James Hetfield on whether Metallica will write a new song for “Unforgiven”

Metallica frontman James Hetfield has commented on whether the band will ever write another “Unforgiven” song.

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In 1991, metal icons Metallica released “The Unforgiven” as the second single from their acclaimed album of the same name. Six years later, “The Unforgiven II” was released as part of the album “Reload”. In 2008, the band released “The Unforgiven III” as part of “Death Magnetic”, the last entry in the “Unforgiven” saga to date.

Since then, fans have been clamoring for a fourth title in the series. Now James Hetfield has spoken about the trilogy and whether the band will ever write another “Unforgiven.”

In a recent episode of The Metallica Report Podcast, the frontman and guitarist responded to a fan’s question about “The Unforgiven IV.” When asked if the “Unforgiven” saga was over, Hetfield giggled and replied, “I’m not dead! I’m not dead yet, so it’s not over.”

He added: “I don’t know if there will be an Unforgiven XII or not. I don’t know. If I say I know, then it’s different.”

He further explained: “‘Unforgiven III’ is obviously about self-forgiveness and I didn’t have any of that, especially in the first one. ‘II’ was kind of the middle ground. ‘Unforgiven III’ (was about): ‘How can I forgive you if I can’t forgive myself?’ That’s kind of the conclusion of that, but there might be more. I don’t know.”

NME also spoke to the band last year, where drummer Lars Ulrich talked about the impact of Stranger Things on their fan base. The show used “Master of Puppets” during a key scene in the show’s fourth season finale.

“We see a lot of 13- to 14-year-olds coming for the first time,” said Ulrich. “Our shows have always had a coming-of-age element, and you only have to look at the Stranger Things phenomena of last summer. “It came out of nowhere and suddenly made Metallica known to a whole new group of younger people.”

The Conversation was released around the time of their last album ’72 Seasons’, which NME also gave four stars: “For young fans just discovering the joys of heavy rock – perhaps lured by the release of this band’s 1986 classic, ‘Master of Puppets’ on Netflix Megahit Stranger Things last year – this new record will be a fitting gateway drug. For everyone else, there is just the comforting feeling that after so many decades on stage, Metallica are still capable of delivering sharp, spiky metal – and taking it where the sun don’t shine.”