Metallica-Hardwired...To Self Destruct (2016)


Artist: Metallica

Title:Hardwired...To Self Destruct

Label: Blackened

Format: 2XCD

Catalog Number: BLCKND031-2

Year of Release: 2016

Country and Year of Edition: US 2016

Sell Price:$5.69

Sell Date: 7/6/26

Condition: VG+/VG+  

Discogs Last Sold: 6/19/26 M/M $12.00

Low: $0.90 VG+/VG+

Median: $4.99

Average: $6.26

High: $15.00 M/M sealed with hype sticker

Current low price: $1.99 M/M sealed

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 90

Have/Want: 2736/216

Where Sold: Saco, ME

Time It Took To Sell:  3 years

Where and When Bought: Facebook CD $2 lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No 

Solid newer Metallica album, as far as for what they do they are peerless at this point.   There is a little formula creeping in that doesn't matter so much because it is theirs and theirs alone.  My favorites are the openers "Hardwired" and especially "Atlas, Rise!"  There's is a hint of "Blackened" and "Master Of Puppets" in those.

Instead of cramming everything on one CD, we get two shorter CD's that probably get split into a reason: the fit neatly on two LP's. Of course now most people listen to this on streaming and the formatting matters less and less, but this is one of those bands that still moves significant units on all formats.  It went RIAA Gold & Platinum in 2017--disappointing numbers when compared to their commercial peak, but still high in the current era.  As fast as they sold, now this title on double CD can be had for under six bucks on a pretty regular basis only ten years after release.

Some of the woe-is-me crap that the film Some Kind Of Monster shone a light on rears it's head with "Am I Savage?"  I guess as far back as "Fade To Black" there was a little bit of that element, but it's didn't seem as formulaic then since they were still creating the formula that made them Pop stars beyond Thrash Metal or Heavy Metal or AOR Rock.   "Confusion" is the song that borrows tangentially from the long in use Diamond Head-encore cover  "Am I Evil?"  Variations on a theme can still be satisfying.

Still, more often than not the bangers win out.  "Turn To Stone" has that anthemic chug quality. "ManUNKind" has an accompanying video (as does the entire album) that is hilarious.  A black metal band in whiteface mimes the song complete with a wrist slitting singer on stage, a sad faced guitarist performing a dispassionately executed solo and a fat guy in sleeveless denim with a camcorder in the audience.  Of course the song sounds nothing like Black Metal.  "Spit Out The Bone" concludes the whole thing in standard thrash form--think "Murder, Inc." --someone that wasn't me was raving about how they thought that song was so great.

"We're so FUCKED..."

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

...And Justice For All (1988)

Load (1996)

Reload (1997)

St. Anger (2003)

Soundtrack-Spawn (The Album) (1997)

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