Holier Than Thou

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"Holier Than Thou"

Song by Metallica
Released	August 13, 1991
Recorded	October 1990 - June 1991 at One on One Recording, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Heavy Metal Hard Rock
Label	Elektra Records
Producer(s)	Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
Chronology
"Enter Sandman" "Sad But True" "Holier Than Thou" "The Unforgiven" "Wherever I May Roam" "Don't Tread on Me" "Through the Never" "Nothing Else Matters" "Of Wolf and Man" "The God that Failed" "My Friend of Misery" "The Struggle Within"

Holier Than Thou is a song by Metallica that appeared on their 1991 Black Album.

Composed by James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich, it is track number three on the album. The song enters with a basic heavy intro. The much more aggressive riff starts at 0:34. The lyrics begin at 0:48. At 03:12, the bass takes what can be called a "solo" though it is really just repeating the main bass line and, at 3:18 the guitars pick back up.

[edit] Theme

The song is about hypocrisy, particularly religious in nature. "Judge not lest ye be judged yourself" is taken from the Bible, specifically Matthew 7:1. The song could be meant to go together with The God That Failed, because the latter is often used by people that try to convince others that Metallica is anti-Christian or even satanic, even though the lyrics are neither, this song being the band's response.