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Well ladies and gentleman, after eight long years since the release of "Death Magnetic", we're finally treated with Metallica's tenth and brand new album, "Hardwired...To Self Destruct". This all began back in August when Metallica released the balls-out, thrashing title track "Hardwired", and I was immediately impressed and excited with what I heard, and was also excited to hear and see what else the new album would bring. Then later on, we would get two more songs to enjoy in "Moth Into Flame" and "Atlas, Rise!", both which were also very damn impressive as well, and they would of course hold us all over for the remainder of the album.
Now as for the whole album itself, I was greatly impressed and amazed after finally listening to it in it's complete entirety. This is definitely a very top notch album from start to finish, and it sure doesn't disappoint at whatsoever. I definitely have to say that this album here is quite easily the best thing that Metallica has put out in such a long time, especially since 1988's "...And Justice For All", and their 1991 "Black Album". The overall production which is handled by Greg Fidelman (who was also responsible for the engineering and mixing on the band's previous outing "Death Magnetic") is just solid and fantastic, and clean throughout, and dare I say much better than "Death Magnetic" even though I like that album too as much as the next person, and St. Anger? Ugh, I won't even bother to discuss that abomination. This album here features elements of all the band's classic 80's albums from "Kill 'Em All", "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", and "...And Justice For All" most importantly, as well as their early/mid 90's material including the "Black Album", and even both "Load" and "Re-Load" as well. You've got a mixture of fast, furious, and thrashing tunes ("Hardwired", "Moth Into Flame", "Spit Out the Bone"), along with heavy, down-tuned riff crushers ("Dream No More"), and catchy, mid-tempo headbangers ("Confusion" and "Here Comes Revenge") thus resulting in a pure juggernaut of pure awesome, top notch heavy metal madness. Let's first discuss about the guitars, and boy oh boy, there's sure a lot going on in that department, believe me. James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett both bust out all kinds of amazing riffs that just have some serious bite throughout, melding and blending the blistering, and brutal thrash riffing from the 80's material with the hard rock style from the 90's material together, and of course, Hammett's leads and solos on here are without question some of the best that he's ever played on a Metallica album in a long time as well. James Hetfield's vocal performance on here is just dare I say one of the absolute best performances that he's ever done in ages. His singing is just fantastic here, and there's also plenty of aggression in his voice that really echo back to the band's earlier days as well. Elsewhere, Rob Trujillo's bass is very prominent, and he is actually heard clearly throughout here, and he also throws in a great bass solo on "Spit Out the Bone" as well. I'd say that Rob's bass playing here reminds me of Cliff Burton quite a bit, and he also even gets himself involved in the songwriting on "ManUNKind" too. Meanwhile, last but not least, Lars Ulrich's drumming performance here is very solid and stellar throughout, and also some of his finest work behind the drums since "...And Justice For All" I might add with some great fast, and highly effective thrashing beats, and great, ripping double bass patterns mixed with the more simpler hard rock style beats as well. Overall, I really like how the drums are mixed very nicely and perfectly with all the other instruments on this album.
The first disc's opening, balls-out thrasher "Hardwired" (which I mentioned earlier) immediately gets the album going at full speed as the song boasts a fast and furious onslaught of blisteringly fast, and fiery, breakneck, machine-gun riffing, and rapid firing, hammering, thrashing drums, and angry, aggressive vocals, and it also includes a great chorus, as well as a sick, ripping, blazing Hammett solo too. Definitely a terrific start to a terrific, top notch album. Following that, is "Atlas, Rise!" which is another huge favorite on here, and an excellent, energetic, mid-tempo thrasher that is highlighted by awesome, chugging, thrashy riffage, as well as some great Iron Maiden-esque harmonies, plus great drumming, and plenty of catchy vocal and lyrical deliveries from Hetfield, and the song also contains yet another memorable chorus, plus some wicked soloing from Hammett as well. Afterwards, we have "Now That We're Dead" which isn't the fastest song on the album, but it's still a huge standout here, and is really catchy as well. This song is filled with awesomely heavy, crunching, chunky riffs, and also includes another tremendous chorus, and more awesome vocal and lyrical deliveries as well. Lars' drumming on this song is also another highlight here, as he displays some really cool double-kick sections, and Kirk also uncorks another awesome solo at the 4:24 mark for good measure too.
