Hardwired…To Self-Destruct
File this under Perfect Skateboarding Music. Anchored by James Hetfield’s unctuous roar, songs like “Hardwired,” “Moth Into Flame,” and “Atlas, Rise” are no-frills, hard-charging thrash that knocks over everything in its path. The furious pace comes to a simmer on the nuanced “Dream No More” and “Here Comes Revenge,” both worthy of stadium anthem status. But the prevailing mood is downcast. *Hardwired… To Self-Destruct* is hard music for hard times, an amplified reaction to—and reflection of—an inhumane society.
Like Death Magnetic, Metallica’s latest is an attempt to revisit their early days. The only difference is that this time they sound like they’re actually trying, and maybe even having a bit of fun.
When a band releases a record that’s poorly received, it’s common for them to see it as a reason to revert. Those return-to-form albums may revisit the sound of a bygone era, but rarely, if ever, do they capture the spirit so crucial to their creation. That was the case for Metallica’s 2008 album, Death Magnetic. As a…
The long-awaited Metallica record is heavier then hell. Metallica's 'Hardwired... To Self Destruct' reviewed by the NME team.
For a band who once seemed dead set on evolving with each album, Hardwired... is something of a mystery.
When Metallica released the Black Album back in 1991 they were already considered by some (many?) to be well past their prime.
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After 2003's St. Anger, the bar was set fairly low for Metallica to write and record a full-length that would top it, and they handily succe...
At last, the longest wait between Metallica albums is over (discounting ‘Lulu’, obviously). At just under 80 minutes, ‘Hardwired…
The old-school thrashers have been mighty kind to us this year. 2016 has been a thirty-year throwback with fast and refined albums by MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, DESTRUCTION, SODOM, TESTAMENT and now METALLICA — with KREATOR and OVERKILL (two of the most reliable speedsters still playing today) coming 'round...
Tom Wakenell reviews the new album from heavy metal titans Metallica. Read his review of Hardwired... To Self-Destruct here on Distorted Sound!
The peaks and troughs of Metallica’s career are well-documented, and its present-day status as the dads of thrash metal is at once a limiting lens through which to view its legacy and perhaps the best that it can hope for given its long road back into fans’ good graces.
Metallica - Hardwired... to Self-Destruct review: Metallica stop trying to please everyone else, and release an album that embodies where they're at in their lives.
Eight years since the last Metallica studio album, the timing seems fortuitous for the return of America’s heaviest, hardest and most apocalyptic metal band.