Metallica Release Rough Mix + Multiple Covers of “The Unforgiven”
Metallica’s relentless thirtieth anniversary celebration of The Black Album continues today with multiple versions of “The Unforgiven.”
First up: a rough mix of the song from May of 1991, three months before the record was released. I don’t think it’s all that interesting, especially compared to the three other “Unforgiven”s we got today, but completists will most certainly wanna hear it. The track will appear on the upcoming super-duper-extra-special-limited-edition-more-precious-than-your-grandmother anniversary reissue of The Black Album.
Additionally, we have not one, not two, but three new, officially-sanctioned covers of the same track. The covers are by, respectively, Diet Cig, Ha*Ash, and Vishal Dadlani, Divine, and Shor Police.
The covers are part of The Metallica Blacklist, an album that “celebrates the enduring influence of Metallica with an unprecedented 50+ artists spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each contributing a unique interpretation of their favorite Black Album cut.” As has been the case with the other singles from The Metallica Blacklist — “Nothing Else Matters” by Miley Cyrus, Elton John , Yo-Yo Ma, Chad Smith, and Robert Trujillo, “Enter Sandman” by Juanes, versions of “Sad But True” by St. Vincent, Sam Fender, and Jason Isbell, and iterations of “Holier Than Thou” by Biffy Clyro and OFF! — all three covers are very much their own thing.
Ha*Ash’s take is an acoustic, bi-lingual country ballad, complete with mandolins, banjos, a mariachi horn section. Diet Cig’s interpretation is extremely indie rock. And the version Vishal Dadlani, Divine, and Shor Police is a soulful, inspirational-sounding pop and hip-hop mix with lots of interesting world music influences. This might just be me, but it somehow calls to mind Rag’n’Bone Man’s “Human.” Maybe it’s just all the clapping? I dunno.
You can listen to all four versions of “The Unforgiven” below. The Diet Cig and Ha*Ash interpretations also come with cool music videos that might be worth a watch.
The Black Album reissue comes out September 10, and can be pre-ordered here. The Metallica Blacklist follows on October 1, and can be pre-ordered here. All profits from every track on The Metallica Blacklist will benefit Metallica’s charitable foundation, All Within My Hands, along with a charity of each artist’s choice.
Metallica will headline several American festivals this year, and several European festivals next year. Here are all the dates they have lined up thus far:
9/24/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
9/26/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
10/8/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
10/10/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
11/12/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
11/14/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
6/15/22 – Copenhell – Copenhagen, Denmark [tickets]
6/17/22 – Firenze Rocks – Florence, Italy [tickets]
6/19/22 – Prague Rocks – Prague, Czech Republic [tickets]
6/22/22 – Rock Werchter – Werchter, Belgium [tickets]
7/1/22 – Mad Cool – Madrid, Spain [tickets]
7/6/22 – NOS Alive – Lisbon, Portugal [tickets]