The next track, "Moth Into Flame" is yet another huge standout track that borderlines on an excellent up-tempo attack with more fantastic, all around heavy duty riffing, and aggressive, yet melodic vocals, as well as some killer, blistering, head decapitating, thrash tempos (that include fiery, neck-breaking riffs and cool leads, and pummeling double bass thuds), and also contains another wicked, scorching, and wailing solo, and another great chorus as well. Next, we have the slow, and crushingly heavy, and eerie, down-tuned burner in "Dream No More" which really harkens back to classic Metallica cuts such as "Sad But True", "The Thing That Should Not Be", and "Devil's Dance" due to it's menacingly slow, and crushing, and heavily down-tuned riff attack, and sinister, yet melodic vocal deliveries from Hetfield, and the song is also highlighted by yet another awesome Hammett guitar solo around 4:13 as well. Another thing that I like to point out is that the lyrics in "Dream No More" center around Cthulhu, so I see this song to be a sequel to the band's song "The Call of Cthulhu" (from the "Ride the Lightning" album). Then, closing out the first disc, we have "Halo on Fire", and the one word to describe this song would have to "UNBELIEVABLE"!!! I can totally hear some shades of "Fade to Black" on this song. Hetfield croons calmly over calm, and quiet, melodic verses which of course build up dynamically to the song's intense and powerful chorus in which his vocals get more heavy and intense, and the song also includes some more awesome heavy guitars, bass, and drums as well. Also, another thing I want to point out it that this song is also home to one of Kirk Hammet's most powerful, soaring, and emotionally charged guitar solos, and dare I say, one of his absolute best solos ever in my opinion. It is just absolutely amazing. I love it.
Kicking off the second disc is "Confusion", which is an incredible war-themed track as portrayed in it's respective music video. Not one single word can describe how much I love this song. This song has seriously risen to be one of my favorite Metallica songs already, and it's also my absolute favorite song on this whole album as well. The riffs throughout this track are just pure crushingly heavy, and I also love that opening riff which sounds very reminiscent of "Am I Evil?" too, and the drums and bass both pound nicely throughout as well. Hetfield also kills it vocally here with his amazing, and emotionally charged vocal delivery throughout as he sings such hard hitting lyrics such as: "Wake to face the day...Grab this life and walk away...War is never done...Rub the patch, and battle on..., and "Leave the battlefield...Yet it's horrors never heal...Coming home from war...Pieces don't fit anymore"... The song also features a very super catchy chorus, as well as some more awesomely solid soloing from Hammett which include a cool, bluesy solo around 2:53, as well as another wickedly awesome, scorching, and screaming solo around the 5 minute mark too. This song is definitely metal as metal gets. Afterwards, we have "ManUNKind" which starts off nicely melodic, and calm before soon thrusting into a very groovy and catchy Black Sabbath-like jam that just oozes with awesome, groovy, heavy Sabbath-esque riffing, and solid, awesome drumming, and pounding bass lines that just hit hard with full impact, and also features another awesome, catchy chorus, and another great solo as well. Next up, is "Here Comes Revenge" which yet another awesome track that starts off with a nice, heavy intro, and then kicks straight into a catchy, mid-tempo, heavy rocker that features slower verses that build into a upbeat, hot cooking, and hard driving chorus, and also features a sick, scorching, ripping, and wailing Hammett solo around 4:55, plus Lars also tends to show off some fancy double bass foot work near the end of the track as well.
