Review Summary: If “Death Magnetic” proved that Metallica could still write songs, “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” proves that they can still have fun doing it.
To start off, I’d like to make it clear that I was in the camp of Metallica fans who actually REALLY liked
Death Magnetic. Terrible production aside, that album showed a pretty well complete return to form for the band’s songwriting, with all of the progressive tendencies that we grew to love in
…And Justice for All and the great heaviness and punch that
The Black Album had in its best moments. Metallica approached that album with something to prove, and they crafted it to mimic the structure and dynamics of their classic albums. The fast opener with the slow introduction was there, the 4th-track-that-starts-off-as a-ballad-but-then-gets faster-at-the-end was there, the long, epic instrumental track was there, and the breakneck closer was absolutely there: all elements that made Metallica’s classic albums so successful, and that the band undoubtedly knew would make their 2008 album really work. So they stuck all these constants back into the formula and came out with what was easily their best album since
The Black Album, and possibly (from a songwriting standpoint) their best album since
…And Justice for All. And now, 8 years later, they’ve released
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, and I’m sure most fans who haven’t yet heard the record have two questions on their minds: what kind of album is this exactly, and how does it compare to
Death Magnetic?
Well, I’ll answer that latter question first because the answer is a bit simpler: personally, I don’t think
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct is as good as
Death Magnetic, though the two are extremely close, and that in no way implies that this album is bad. It’s a less structured album than
Death Magnetic; while that album had a very clear beginning, middle, and end, punctuated by the classic Metallica song structures that gave shape to their golden-era albums,
Hardwired is built a bit more loosely, which results in a more casual, less purposeful feel for the record. It feels a bit like a live concert in that sense; the band plays a bunch of songs, and they’re all great songs, but they don’t feel like they come together into a single cohesive unit, which
Death Magnetic definitely did. The other reason why I generally prefer
Death Magnetic to
Hardwired is the stylistic unevenness of the latter. There are four thrashier songs on the album: “Hardwired”, “Atlas, Rise!”, “Moth Into Flame”, and “Spit Out the Bone”. Three out of these four songs are in the first four tracks of the album, and “Spit Out the Bone” is saved for last, leaving a clear row of seven midtempo songs in the middle. Needless to say, while I do truly believe that every song on this album is great, so many songs in a row of a similar tempo does start to drag, and holds the album’s overall quality back a bit. Simply distributing the faster songs more evenly in the album’s tracklisting would have been a quick and easy fix for this problem.
Most of
Hardwired’s strength comes from a simple place: the album’s consistently great ability to rock straightforwardly and rock hard. The production, while not exactly great, is miles ahead of
Death Magnetic’s, and the guitar and drums have a constant punch that drives the album forward even in its weaker midsection. Metallica haven’t managed to achieve this level of simple, hard-rocking appeal since
The Black Album, and I think that’s a big part of the reason why this album is being heralded as the band’s best since that album. Hetfield’s vocals sound as great as they’ve sounded in a long time, and the band is as tight and professional as they’ve ever been. There are only two real concerns I have regarding the band’s actual musicianship: firstly, the poor quality of Hammett’s solos, which were allegedly all improvised on the spot (resulting in some noodly blues licks that really go nowhere at all); secondly, the lack of bass presence, which is admittedly nothing new to a Metallica album in 2016. Rob Trujillo is a fantastic bass player and he deserves better representation on an otherwise very solid album.
I don’t think I’ve managed to stress quite enough just how good the songs on
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct are. Aside from some somewhat cringe-worthy lyrics on some of the songs (I’m looking at you, “Am I Savage?” and “Now That We’re Dead”), Metallica completely demonstrate their ability to write hard-rocking and dynamic songs. The first disc is especially strong, With the thrashy “Hardwired”, “Atlas, Rise!” and “Moth Into Flame” contrasting beautifully with the slower and more brooding “Now That We’re Dead”, “Dream No More” and “Halo On Fire”. The second disc blends together a bit more, but every song is still perfectly enjoyable, and I’m not sure any fan of Metallica could hear the wonderfully thrashy “Spit Out the Bone” kick in and not get a huge smile on their face. The bottom line of
Hardwired…To Self Destruct is that Metallica don’t have anything to prove anymore: with
Death Magnetic, they showed that they could make an intelligent, consistent, well-constructed album, and with this album they’ve shown that they can afford to let their hair down, have some fun and still make a highly enjoyable and consistent album. Now, all they need to do is collaborate with a great producer next time, and they could easily make a wonderful late-career masterwork. That probably won’t happen, though.
