Metallica
Hardwired… To Self-Destruct
Blackened Recordings
2016
Oh boy, let’s open this proverbial fresh can of worms, just because we have to… Metallica are such a beloved “classic” band that one can’t look past them putting out a new album.
Album number ten, in fact… a number that seems a bit “low” compared to what more productive outfits have achieved in the same amount of time, but not everyone has at least 4 classic albums to boast of and Metallica do…
Following many years in the wilderness with “wild” and sometimes completely off the wall experimentation, struggles with alcoholism etc… Metallica made a foray back to being metal with 2008’s “Death Magnetic”, which was seen as a welcome “return” to a harder edged sound and sold better than most of their post “black album” outings. Especially ill-conceived was the “over the edge” “Lulu” collaboration with the late Lou Reed in the place of a proper album that came out some five years ago and wasted some pretty good riffs potential….
So what’s “Hardwired...” all about? At first it’s a double album like a lot of bands the ‘tallica decide to give “more music” to the fans, a double album in fact, around some 80 minutes of music, which keeps a few of the tracks on the long side without absolute need to do so… editing didn’t seem to be the band’s strongest suit. Despite promoting Greg Fidelman (a previous engineer), they had to a full-time producer – which has fixed most of their “sound” issues that plagued their most recent efforts, even Lars’ drums sound like drums, despite a pretty compressed sound and performances that leave a bit to be desired for the most part…. he’s not absolutely able to pull out a bunny out of his hat, but at least he pulls what could be consider the most Metallica sounding album since the “black one”...
“Hardwired” begins with the punky thrash eponymous song that debuted first and is not quite bad. Despite being a little on the simple side, it’s “Damage Inc” wannabe aggression has Metallica sound as virile as they haven’t in a long time. Of course years have passed, so they’re not at the absolute top of the game anymore, but this is more than an adequate opener.
“Atlas, Rise!” is an interesting mid tempo riffy track that also surfaced through the “internet” of this world recently. It’s got an interesting extended “chorus” that contrasts with its rather monotonous verses and an interesting riff, but Hammet’s soloing and pretty much everything else about it, is so-so, hardly justifying it’s almost 7 minutes.
“Now That We’re Dead” is not exactly bad and after a bit of a weird sandman-esque intro it develops to a rather OK track that however still hardly justifies its duration, with similar performances and the issues that come along with them.
In “Moth Into Flame” ,the other one of the “leaked” tracks/singles, the band actually comes up with another 90s inspired riff and melodies that are similar to some of their “Black/Load” material and it’s the first track in which Lars drumming isn’t that annoying although along with Hammet, he’s fast become the weakest link, at their own band. The lyrics are mostly about how young starlets are attracted to fame, but get “burned out” quite soon. Some of the melodies are sweet, the soloing rather generic and Wah-y oh why is that?! Kirk who’s presence on the album is largely forgettable and who wasn’t allowed to contribute at all. But didn’t he say that he lost a phone full of ideas? Who knows? “Struggle within” theories anybody?!!
In “Dream No More” Metallica go a bit into fantasy land and it’s a chuggy little beast this one, which still manages to sound like a throw back as it really seems to be borrowing heavily from “Sad But True” and “The God That Failed” (a few tracks actually seem to either recycle or be directly inspired by some older ‘tallica tunes, including some of the opening ones). Again the solos are nothing to write home about, by at least they are a little more in tune with the whole composition. The whole thing could have been a little tighter me-thinks, because again at plus six minutes, you better have a goddamn good tune to say and tons of good parts, which hardly any song manages to do. Especially this young cousin of “The Thing That Should Not Be”.
“Halo on Fire” is probably a welcome change, a far more melodic song, with even some decent soloing by Hammet at the end releasing a bit of the tension that the previous songs have built up, but again veers off to eight minutes with no significant reason.
Disk two opens up with “Confusion”, a terribly apt title about Metallica’s vision of this album. While the riffs are OK, the overall thing sounds a bit too “stale” failing to mirror the punky, punchy powerful opening statement that the eponymous song makes with similar ardor, in fact settling for something a lot more mid-tempo, which lacks a convincing chorus above all else.
I do find the title of “ManUNkind” to be a nice pun – but shouldn’t it have been spelled “M-unkind”? It’s the one tune where Trujillo input was taken into consideration and it’s a bit different than the rest, a lot funkier, but in a good way, but still it’s one of the most experimental moments that I guess some will love while others will love to hate… the least Metallica sounding song of them all, but not too bad overall.