"Am I Savage?", meanwhile starts off with a nice, and bluesy, moody intro before going into a full blown piece of slow, and brooding doom metal all complete with slow, massively pounding, and head-crushing power chords, along with loud, thundering bass lines, and drums that all just come thundering right through your speakers with absolute authority. The chorus in this song is also really cool, and the song itself is also highlighted by a wickedly sick, and screaming, soaring guitar solo around the 4:27 mark as well, and is also one of Hammett's finest solos on this album too. Then, following that is "Murder One" which is an outstanding tribute to the late, great Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead, which starts with a calm, somber intro, and then cranks up the heaviness with some excellent, heavy, crushing riffage throughout along with some great drumming, and awesome vocals from James as well, and the song also features yet another killer, wailing, winding, and shredding solo from Kirk as well. Definitely another one of my favorites here. Then afterwards, the album finally concludes with the vicious, fiery, in-your-face, thrashing closer "Spit Out the Bone", and believe me, this song just totally smokes, and it's also in my opinion one of Metallica's best songs, and guaranteed to be a future classic as well. Right from the get-go, "Spit Out the Bone" just thrashes your face off with a mean, savage, thrashing onslaught of furiously fast, mean, lightning quick, thrashing riffs and spitting leads, and rapid-fire, pounding drumming, and mean, aggressive yet melodic vocal deliveries that will have your pulse pounding wildly throughout. The song is also highlighted by a wickedly cool bass solo by Rob at 2:43, and later highlighted by a successful, soaring, and furiously ripping, shredding solo flight by Kirk to top things off.
The third disc of this Deluxe Edition is just jam packed with all kinds of goodies including "Lords of Summer" which is a great thrashing tune, as well as some covers of Dio, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, and Diamond Head songs, plus some live performances of classic Metallica tunes that were recorded live at Rasputin Music at Berkeley, California on April 16th, as well as a live version of "Hardwired" which was recorded live at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
All in all, with "Hardwired...To Self Destruct", the guys from Metallica have proven that even in their mid 50's that to this very day that they still have plenty of fire power left in their arsenal, and is truly a triumphant return for the Bay Area metal legends. This album has truly exceeded my listening expectations, and has definitely become one of my favorite metal releases of 2016 along with Megadeth's "Dystopia", Testament's "Brotherhood of the Snake", and "Anthrax's "For All Kings" (all which I've also reviewed on here as well, be sure to check out my reviews for those BTW), and among others. Overall, "Hardwired...To Self Destruct" like I mentioned earlier is easily without question the best album that Metallica has put out in a very, very long time, and I highly recommend you buy this album, because it is truly worth the wait, and worth your hard earned cash. Metallica fans, you finally have something to be proud of. HORNS UP!!! \m/ \m/
Jeremy
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8 years was worth the wait for this new music from Metallica!
We have waited 8 years for a new album from Metallica! I ordered this on vinyl and the limited deluxe edition box set so it came on 3 vinyl LPs. Disc 1, 2 & 3 are the same as the CD double set with the same track list but you get a CD of 9 songs that were recorded live at rasputin music in Berkeley on April 16th 2016 and the title track Hardwired recorded live at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 20th, 2016. First off I ordered this on vinyl because of the way I remember listening to Metallica on vinyl and wanted to bring some of the nostalgia back. I've built up my collection of vinyl over the last few years and this was the way I wanted to hear it! As soon as it was available I used the "auto rip" feature on Amazon so I could hear it and it was an awesome experience! The songs are an incredible journey and takes you on a tempo ride across the groves of the record! You are just carried off and gives you the thing you want most - the crazy thrash and heavy metal riffs of the band we all love! In the boxed set you get a few extra things - not just a 3rd LP. First off it is pressed on 180 gram vinyl (33 1/3 speed) and each LP is a different color! One blue, one yellow and one is red. If you get the regular vinyl (2 LPs) I believe it is press on regular black vinyl. In addition to the LPs you get a bonus CD and additional digital download (not just the auto rip). You also receive 4 lithograph photo prints and buttons for the "to self-destruct" theme of the album. I can tell you that this was worth the 8 year wait for a real Metallica fan! Regardless of how you purchased this (MP3, CD, regular vinyl or the box set you will not be disappointed! Enjoy this! I have taken a few pictures of the boxed set so you can really see what you get. It is really worth the extra because it is packed with bonus stuff and comes all packed in a great storage box. All of these photos were taken by me using the camera on my phone - no professional photography so take it for what it is. I hope this gives you a good idea and hope you like it.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2016
- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2016
Top reviews from other countries
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- W. H. BoudreauReviewed in Canada on May 31, 2017
Hard Wired the Metallica Album/Disc We Have Been Waiting For
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malama73Reviewed in Italy on November 21, 2016
I Metallica sono questi, prendere o lasciare.
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MemphisReviewed in France on November 20, 2016
ça a été long mais c'est tout bon!!!
