writing of James Hetfield and the spotless mix of instruments seen in the Black Album. The timbre in the piece is one of struggle and regret as the storyteller describes his life. Struggle and regret is shown in the ballad when the story explains,
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away
Unlike the rhythm of other Metallica songs, this follows a slower rhythm with a consistent variation in sound for the chorus. These chorus portions are heard at one minute thirty-seven seconds, two minutes fifty-three seconds, and four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Also, this song is considered less complex with its chord and note progression just as many of the songs that came from this album. Similar to songs on this list such as “One” and “Master of Puppets,” the dynamics of this song alternate in intensity. We are met with a western sound for the clean guitars that are played up to the fifty-five-second mark and the initial part of the song includes a horn heard in the western movie “Unforgiven.” On the other hand, distorted guitars are generally heard in the piece as the struggles of “The Unforgiven” are voiced. Finally, the texture of this song is slightly thinner compared to what has been heard before. This was created to allow the vocals in the mix to shine through more than the rest of the instruments.
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