Hardwired… To Self-Destruct Metallica 2016 Blackened Records/Universal Music Metallica. What can be said about Metallica that hasn’t already been said over the course of their professional career of 33 years? What cannot be denied is that Metallica have been hugely successful garnering a fan-base that is not only rabid at times, but also hugely divided over Metallica’s ability to transcend the years, not being afraid to try something different in an attempt to stay current. Once more, when the rumours circulated of a new Metallica album, the internet became awash with Heavy Metal fans hotly debating what the sound will be like? Should Metallica call it a day? And the perennial, Metallica have been shit since …And Justice for All. But it is was the: “the new Metallica album will be a double album” which caused the most talk. Beware the double album. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct is Metallica’s 10th studio album and is the long awaited follow up to 2008’s Death Magnetic and features a sleeker production that Death Magnetic. Out goes Rick Rubin and in comes producer, Greg Fidelman who was the engineer for Death Magnetic as well as the producer for Lulu, Metallica’s 2011 collaboration with Lou Reed. Fidelman has worked closely with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich to create Hardwired… To Self-Destruct with a sound that hasn’t been this warm since 1997’s ReLoad. Metallica have finally moved away from the sparse, almost tinny sound that plagued Death Magnetic to an album that is their best sounding in nearly 20 years and the best thing about it is, Lars has finally fixed that annoying snare drum sound. As stated above, beware the double album! Judging on some of the average lengths of Metallica’s previous releases, Death Magnetic, St. Anger and Load, all these push over the 80 minute mark, it was no surprise that it was expected Hardwired… To Self-Destruct to be two discs of this nature. However, the surprise is that each disc hovers around the 40 minute mark with only Halo on Fire pushing over 8 minutes making Hardwired… To Self-Destruct extreme easy to listen to, holding your attention for both discs back to back, quite a feat indeed. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct is a huge surprise, from the most the title track kicks it off, to the closing Damage, Inc. style Spit Out the Bone, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct is a fantastic album. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct floats somewhere between a decent Thrash Metal sound, to a more Metallica inspired Heavy Metal. Several of the songs try to recapture the old magic, Dream No More features the return of Lovecraft’s Cthulu from The Thing That Should Not Be whilst Am I Savage? Continues the werewolf theme from Of Wolf and Man. ManUNkind is a rather odd, but infectious song that may not exactly fit the Metallica cannon, but the almost Black Sabbath type groove gives an insight to what Metallica could’ve sounded like had Pepper Keenan of Down and Corrosion of Conformity joined Metallica instead of Rob Trujillo after the departure of Jason Newstead. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct has been very long in the making, but for the first time since the 90’s, Metallica have finally made an album that they wanted to make without chancing at a different genre or bowing to fan pressure and has possibly been the biggest shock of the year. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct is very good, yes some of the songs aren’t as good as some of the others, Am I Savage? And Murder One are possibly eclipsed by the better songs on the album such as Atlas, Rise! Moth Into Flame and Here Comes Revenge, but Hardwired… To Self-Destruct sounds great and it is good to have Metallica back. 8/10 Adam Hard Wired (Hetfield/Ulrich)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The Home of Heavy Metal Reviews by AdamReviews of Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal and Hard Rock. Archives
December 2016
Categories |