Four demo songs for Metallica’s The Black Album were recorded on August 13, 1990.
The demos were “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and “Wherever I May Roam.” They captured important early versions of songs that would become central to the finished album.
The date places the recordings during the album’s writing and pre-production period, before the main sessions began at One on One Recording Studios in October 1990. The demos also show that several of the album’s best-known songs were already taking shape together.
This figure is easy to confuse with the number of singles eventually released from the album. The record produced five major singles, while the August 13 session specifically involved four demos. “Sad but True” was demoed separately on October 4, 1990.