Hardwired... To Self-Destruct Review

It may have taken eight years, but finally, the world has a new Metallica album again.  Hardwired... To Self-Destruct sees the band continue to indulge their thrash heritage that they returned to on Death Magnetic; and while the mixing is, thankfully, less abrasive this time around, Hardwired feels less like an album and more like a really well put together mix-tape.

Starting with the landmark Master of Puppets, each Metallica album, including St. Anger, had a central purpose, a core idea or attitude that the band explored or played around with. Hardwired doesn't achieve that level of cohesion, the album is split into two separate six song sets that don't feel related to or gel together at all, and, also, the theme of addictive self-destructive behavior is a road so well traveled by Metallica that nothing here feels new, exactly.  Almost every song on this album sounds like it would be a really strong track three or six from their Ride the Lighting to ...And Justice for All prime in the 80's, but on their own, they have a hard time carrying the weight of an entire album.

That isn't to say the songs are bad.  Individually, the songs on the album are the some of the most solid and consistent the band as ever put together; "Atlas, Rise!" is the most Maideny twin guitar harmony song the band has done in a good long while, "Am I Savage?" shows the band learned a lot of lessons about slithery guitar riffs from their much maligned Load and Reload period and continues to put those lessons to good use.  The album's closer, "Spit Out The Bone" is an instant classic, it's easily one of the most ferocious songs the band has ever done, that they can still produce something that's as ambitious as the things they did in their prime is testament enough that the band isn't just coasting along or plodding through old glories without the old enthusiasm.  It's just that, well... it takes a long time for the album to get to that point, and by then, even a song as awesome as "Spit Out The Bone" can't inject everything that came before it with that same kind of life or energy.

So while I'm disappointed that the album feels less like something made to listen to all the way through and more like "Hey, here's a bunch of songs that will be good for a Spotify playlist," it's still good to have music made by a classic band still pushing and reaching for something new and different, even if they don't quite get there.

Grade: B