An orchestra was added to “Nothing Else Matters” on Metallica's The Black Album at Bob Rock's insistence. The orchestral arrangement expanded the song beyond its intimate guitar-based beginning and gave its closing sections a broader, cinematic scale.
The album also used cellos on “The Unforgiven,” another example of Rock encouraging sounds not usually associated with heavy metal. These arrangements helped distinguish the record from Metallica's earlier, more aggressively thrash-oriented work.
The song itself began as a private guitar piece James Hetfield wrote while on tour about a recent ex-girlfriend. It developed into one of Metallica's best-known songs and became a successful single in 1992. Kirk Hammett does not play on the studio recording, although he appears in the video and performs the song live with the band.