Deaf Opinion: As you already could notice, I’m a huge Metallica fan. And I didn’t want to publish my review of this record for that same reason. I don’t use to be objective when I judge Metallica’s records. But I still want to also spray my word over the thoughts of the last work of the metal band that has sold several tens of million of records all over the world. In fact, I’m sharing with you this personal and strange deaf option fact of mine: I waited 8 years for this release date. When the date of the release of Hardwired… To Self Destruct was announced, the first single, Hardwired was already on Youtube. I love the experience of playing a disc and hear it for the first time from the start to the end. And I have never done this with a Metallica album. So I wanted to proceed and wait until the 18th of November until hearing a single beat of this one. Even if you make your best for ignoring the news, critics, and articles about the teasers of an album. It is really impossible to mute everything out. There were some headlines that I accidentally read… And those headlines gave me the impression that this album will be something similar as Kill ‘Em All.
Song By Song:
1 – Hardwired [5:15]: Kicks you in the head from second 0. Can you be thrashier than this? Was this song made from a 55th-year dudes? I can see a giant guy been wrapped with a huge iron cable. The giant goes bigger but the wire prevents his body of growing. There’s a part where he goes overpressed by the cable and it explodes, right in the end, when the double bass kicks in (to be precise).
2 – Atlas, Rise! [4:02]: I can’t believe this song was only written by James and Lars. I image nothing else but Trujillo surfing in the beach with this song. It doesn’t matter how many times he falls off, he gets up every time because he’s strong. Lots of changes, expected more from Kirk solos on this one.
3 – Now That We Are Death [6:59]: Does it really necessary for me to leave a review of this track? This song speaks for itself. There’s a cemetery, where the dead came to life when this one is on. After the first minute, you see a hand of a reborn coming out of the ground. It is a matter of minutes and there are more than 100. Imagine the video of Michael Jackie Thriller, but in this case, the skeletons aren’t dancing. By the time of the solo a huge cloud release water for rejuvenating the deaths bodies. They have skin now :O
4 – Month Into Fame [5:51]: Ride The Lightning? Oh no no. This is, in fact, a song of a mechanic. You can hear the fire when he is welding. Love this song since the first.
5 – Am I Savage [6:30]: I can’t say I loved this one. It starts and you’re pulling your head out of the water again and again.
6 – Halo On Fire [4:07]: There is fire everywhere, but it is a friendly fire, it won’t hurt you, it is blue. In the chorus, the fire goes higher, but don’t be afraid. A lot of things are going on there but hear this thing: by the minute 5:50 a huge tube is throwing sand at your face, then the snare sound represent a big basket of cold water that clean your face up. You now see the Sun, it has never been clearer. After that, you are moving your head and just… enjoying the music.
7 – Confusion [6:41]: No no, it is not I Am Evil’s intro. The simple story of Mike, who recently went to war for serving his country while giving away the assurance of returning home alive. He returned home alive, but with some “scars”. He was sent home because a major incident left him without a neck. He now has a spring in stead. You can hear when he gets mad the spring bounces, right before the chorus.
8 – Dream No More [6:30]: Just.. heavy punching. Simple, yes, but works. Hetfield came up with a riff as fat as simple that will hypnotize you instantly.
9 – ManUnKind [6:56]: This is absolutely not my favorite track of the album. Gorgeous bass in the beginning. They went so experimental in this one that they didn’t use their faces for the video, it feels like another band was in the studio. If you listen to it a few times you might find it to be a bit catchy at some point. Cool vocals though!
10 – Here Comes Revenge [7:18]: You’re in the woods running. You’re seeking the responsibility of taking your mother’s life. You move fast, but that doesn’t stop the bugs moving towards your face. You find the sinner, he’s right in front of you. The words you have to tell are very few, but the episode has more fists than letters. You have found your revenge but not your mom.
11 – Murder One [5:45]: I found this “experiment” far better. Murder One is a tribute to Motörhead’s frontman Lemmy. You can find him all over the song. He is in a big chair caressing a cat while reading a book.
12 – Spit Out The Bone [7:09]: Imagine a big bowl of ice cream, cookies and chocolate syrup (put some Nutella on it also). This song is to my ears as that dessert is for my taste buds. There are a lot of things going on in this song, to much that you’ll have to focus to keep on track. The penultimate guitar solo is one of my favorites from this album. It seems like Kirk were speaking. Of course, I have noticed that Robert’s bass guitar was rusty, you can hear it before the 3rd minute. Sounds just beautiful. Then laser pistols are used.
The Good: The multi Grammy winner metal band have shown us that they can make new songs with heavy stuff, heavy like Disposable Heroes’s heavy. And they also delivered us melodic material similar to more recent albums. I have loved this record. It represents to me all the stages of this band. They have combined the metal up your ass style with their cowboy style showed in Load and Reload. If you like these stages I don’t think there is a chance you’ll dislike this record.
The Bad: I have always liked the instrumental songs of this band. It’s such a shame the lack of it on this album. It is silly, but I don’t like the amount of publicity they have used for this album. Metallica released 3 singles before the 18th of November (the day that the album hit the record stores). And not only that! All the songs were on YouTube one day before you could get a physical copy of the record. I prefer having some intrigue before buying a record. If you know what you get, what is the surprise? And there is another thing I don’t like… Why I mean why?! Why they made a different order of the tracks between the digital and the analog version? They interchanged the position of “I Am Savage” with “Dream No More” I have tried to find the reason of this, but I just can’t see it. The order of the songs MATTERS! I dislike this decision and it makes me a bit angry. You just don’t listen to an album on shuffle.
My Personal 3 Favourite Songs:
- Now That We Are Death
- Halo On Fire
- Spit Out The Bone