Metallica's Hardwired To Blow

To anybody out there who still digs Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" some thirty plus years on the guys have a stellar treat for you. "Hardwired," the title cut from the upcoming project seeks to give fans both longtime and new a dose of the hard, fast elixir that put Metallica on the map way back when. Kirk Hammett continues to deliver riffs that would make the late Cliff Burton smile and flash devil horns in rambunctious glee. Lars Ulrich remains a drum bashing force of nature. Robert Trujillo looms large on the bass side of the spectrum. His contribution can't be overestimated. They supply the extra oomph that allows "Hardwired" to royally come off the spool. And how about James Hetfield. Fifty years plus age bracket and continues to go right for the throat as his lyric performance shall attest. Such a sunny worldview the man possesses. "We're so fucked." "Shit out of luck." Makes you think the apocalypse looms near. His take appears to be that humans are a rather wretched lot (no argument here on occasion) We are, as he scornfully describes it, "Hardwired to self-destruct." Yes, looks like history has born that out a time or three. James ascertains we're on the road to paranoia. Not a nice place to visit when you get down to brass tacks. "Once upon a a planet burning, once upon a flame" sounds downright literary in the grand scheme of things. Who knew James Hetfield was the type to dabble in the classics? "Hardwired" flat out rumbles through time and space like a colossus you can only hope to contain because you won't slow it down. The track's ideal for the monster truck rally portion of the Metallica fan base. NO retreat to be found anywhere, the Metallica way of doing business for as long as us metalheads care to remember. It packs a hefty wallop in just under three minutes, twenty seconds. Behind the gear box sits a macho convergence that accelerates the tune into sixth gear, a level Metallica pretty much invented. They intimidate through death, doom, and other things that comprise the stuff of many a young tot's nightmares. Metallica long since sloughed off the sellout label, and why not. They more than earn their stripes. The video takes on a black and white patina that many can recall taking center stage on the band's "Unforgiven" piece. "Hardwired" stays exclusively in the grind it out performance wheelhouse. Hair goes flying, demonic chords take wing. Metallica plays like their lives are triple-parked outside the recording booth. Strange to me that if ever there was a period in the band's colorful history that would have found them kind of mellow I point to "Nothing Else Matters". "Hardwired" gets about as mellow as a charging rhino. We're dealing with what amounts to a bull roaring through a china shop, its eyes blood red. My verdict? "Hardwired" handily takes us back to Metallica roots and the view from the abyss couldn't be any more intoxicating. "Hardwired" can stand tall among Metallica's hardcore delicacies.