“Here Comes Revenge” is a bit of a mission statement and it’s a nice and heavy tune that will undoubtedly remind you of “Blackened” and “Enter Sandman” with a pretty generic – wah-filled solo. Being the n-th song at around seven minutes, it makes you scratch your head… about whether some trimming should have occurred. Remember kids, repetition doesn’t mean prog-automatically!
“Am I Savage?”… Well first of all, I refuse to make the obvious pun that almost everyone else will copy from each other about “Am I Evil”… Some decent riffs, but the whole “formula” of building up tracks is getting a little stale and old by this point, with Metallica seemingly chasing their own tails... this would have been filler on “Black Album” for instance, but now people might even “like it”.
“Murder One” was Lemmy’s amp and this track is a dedication to him, making Motorhead references throughout and sounding quite massive, in doing so after a softer introduction. It has the swagger and the balls it should have and sounds fittingly “black”. Respect! Hands down the best track of the album for me.
Last by not least, “Spit Out the Bone” picks one up and gnaws on it, going full circle to a dynamic conclusion, a twist; I didn’t quite see it coming but enjoyed quite a bit, despite also being a little long winded, it maintains its impetus for the most part (despite some guitar wankery in the middle part – it would be best if the band went straight to the last solo) and sums up the album quite nicely…
Well, the ‘Tallica sound “hungry” again and try hard to appease the old-fans and maybe make their newer fans, bend and lend an ear to their earlier sound… honest “return”? Forced “retro” effort? Who gives a #$#% really?! It’s the best Metallica could have sounded at the moment, not the best they ever have – that would be between 84-86, but at least this is their finest effort since 91. If only some of the songs were a bit better, shorter and more focused… they’d have sounded a bit tighter, me thinks. Which is a bit of an issue, along with a bunch of boring ass Hammet solos that mostly sound uninspired, if not plain boring and Lars’ (that’s not syncopation) performances that seem lazy on many occasions. Still f’it. Most people will enjoy it and I can’t say that I hated it really; I thought it was a guilty pleasure liking it, but I did a fair bit. At least they’re trying…
PS: Oh, the 3rd disk in some more expensive deluxe editions now instead of that godamn awful “Lords of Summer” dross and “demos” now has that same piece of shit and a bunch of “live” tracks, which is kinda better, but, I think I’ll pass those overpriced editions.
Album number ten, in fact… a number that seems a bit “low” compared to what more productive outfits have achieved in the same amount of time, but not everyone has at least 4 classic albums to boast of and Metallica do…
Following many years in the wilderness with “wild” and sometimes completely off the wall experimentation, struggles with alcoholism etc… Metallica made a foray back to being metal with 2008’s “Death Magnetic”, which was seen as a welcome “return” to a harder edged sound and sold better than most of their post “black album” outings. Especially ill-conceived was the “over the edge” “Lulu” collaboration with the late Lou Reed in the place of a proper album that came out some five years ago and wasted some pretty good riffs potential….
So what’s “Hardwired...” all about? At first it’s a double album like a lot of bands the ‘tallica decide to give “more music” to the fans, a double album in fact, around some 80 minutes of music, which keeps a few of the tracks on the long side without absolute need to do so… editing didn’t seem to be the band’s strongest suit. Despite promoting Greg Fidelman (a previous engineer), they had to a full-time producer – which has fixed most of their “sound” issues that plagued their most recent efforts, even Lars’ drums sound like drums, despite a pretty compressed sound and performances that leave a bit to be desired for the most part…. he’s not absolutely able to pull out a bunny out of his hat, but at least he pulls what could be consider the most Metallica sounding album since the “black one”...
“Hardwired” begins with the punky thrash eponymous song that debuted first and is not quite bad. Despite being a little on the simple side, it’s “Damage Inc” wannabe aggression has Metallica sound as virile as they haven’t in a long time. Of course years have passed, so they’re not at the absolute top of the game anymore, but this is more than an adequate opener.
“Atlas, Rise!” is an interesting mid tempo riffy track that also surfaced through the “internet” of this world recently. It’s got an interesting extended “chorus” that contrasts with its rather monotonous verses and an interesting riff, but Hammet’s soloing and pretty much everything else about it, is so-so, hardly justifying it’s almost 7 minutes.
“Now That We’re Dead” is not exactly bad and after a bit of a weird sandman-esque intro it develops to a rather OK track that however still hardly justifies its duration, with similar performances and the issues that come along with them.
