Album Review: Metallica - Hardwired... To Self Destruct

I don't think it is a stretch to say that Metallica has not faired well in recent years. Love it or hate it, you can not deny that St. Anger was much different from their earlier works. After that, it was almost as if Metallica was dead to some fans, although to some Metallica "sold out" with Ride the Lighting, but even then how many of you have heard Death Magnetic? So with all that taken into consideration, and a whole lot more, I find it interesting that there was some excitement for their newest album. This was the band that turned off the bass in ...And Justice for All, the band that went after Napster and the band that nearly broke apart with feuding, but then again, this is the band that defined what Thrash Metal was, rocked on every single continent, and made some of the greatest songs of all time, not just in the Heavy Metal genre. An entire list of the best Metallica songs would take several difficult choices. That is why I find the hype for this album interesting, but even still fans are split on the album, so is it good or is it hardwired to suck?

I'll admit, I myself was a tough into the hype with this album, and I was quite excited to listen to it, and apparently the rest of the world was too because it topped twenty-five separate charts including the Billboard 200, and charts in other countries like Greece, Canada, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Argentina, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea, and it peaked at number 2 in five other countries including Brazil, Hungary and the UK, and peaked at it's lowest in Italy and Number 4, and it has been certified 2x Platinum in Poland, Platinum in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Greece and Hungary, 3x Gold in Germany, and Gold in Italy, New Zealand, and the UK, and this is a recent album, as in 2016 recent and it has all of that behind it.

The album does open strongly with "Hardwired", although personally I think it sounds more suited to be a Megadeth song. The album didn't really pick up until the fourth track "Moth Into Flame", which has some hints of classic Metallica in the riff, especially from Master of Puppets, although there is also a bit of Ride the Lighting and even The Black Album in there. The following track "Dream no More" is also one of the better songs on the album, I find that I could get into the groove of that song more than other songs.

Despite this, there are plenty of songs that don't really demand ones attention, or at least not mine, songs like "Halo on Fire" sounds more at home in the song line-up for an 80's Hair Band, and "ManUNkind" is definitely more melodic, but that is really all the song has. Other songs like "Confusion" and "Here Comes Revenge" are good, but don't really offer a whole lot, there really is not a whole lot to comment on those songs, although maybe they just need time to grow on me.

The album doesn't pick up again until the final two tracks, "Murder One" and "Spit Out the Bone" which have some great instrumental work. These two songs keep me bobbing my head in rhythm and are some of the better songs on the album because of it.

Overall, there is not a lot to this album, although there are good songs like "Atlas, Rise", there are very few songs that are better than "Great", which coming from any other band would make a good album, but this is Metallica. Even though I heard this album on it's own, I can't help but compare this to some of the other songs that Metallica recorded like "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "One", and even "Enter Sandman". Taking away that element though, a few of the songs kind of blended together in my own head. However, there is still some stuff to recommend here for Metallica fans as there are flavours of classic Metallica sprinkled within this album.

The best way I can describe it is, you have a plate of mashed potatoes, a regular plate of mashed potatoes, but added within that pile of potatoes are spices you like, but not enough to make you want to eat that plate of mashed potatoes regularly. I can't say it's not worth buying or even listening to, but I also can't say that I'll be listening to the album as a whole to often.

I think a 6/10 is a fair enough rating for this album, which is kind of sad for Metallica. To give you some perspective, I gave the 2016 Babymetal release Metal Resistance a 7.5 and it had similar issues.

I'm the Entity of Darkness and now I'm going to prepare for the upcoming battle I got myself into for giving Babymetal a higher rating than Metallica.