"The Unnamed Feeling" is a song by heavy metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. It was released on January 12, 2004, as the third single from the band's eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' St. Anger'' (2003). The song is about an unnamed feeling (which, according to

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

, is anxiety) that a person feels when they are close to the edge of losing control, just before he or she panics. Along with a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, the song was released as a single exclusively to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It was released as part of an E.P. in the UK. The unique video, directed by

The Malloys The Malloys is the working name of music video and film directors and brothers Emmett Malloy and Brendan Malloy. They have been with Superprime Films since 2010. Videography *"Holiday" by Vampire Weekend (2010) *" Love Dealer" by Esmée Dente ...

, featured the band performing in a virtually empty room that gradually closed in on them throughout the song. This was accompanied by visual stories of several people all experiencing that "unnamed feeling" in their own way. The front cover for the basic singles depicts the "monster" from their other ''St. Anger'' single, " Some Kind of Monster". However, cover art for the Australia-exclusive CD single for "The Unnamed Feeling" was chosen by Metallica through a contest where Australian fans could submit their own original artwork. The winning piece by Louis Claveria depicts an isolated illustration of a black heart roughly outlined in white with a black background. Claveria's artwork was autographed by the band and framed, and all four finalists were featured in an exclusive poster insert included in the single. Exclusive live B-sides from Metallica's first show at the

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...

festival in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

were featured on the Australian single.The Unnamed Artist
Metallica.com (February 2, 2004). Retrieved on 5-23-11.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unnamed Feeling, The 2003 songs 2004 singles Metallica songs Songs written by James Hetfield Songs written by Lars Ulrich Songs written by Kirk Hammett Songs written by Bob Rock Music videos directed by The Malloys Elektra Records singles Song recordings produced by Bob Rock Number-one singles in Spain