Meallica: Hardwired… To Self Destruct Album Review

Meallica: Hardwired… To Self Destruct Album Review

By Calvin Parsons

Nov. 21, 2016

Introduction

On Nov. 18, 2016 Metallica released ‘Hardwired… To Self Destruct’ their first new album in eight years.  The album was officially announced on Aug. 18, 2016 with the release of the first single for the album ‘Hardwired’.  The album was released on the bands own record label Blackened, and is available worldwide at any record store near you, or if you’re like it any Wal-Mart near you, and is also available for download on Spotify and iTunes.

                              

Review

            The album opens with the song ‘Hardwired’ which I said earlier was the first single for the album, and it was a good choice to open with.  It’s a nice return to the bands Thrash Metal roots.  The song is fast and aggressive, and is also the shortest track on the album, clocking in at about three minutes long.

            The next song on the CD is ‘Atlas, Rise’ the third single to come out leading up to the albums release.  This song was my least favourites of the three singles to come out, its still a really good tune.  I’ve heard some people describing it as sounding like an Iron Maiden song, I don’t really hear it myself but.  The song is catchy and easy to sing along to I can see it being one of the songs they play live quite a bit due to its popularity among Metallica fans.

            Next song I’m going to cover is ‘Moth Into Flame’ it was the second single to come out, and is one of my favourite songs on the album.  The song is about fame and fortune, and it getting to people’s heads, hence the lyrics, “Seduced by fame, like a moth into the flame.”  Just like ‘Atlas, Rise’ the tune is catchy and easy to follow along to, and it still retains some of the bands older Thrash Metal roots, but not quite the amount that I would like.  I was really hoping that this album would sound more like ‘Ride The Lightning’ or ‘Master Of Puppets’ but you can hear in some of the other songs on the album it sounds closer to the ‘Load’, ‘Reload’ era of Metallica instead.

            Let us switch CDs, if you didn’t know this album was a dual album, releasing with two CDs, six songs on each disc, with the average length of each song being a little more then six minutes each, reaching about 80 minutes in length.

            The first track on the second disc is ‘Confusion’ which is a very OK song, one of the weakest in my opinion on the album, the meaning behind it is good but the song isn’t a good Metallica song.  It’s about a woman who is a veteran and is trying to fit in with society again once she is back home, but suffers from PTSD.  The thing is they already have a song with this theme and it’s a thousand times better, and that song is ‘One.’  ‘One’ is just a better Thrash Metal song than this one not much else to say.  This song sound more like it should be on ‘Load’ or ‘Reload.’

           

           The next song on the second disc is ‘manUNkind’ which after a couple of listens it has become one of my favourite tunes on the record.  It starts off slow but picks up, still not quite to the speed I want from a Metallica song but it has the right kind of energy, it combines new Metallica with old almost perfectly.  I’d also like to mention that this is the only song on the album that bass player Rob Trujillo had a hand in working on. 

Throughout this whole album you can hear the changes in James Hetfields vocals, he’s the standout point of the record in my opinion, usually it’s the guitar for me in Metallica songs, Kirk Hammett being one of the best lead guitar players in Metal in my opinion.

            Let’s skip ahead a couple of songs to, ‘Murder One.’  ‘Murder One’ is the only song I listened to before the albums release besides the three single they put out, and that’s because it’s a tribute song to Rock Legend Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead.  This song is my favourite one on the album even though there are songs on here that are more of the kind of Metallica that I was hoping this album would be.  This song sounds like a mix between ‘Black Album’ and ‘Load’ eras of Metallica, it having more of an melodic approach then what the band is known for.  I feel this song is a good send off to the late Lemmy Kilmister, and will be a tune I listen to on the anniversary of his passing along with Motorhead songs like ‘Ace Of Spades’ and ‘Overkill.’

          The last song on the record is ‘Spit Out The Bone.’  Now this is the song that I wanted this whole album to be.  It’s pure 80s Thrash and it knows it, this is also the only track on the record that it seems like Lars Ulrich is actually trying to play his drums at an above average skill level.  Everybody but Lars gives it their all on this album, but we all knew Lars is the weakest drummer in the Big 4.  This song also features a distorted bass solo, which is probably a tribute to the late Cliff Burton, the bands original bass player(not including Ron McGovney), who died in a tragic bus accident while touring in Sweden with Ozzy while promoting ‘Master Of Puppets.’  This song just kicks ass and is a great way to finish a record.

Verdict

            This album is not what I was hoping it would be, but it still lived up to my hype.  I didn’t walk away disappointed by it, and I’m not upset that I bought two copies of it.  Is it worth the buy if you’re just a casual metal fan or Metallica fan, probably not, I’d just download it on Spotify if you have premium, but all the die-hard Metallica fans would have already purchased it on release along with me. 
            I feel that this album would be a good entry point for newer fans, with many of the song being easier to listen to, not quite as raw as say ‘Kill ‘Em All’ or ‘Ride The Lightning.’  But if you long live for those days sadly they’re still gone, and I’d recommend listening to the new Testament album, ‘Brotherhood of Snakes’ if you wanted some classic old school 80s Thrash, or even to check out one of the younger bands out there like Dust Bolt, they are exactly what the older guys used to be.

            I would give this album a solid 7/10.  It’s good but it’s still not the Metallica I yearn for, even though it will remain in the CD player of my car for the next while, and will be what I listen to on my commute to school everyday, I still think the album is good but not amazing.