10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs Of The 1990s

For an album that has become one of the biggest albums of all time, it still feels like Metallica fans are divided on what to do about the Black Album. Though this is the record that brought Metallica to mainstream success that no other thrash metal band had seen before, it was also a gamble with a hard rock style that ventured away from the metal that they were known for. Just because the songs were more mellow didn't mean that the band had forgotten about the darkness within.

Going into the realm of ballad territory again, The Unforgiven may have been one of the most accomplished songs that Metallica had written up until that point, with James Hetfield coming into his own as a lyricist by detailing the sense of abandonment and pain that comes from growing up alone. By flipping the usual dynamic structure of the song, the chorus leaves you with nothing but pure melancholy, like you've lashed out in anger only to find no sense of relief.

This is also one of the best solos that Kirk has ever written, gently toeing the line between the more flashy playing and the more melodic guitar style that owes a lot more to classic rock. Though the grunge wave would later take the darker side of rock and run with it, nothing can ever beat that feeling of true darkness.