Which song from Metallica’s The Black Album was the first album track heard by the public?

“The God That Failed” was the first song from Metallica’s The Black Album heard by the public.

The song was played on radio before the album’s official release, making it the earliest public preview of the finished record. This is separate from “Enter Sandman,” which became the album’s lead commercial single and the best-known early promotional track.

“The God That Failed” was not released as a commercial single. It appears on the album as a heavy, slower composition built around a dark central riff and lyrics about faith, loss, and the failure of spiritual healing. James Hetfield wrote the lyrics from deeply personal experience.

The song’s subject is connected to Hetfield’s mother, who followed Christian Science beliefs and died of cancer after not seeking conventional medical treatment. That background gives the track a different character from the album’s more accessible songs, while also helping explain its particularly severe tone.