10 Heaviest Metallica Songs
2. Sad But True
For the thrash metal purists of the world, The Black Album is the start of Metallica falling into bad habits. With more ballad-esque material and finer production from Bob Rock, it would be understandable if nothing from this album qualified as heavy. On the other hand, most bands don't have a song like "Sad But True" in their catalog.
No matter how you see it, the guitar tones on this track are some of the heaviest Metallica have ever laid down, with the guitars tuned down to give the track an added bite. Hetfield has even gone on record saying he added layers upon layers of guitar tracks to get the desired results. On the other side of the spectrum, Lars Ulrich's drums are the closest musical equivalent to being hit with Thor's Mjolnir. The subject matter is also incredibly heavy, with the protagonist describing their grotesque habits to you only to reveal that this deplorable person is yourself.
At a midtempo grind, this song showed that Metallica didn't have to blow you away with their speed in order to bring heaviness to the masses. The thrashiness may have been dialed back, but the pitch black nature of Metallica had not been diluted in the slightest.