In “Moth Into Flame” ,the other one of the “leaked” tracks/singles, the band actually comes up with another 90s inspired riff and melodies that are similar to some of their “Black/Load” material and it’s the first track in which Lars drumming isn’t that annoying although along with Hammet, he’s fast become the weakest link, at their own band. The lyrics are mostly about how young starlets are attracted to fame, but get “burned out” quite soon. Some of the melodies are sweet, the soloing rather generic and Wah-y oh why is that?! Kirk who’s presence on the album is largely forgettable and who wasn’t allowed to contribute at all. But didn’t he say that he lost a phone full of ideas? Who knows? “Struggle within” theories anybody?!!
In “Dream No More” Metallica go a bit into fantasy land and it’s a chuggy little beast this one, which still manages to sound like a throw back as it really seems to be borrowing heavily from “Sad But True” and “The God That Failed” (a few tracks actually seem to either recycle or be directly inspired by some older ‘tallica tunes, including some of the opening ones). Again the solos are nothing to write home about, by at least they are a little more in tune with the whole composition. The whole thing could have been a little tighter me-thinks, because again at plus six minutes, you better have a goddamn good tune to say and tons of good parts, which hardly any song manages to do. Especially this young cousin of “The Thing That Should Not Be”.
“Halo on Fire” is probably a welcome change, a far more melodic song, with even some decent soloing by Hammet at the end releasing a bit of the tension that the previous songs have built up, but again veers off to eight minutes with no significant reason.
Disk two opens up with “Confusion”, a terribly apt title about Metallica’s vision of this album. While the riffs are OK, the overall thing sounds a bit too “stale” failing to mirror the punky, punchy powerful opening statement that the eponymous song makes with similar ardor, in fact settling for something a lot more mid-tempo, which lacks a convincing chorus above all else.
I do find the title of “ManUNkind” to be a nice pun – but shouldn’t it have been spelled “M-unkind”? It’s the one tune where Trujillo input was taken into consideration and it’s a bit different than the rest, a lot funkier, but in a good way, but still it’s one of the most experimental moments that I guess some will love while others will love to hate… the least Metallica sounding song of them all, but not too bad overall.
“Here Comes Revenge” is a bit of a mission statement and it’s a nice and heavy tune that will undoubtedly remind you of “Blackened” and “Enter Sandman” with a pretty generic – wah-filled solo. Being the n-th song at around seven minutes, it makes you scratch your head… about whether some trimming should have occurred. Remember kids, repetition doesn’t mean prog-automatically!
“Am I Savage?”… Well first of all, I refuse to make the obvious pun that almost everyone else will copy from each other about “Am I Evil”… Some decent riffs, but the whole “formula” of building up tracks is getting a little stale and old by this point, with Metallica seemingly chasing their own tails... this would have been filler on “Black Album” for instance, but now people might even “like it”.
“Murder One” was Lemmy’s amp and this track is a dedication to him, making Motorhead references throughout and sounding quite massive, in doing so after a softer introduction. It has the swagger and the balls it should have and sounds fittingly “black”. Respect! Hands down the best track of the album for me.
Last by not least, “Spit Out the Bone” picks one up and gnaws on it, going full circle to a dynamic conclusion, a twist; I didn’t quite see it coming but enjoyed quite a bit, despite also being a little long winded, it maintains its impetus for the most part (despite some guitar wankery in the middle part – it would be best if the band went straight to the last solo) and sums up the album quite nicely…
Well, the ‘Tallica sound “hungry” again and try hard to appease the old-fans and maybe make their newer fans, bend and lend an ear to their earlier sound… honest “return”? Forced “retro” effort? Who gives a #$#% really?! It’s the best Metallica could have sounded at the moment, not the best they ever have – that would be between 84-86, but at least this is their finest effort since 91. If only some of the songs were a bit better, shorter and more focused… they’d have sounded a bit tighter, me thinks. Which is a bit of an issue, along with a bunch of boring ass Hammet solos that mostly sound uninspired, if not plain boring and Lars’ (that’s not syncopation) performances that seem lazy on many occasions. Still f’it. Most people will enjoy it and I can’t say that I hated it really; I thought it was a guilty pleasure liking it, but I did a fair bit. At least they’re trying…
PS: Oh, the 3rd disk in some more expensive deluxe editions now instead of that godamn awful “Lords of Summer” dross and “demos” now has that same piece of shit and a bunch of “live” tracks, which is kinda better, but, I think I’ll pass those overpriced editions.