# Metallica New Album - Hardwired...To Self Destruct"



## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Metallica's new album dropping November 18 this year.
Hardwired - Metallica

They've been plagued by production issues on their last few releases. The snare on St Anger made the whole album unlistenable and it only had a couple of songs I liked. I was kind of excited when Death Magnetic was released until I hit the store to listen to it. Production quality is a big deal for me and the entire album was brick walled so badly, I just couldn't get through it. I don't even know if there are any good songs on it because I've never given it another chance.

Here's the first song released from their new album:





Sounds like a big improvement, though the kick and snare could come down in the mix and I can't say I'm a fan of the kick sound. I was talking about it with my buddy and he joked that they're probably releasing this song so early to get the feedback on the production so they can change the final mix/master as needed before release so they don't have all the same complaints from the last couple of albums. Why else would you release a song 3 months before the album?

I'd be interested in hearing what the rest of the album sounds like.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Everytime they release a "new" album, I just go back to listening to Kill em All. It seems that the best Metallica releases of the past 25 years have been the tribute to Metallica albums.............


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Accept2 said:


> Everytime they release a "new" album, I just go back to listening to Kill em All. It seems that the best Metallica releases of the past 25 years have been the tribute to Metallica albums.............


I was a blindly die hard fan of everything Metallica when I was in high school, but eventually realized I only really liked 1 or 2 songs off each of their earlier albums.

Justice, Black Album, Load/Reload, and S&M are my favorite albums of theirs (Justice the least). S&M made a lot of their older songs more likeable for me. Call of Ktulu, The Thing That Should Not Be, One, and Battery were great with the orchestra.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I'm interested to see how KH sounds playing Greeny


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

That sounds like the Metallica we all love.


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## astyles (Apr 6, 2009)

This sounds promising. As "one of those" who immediately gave up on them once they released the Black album, I've always been hoping they'd someday go back to their roots...


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

1) You guys are delusional.

2) You can't be a die hard fan and then realize you only liked a couple of songs from each old album.

3) this album is gonna be shit 

4) I hope I'm wrong about 3


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

*@adcandour*_ "You can't be a die hard fan and then realize you only liked a couple of songs from each old album._"

Sure you can. The same way anyone can grow up overly obsessed with anything, then eventually grow out of it.

If you feel like reading, here's the full story:
--------Next Line To Skip--------
I had every album, every VHS, posters, shirts, etc. I almost exclusively listened to Metallica all the time (with the exception of some Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament) and emulated my guitar playing after James Hetfield (even singing and playing). There was a time when I could play literally every single song from Kill 'Em All up to Reload. And no, I'm not exaggerating. If that isn't the definition of a die hard fan, I'm not sure what is.

At the end of high school I was having some sort of existential crisis and decided to abandon everything I knew and loved and start over on life. Started listening to and playing as many non-metal styles of music as I could, even if I didn't like it or sucked at it. My college music professor would say that process made my taste more mature and refined. I would just call it becoming less consumed by fandom and trying to discover what I really liked about music (any kind of music). About 5 years after this whole thing, I started re-listening to metal and Metallica in particular. I found myself skipping most of their older songs for one reason or another. As it turned out, I wasn't much of a thrash metal fan any more and I preferred more of their 90's era stuff. 

These days, I rarely listen to metal or Metallica. It's mostly solo guitarists like Andy Timmons, Guthrie Govan, etc. Most of the blues/fusion/rock guitarists they get playing on the JamTrackCentral stuff tickles my fancy. The funny thing? Even though I basically never listen to or play Metallica songs anymore, I can probably still play most of them pretty convincingly. It is just autopilot for my brain. Though my picking hand probably wouldn't be able to keep up these days.
--------Too Long...Didn't Read--------

So yeah, Metallica holds a place dear to me even if I'm not a "fan" anymore. I'll give their new album a shot. If it sucks, oh well. If it's good, cool. I'll buy it and keep listening. Either way, it'll be interesting for me to see what they're doing these days even if it is just for the nostalgia feels.


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## Guest (Aug 19, 2016)

I think I read somewhere that their music started to suck when they sobered up. lol.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

They sober up every 3-5 years


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

Their last great album was 'Justice'. Everything that followed disappointed me. And don't give me any guff about the bass in the mix on Justice, I care about the songs themselves more than the mix.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)




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## Guest (Aug 19, 2016)

Finally had a chance to listen to 'hardwired' .. meh.
Like Scott above, I'm a 'Cliff 'em all' era fan.
Seen him twice prior to his death.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

Sounds a rejected demo from kill em all.

"We're so fucked, shit outta luck
Hard Wired to self-destruct"


I think Kiss writes better lyrics now.

Poor Effort from a once highly creative bunch


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

GuitarsCanada said:


>


Yeah, I was born that year...


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## Xelebes (Mar 9, 2015)

This sounds like it could be their most metal album, or an album where they actually succeed at sounding like metal. Their early albums always had the problem of them sounding like a hard blues band trying to play metal. The competing thrash bands like Anthrax or Slaughter managed to have everything that metal was to be. Of course, having those blues licks down made Metallica super popular.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

laristotle said:


> I think I read somewhere that their music started to suck when they sobered up. lol.


I've been having a very long, ongoing conversation with a friend, and we both agree that bands start to suck when they cut out the drugs and booze.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

laristotle said:


> Finally had a chance to listen to 'hardwired' .. meh.
> Like Scott above, I'm a 'Cliff 'em all' era fan.
> Seen him twice prior to his death.


I didn't care for anything they put out after Cliff died.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Bob Rock killed Metallica, and Pantera made most of the 80s metal bands irrelevant.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)




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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

djmarcelca said:


> Sounds a rejected demo from kill em all.
> 
> "We're so fucked, shit outta luck
> Hard Wired to self-destruct"
> ...


Kiss has never written better anything, Nickelback can sound like Lord Byron next to those goofs. 
This is going to be another incredible album from Metallica that could very well rival Death Magnetic and possibly even, dare I say it, St. Anger.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

vadsy said:


> Kiss has never written better anything, Nickelback can sound like Lord Byron next to those goofs.
> This is going to be another incredible album from Metallica that could very well rival Death Magnetic and possibly even, dare I say it, St. Anger.


Both those albums were horrible as well.

Compared to "Justice" era, this is a very poor effort


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

butterknucket said:


> I've been having a very long, ongoing conversation with a friend, and we both agree that bands start to suck when they cut out the drugs and booze.


With a few exceptions. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan were much better sober.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

cboutilier said:


> With a few exceptions. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan were much better sober.


I dunno. Two of those guys I like drunk or sober. But I gotta be really, really drunk to like the 3rd guy.


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## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

I heard the single the other day on the radio, sounds like the best thing they've done since the 80s. I too was a big fan of the first 5 albums, everything since sucked donkey balls Imo.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

High/Deaf said:


> I dunno. Two of those guys I like drunk or sober. But I gotta be really, really drunk to like the 3rd guy.


Page played like shit on heroin. SRV started making much more musical work in his last few sober years.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I was talking about my sobriety, not theirs.


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