The Day That Never Comes

"The Day That Never Comes"
Song
B-side	"No Remorse (Live)"

"The Day That Never Comes" is the fortieth single by American heavy metal band Metallica, and the first from the band's new studio album, Death Magnetic. "The Day That Never Comes" was released to the radio and for digital download on Thursday August 21st, 2008 at 11 am PDT.

Composition

"The Day that Never Comes" is described as the most downbeat track on Death Magnetic, and is said to be reminiscent of Metallica's epic breakthrough single "One," which won a Grammy Award in 1990. Like previous ballads and downbeat songs by Metallica, it is the fourth track of the album. Rock Sound has also compared the song to the likes of Thin Lizzy. The intro starts out with clean guitars that carry into the verses, while the choruses are backed with heavily distorted guitars. The bridge speeds up gradually and eventually leads into fast paced harmony between the guitars and a long guitar solo by Hammett, a build-up comparable to that of "One" and "Fade to Black." The ending of the song, unlike the previously mentioned ballads, is purely instrumental, featuring numerous solos and chord progressions.

Track listing

1. "The Day That Never Comes" – 7:56
2. "No Remorse" (Live) – 8:31

Music video

A music video for the song was filmed in the desert outside Los Angeles, California on July 31, 2008, directed by Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg. It was premiered on the band's official page at midnight on September 1, 2008.

The video depicts two Marines riding a humvee in a desert and getting hit by an explosion. After they take cover and look for the attacker, one of them reveals that he suffered a wound. His friend tries to cover it up and call for help, and while he's eventually taken to safety via a helicopter dustoff mission, it is implied that he might have not recovered from the incident. The video then forwards to another situation involving the remaining Marine in another group riding a humvee and getting stopped in the road by a car (a Yugo) and a civilian in front of it holding a jumper cable in the air. The group, suspecting it might be an ambush, circles around the car and keeps the man at gunpoint, only to find a woman in chador in the back seat. They order her out of the car, but she approaches the protagonist, who keeps holding her at gunpoint. The video then climaxes when the Marines nervously look at each other, fearing that she might be a suicide bomber, but eventually the Marine lowers his gun and signals to the rest to do the same. The group helps the man to push start the car, and the protagonist remains looking at the sky.

Concepts

On August 4, 2008 (2008-08-04), in an MTV interview, the song lyrics were said to have been made to tackle the subject of forgiveness and resentment. The band's drummer Lars Ulrich claimed that the lyrics were inspired by a father-son relationship. The content of the video itself is of a different theme or setting that what the lyrics themselves were written about, a second interpretation. The video is said to be in a war background in comparison to the "One" video, but will not make any modern day references as in the war in Iraq and the Middle East (although the video depicts images of Middle East war in present day, they do not imply any political statement). Frontman James Hetfield spoke on the lyrics of the song and also the radical difference of the song lyrics and vision intended to the music video.

"That's the beauty, I think, of writing vague but powerful lyrics — that someone like a movie director can interpret it in his own way and obviously, someone creative is able to take the metaphors and apply them to whatever he needs in his own life," the frontman explained. "The main [theme of the video] is the human element of forgiveness and someone doing you wrong, you feeling resentment and you being able to see through that in the next situation that might be similar and not take your rage or resentment out on the next person and basically keep spreading the disease of that through life...The one thing that I wasn't keen on here was Metallica plugging into a modern war or a current event [that] might be construed as some sort of political statement on our part... There are so many celebrities that soapbox their opinions, and people believe it's more valid because they're popular. For us, people are people — you should all have your own opinion. We are hopefully putting the human element in what is an unfortunate part of life. There are people over there dealing with situations like this, and we're showing the human part of being there."

Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and Ulrich also commented by stating ultimately, the concept of the video deals with humanity and the relationships between human beings and how your basic sense of humanity can override any sort of politicized situation.

Chart performance

The song debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 at #31, giving the band their seventh top forty Hot 100 hit. It is also the band's highest charting single on the Hot 100 since 1997's "The Memory Remains", which peaked at #28. With less than four days of airplay, "The Day That Never Comes" debuted at #7 on Billboards Mainstream Rock Chart, giving Metallica their sixteenth top ten hit on the chart. The next week it rose to #2 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. In its third week, it reached number one on the chart, the band's sixth song to top the chart, and first since 2000's "I Disappear." It also debuted at #25 on Modern Rock Tracks, and has so far peaked at #5, giving the band their first top five ever on that chart. It debuted in the top ten on the Canadian Singles Chart, at #1.

The song has been very successful internationally as well. On August 24, 2008, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at #36 and has so far peaked at #19. In Ireland it has so far reached #14. On the Australian ARIA Charts, the song has also reached the top twenty, at #18. It has reached the top ten in New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	18
Austria Top 40 Charts	25
Belgium Singles Top 50	11
Canadian Singles Chart	1
Croatian HR Top 20	1
Denmark Singles Chart	3
Finland Singles Top 20	1
Irish Singles Chart	14
Italian Singles Chart	39
Netherlands Mega Top 100	20
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	14
Norway Singles Chart	1
Polish National Top 50	30
Portuguese National Top 50	30
Swedish Singles Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	19
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	31
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	5

Personnel

• James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Robert Trujillo – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion
• Rick Rubin – producer
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Greg Fidelman – mixing
• Thomas Vinterberg – music video director

External links

• The Day That Never Comes (the music video as QuickTime video via Warner Bros. Records)