Metallica ARE...Hardwired…To Self-Destruct

i like this!

wow yeah that's killer

bit of a Ride The Lightning-era throwback

gripe: they just had to put in that chain wallet-octane-rawk melodic chorus

praise: not embarrassing or anything

A few thoughts after one listen:

1) It sounds very much like 2 or 3 different Death Magnetic songs. Since I like that album a lot, and listen to it all the time, this makes me happy.
2) The first song released was 3 minutes long - this one is 6 minutes long. There must be a few really long ones on the album to make it even remotely necessary to split it across 2 CDs. I'm looking forward to finding out.
3) Lars Ulrich - current titleholder for Best Drum Faces? I think maybe.

kinda says smth about current music industry that this is the promo video the world's biggest metal act can afford?

nice song

I like this so much better than the first track. Its a damn song. It has a catchy hook! It doesnt try to recreate their past.

Like it

I like it, very Baroness/Mastodonish I think.

Another new song out today - "Atlas, Rise!" They all look really old in the video (except for Trujillo), and it's kinda hilarious, especially Lars's skullet. But the song fucking rips, so whatever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFAcOnhcpGA

the chorus is actually pretty great and doesn't feel like a retread of anything else they've done...best song so far, but i have reasonably high hopes for this album

also like the iron maiden harmony lead break around the 4:30 mark

Wait, how can they be playing and listening to themselves playing at the same time!? Rigged!

Also, do they rehearse in a Guitar Center?

Can't wait until they look truly ancient.

this is kinda more how I saw Metallica aging in an alternate reality world where they never went the TBA/Load route. the songs aren't really as progressive, the album less impactful in terms of metal's narrative, but high quality music.

can't help but feel James' cords are the only thing that holds this back. this is fucking INSPIRED. I mean, hats off to them for trying to branch out on Death Magnetic, but it was missing hooks, and they're all over here.

Also, do they rehearse in a Guitar Center?

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, October 31, 2016 2:51 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

since st anger i think they like to rent out a big space and set up a studio in it

No, man, they rehearse in Guitar Hero.

this also gives credence to what me and others likely meant when people were asking after Death Magnetic "well they're metal again now, wtf do you want, Master of Puppets 6?". Obviously this is a form of bay area thrash that isn't *that* far removed from what they did there, but they're not trying to recreate or plagiarize those works. they're just creating metal that works now.

my issue with DM was always that it felt so plodding to me at times, in a way their earlier, more adventurous material didn't (until some of the worst moments on AJFA). now I'm actually kind of more excited to hear some of their more adventurous stuff on this new alb too, if it sounds like they've regained their ear for catchy riffs and songs.

They certainly do!

https://youtu.be/LnnEPD6pg7A

(x-post)

the iron maiden harmony lead break around the 4:30 mark

The first chorus, at 1:30, feels Maiden-ish to me, too.

when did lars turn into richard simmons?

lars died in the bus crash that killed cliff burton
he was in the afterlife for 3:27 before he was revived
during that time richard simmon's soul transmigrated into his body

Funny you never see Richard Simmons and Lars doing lines of blow at the same time

dylan wrote a song about this

i like the nods to earlier styles. the intro is Dyers Eve-esque, and Lars is at his best when he's unexpectedly throwing fills into the middle of a phrase for no reason (seriously).

second listen and I like this even more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxFFAx3H9NU
^^was this posted? they're in good shape!

Also, do they rehearse in a Guitar Center?

most of that video looks to have been recorded in the same place they recorded the live dvd that came with st. anger.
the same fan made flags etc.
i believe its their own rehearsal space/studio.
there is also reference to the place in the new mojo interview with lars.

