Review: After eight long years, Metallica unleashes a crushing beast of an album, proving they are still the ‘masters’
Love them or hate them, the name Metallica is synonymous with American heavy metal.
“Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” Our rank: 9/10
Since they released their debut album, “Kill ‘Em All” in 1983, the band released a string of albums that would come to be hailed as classics in the genre, leading up to the release of their groundbreaking “Black Album.” Through the rest of the 1990s, the band petered off into conformity, releasing “Load” and “Reload”, albums that are almost universally disliked.
A series of unfortunate events would follow, including trips to rehab and a general disillusionment and ambivalence to the state of the band. Coming back in 2003 with “St. Anger” the heavily divisive album showcased the band playing a raw style of metal, as if they had nothing to lose. They were trying to survive at this point, doing whatever it took to unleash the growing rage they had in them for over a decade. Returning to their classic form, the band released “Death Magnetic” in 2008, capturing classic Metallica vibes in a way, but failing to truly embrace what made them so special.
But then silence…for eight long years Metallica fans had to wait to see what the legendary band’s next move would be.
While the world waited for new music, Metallica founded the Orion Music + More festival series, did countless tours and released their concert footage/story-based film “Through the Never,” which tanked in the box office.
Finally, in 2014, the band gave us our first taste at new music with the single “Lords of Summer.” The song exhibited a return to the classic thrash sound of old school Metallica and got all of the fans pumped for what was to come.
Two years later, we receive “Hardwired…to Self Destruct” on what the band is calling “Blackened Friday,” in reference to the opening track off their album “…And Justice for All”.
In many ways, “Hardwired…To Self Destruct” is the band proving they are still on top, while maintaining the humility that came through their growth period years, fighting to escape the mediocrity of the past two decades.
“Hardwired…” is a double album, clocking in at 77 minutes. This may seem like an ambitious undertaking that could deter the most diehard Metallica fan, so diving headfirst into this album is the only way. The opening track, “Hardwired” does not let up slightly and hits you with a wall of thrashing speed before you can even realize that this is a reinvigorated, fast, and pissed off Metallica. This is them reaching within to channel the fire from the first three albums, when they were young and angry at the world.
The next song, “Atlas, Rise!” drops the pace slightly, but still maintains the feeling of early Metallica, giving us a “Kill ‘Em All” style vibe, particularly in the choice of notes. The pre-chorus break provides a slamming groove that is surely to induce moshing of all kinds, meanwhile the chorus gives us a lot of “call and response” style interplay with the drums and guitars.
This is where the album starts to deviate. “Now That We’re Dead” gives listeners a slow, churning two-step style groove circa “Black Album” era along with more of that “Kill ‘Em All” feeling that we received from the last two songs.
“Moth Into Flame” is another faster song that fans were able to digest months before the album was released. The song touches on the harsh realities of fame and its consequences, such as addiction, burning out, and losing touch with yourself.
Metallica from L-R: Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, James Hetfield (Metallica.com)
“Dream No More” brings the tempo down into sludgy territory, with bassist Rob Trujillo really leaning on that fifth bass string. It has a very Black Sabbath feel to it, until the vocals kick in and gives the song an almost Alice In Chains type quality to it. Lyrically, the song revisits the Cthulhu storyline that made songs like “The Thing That Should Not Be” from 1985’s “Master Of Puppets” and “The Call of Ktulu” from 1984’s “Ride The Lightning” such memorable, stand out tracks. Even when Metallica trudges forward, they still are able to give a nod to their past.
Closing out the first half of the album is “Halo On Fire,” where the band makes its first misstep on “Hardwired…” The chorus riff is hard, opting to keep things simple, with the guitars chugging and even the bridge riff, with its bright lead notes and almost optimistic sound, are a hit. However, the song is corny in the lyrics department. The song is about disillusionment towards religion and a general disbelief in God, which could lead to actual cathartic lyrics, given the power behind songs like “Leper Messiah” and “The God That Failed”. However, this song comes of sounding like the groaning of a 14-year-old who just discovered atheism. it plods on far too long for what it is and, in my opinions, sounds like a lazy rip off of “The Day That Never Comes.”
There’s a reason this album is separated into two parts. The second half of the album is blatant New Wave of British Heavy Metal worship. “Confusion” boasts a slightly faster verse feel, playing with speeding up and slowing down on a dime, however falls victim to terrible lyrics at times as well. This is a song about war, but is nowhere near the precedent set by songs like “One” and “Disposable Heroes”.
“ManUNkind” gives us a funk style groove, harkening to the band’s admiration of Thin Lizzy, showcasing Rob Trujillo’s ability to hold down an opening solo in the vein of former bass player Cliff Burton. The majority of the track saves it from almost collapsing in on itself during the bridge, which becomes a pseudo-Five Finger Death Punch style ballad for about a minute.
“Here Comes Revenge” features a classic mid-tempo thrash blast, however showcases more of the corniest lyrics Metallica has ever written. The chorus screams “You ask forgiveness, I give you sweet revenge” and if that isn’t enough to make your skin crawl, the rest of the song to follow gives ample reason.
“Am I Savage?” is another cringe-worthy song, but has some moments of brilliance. It’s counterfeit “One” intro segues into another Sabbath style slow, plodding riff. The riffs are mostly cool on this song, but they cannot save the song from the terrible, crooning lyrics and James Hetfield’s terrible, almost country style wailing on the song.
“Murder One” brings a smile to every Motorhead fan’s face, while simultaneously breaking your heart. The song is a tribute to the life of Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister, the deceased vocalist of Motorhead. The lyrics are rife with Motorhead references, ranging from “Ace of Spades”, “Born to Lose, Live to Win”, “Orgasmatron” and others. The “Fade to Black” intro falls into a distorted riff that grabs the listener by the throat and reminds you that if Motorhead was never a band, Metallica would never had existed.
The album’s closer, “Spit Out the Bone” does a complete turn from everything the second half of the album stood for. Similar to Metallica’s penchant for closing out their albums with total bruisers (think “Damage Inc.,” “Dyer’s Eve,” etc) the final track song kicks you in the teeth, jacking the tempo through the roof, bringing the thrash back in a classic nod to Metallica’s metal roots.
The seven minute long closer is a neck breaking, heavy as Hell song does not let up for one second, as you’re moved from passage to passage in a split second, with Hetfield barking out lyrics about the rise of technology and our fading importance on this Earth. It’s quite the closing track and makes up for any sort of misgiving on the latter half of this album.
“Hardwired…To Self Destruct” is an honest to God, heavy metal album. We, as fans, would be okay with Metallica putting out “Master of Puppets” in varying degrees for the past few decades, given what they have given us before. “Death Magnetic” showed the band trying to regain their old spark and “Hardwired” continues in that vein, only improves and shines in most aspects that were missed on “Death Magnetic”. The only negative things I really have to say about the album are some of the lyrical choices, but given drummer Lars Ulrich wrote his fair share of lyrics on this album, it’s almost expected the cheese was coming. After all, this is the man that gave us “My lifestyle, determines my deathstyle”, so what could we really expect.
This album is the best thing they have released since “The Black Album.” It’s consistent, it’s a return to form and shows that the band is unapologetic in being who they are. Noisey put “If you don’t think Metallica fuckin’ rules, then you’re probably just a dick” and I have to agree with them, in regards to this album. Welcome back guys, we missed you. Here’s to seeing a new album before another eight years flies by.