:D

Kirk channeling 90s Bob Geldof in the Stern performance.
All signs point to a good album, fingers crossed!

whoa i loooove the new song

All signs point to a good album

Except for the length...

http://i.imgur.com/oXEZiCz.gif

Such a strange feeling to be anticipating a Metallica album.

is kirk stealing hair from lars?

are their heads slightly enlarged in this photo? or is it just the angle?

https://up-1.cdn-fullscreendirect.com/production/photos/7549/original/20160818_193900_7549_939482.jpeg

i can't stop looking at it. lars in particular.

super-wide lens has distorted the perspective, making their heads look fuckin weird and their bodies oddly truncated

also looks like they were shot separately at slightly different angles and composited together, which increases the uncanniness

lars looks like a foreshortened jack kirby drawing

Yeah, it's very phonied-up on purpose. I would say a) extreme angle and super-wide lens; b) heads probably slightly enlarged in Photoshop; c) individual shots composited together. And all those things were done in a deliberately crude manner.

it looks like they were going for the cartoonishly large head effect but didn't go all the way with it.
or, that at one point they had a photo sesh with the boys but all that really came out clearly were the heads, so later on they hired some body doubles to pose and then stuck the shots of the old heads on top.

That got me thinking about whether a Metallica Funko POP toy existed. Doesn't seem to, but I found this:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0552/1401/files/Metallica-Wampa_large.jpg?4264

not to harp on kirk's brave battle with male pattern baldness or anything but he looks noticeably more hirsute in the stern video than he does holding that action figure

are their heads slightly enlarged in this photo? or is it just the angle?

It's the Metallica edition of old-skool Nickelodeon show Weinerville.

I don't think Lars is a total shit drummer, but he always seems to be trying so hard, kind of like Joey Fatone or Lance Bass struggling to remember the moves in an N*Sync routine.

I don't think Lars is a total shit drummer, but he always seems to be trying so hard, kind of like Joey Fatone or Lance Bass struggling to remember the moves in an N*Sync routine.

I don't play the drums, but I am totally willing to accept that Metallica songs are difficult to play. That said, live he always seems to be having a blast.

why do his bass drum hits always have this dry, trebley "tk" to them? at least since ...and justice

His face always seems to be doing twice the work of his arms and feet.

There are technically better drummers in metal than Lars Ulrich and on the classic albums there's a lot of knitting together of takes and overdubbing... BUT, it's always been fun to watch drummers attempting to play 'Dyer's Eve' as it is on the album, which apparently is the hardest song to play drum-wise in the Metallica catalogue.

As for Lars' drum sound, at least on the studio albums it's down to whoever is engineering/producing as much as Lars himself.

okay listening on spotify now and woof man this sounds like compressed ass
but to be expected i guess

why do his bass drum hits always have this dry, trebley "tk" to them? at least since ...and justice

this is the production style for most metal these days, right? got to cut through those guitars, and make sure people hear every double-kick hit that you painstakingly played/triggered/programmed.

what made Lars great is his parts and choices imo, more the creative aspect and how his parts worked with the arrangement than the physical. he was my Ringo basically.

(and a good role model for a not-technically-blessed drummer like myself)

probably one of the worst ones in the history of rock music.

ahem

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Iron_Maiden-Dance_of_Death.jpg

now that we're dead my dee-uhhhhh

first disc of this kicks ass top to bottom

idk why I'm putting this here but anyway I'm watching Through the Never now because I'm off of work tomorrow and this is basically just a concert video with a silly subplot with Dane Dehaan tacked in.

like Metallica didn't think people would pack movie theaters to listen to their shit on its own merits, but like all they do is play music for 20 minutes and every so often you see Dane DeHaan's boss say something like "ok I need you to drive 713 blocks to get a ham sandwich with this obscure mustard for the boys do it or you're fired".

oh shit then DeHaan gets into the fakest looking car wreck I've ever seen omg lol. van rolls with no seatbelt on and then Metallica inexplicably goes into "Ride the Lightning"

James gets really angry at a malfunctioning microphone and throws it over. random roadie gets a dramatic cameo with a look of consternation.

van rolls with no seatbelt on

That hits a little too close to home!

haha!

James gets really angry at a malfunctioning microphone and throws it over. random roadie gets a dramatic cameo with a look of consternation.

they actually kept this malfunction for the audio release version.
it pisses me off each time i listen to the album.
maybe if i watch the film then maybe i will appreciate this key part of the storyline more ?

James should have gotten an oscar, total gravitas with that microphone