The Metallica Thread v. Reloaded

[mikeyd23]

Stylistically this is a crapload better than Hardwired, not balls to the wall thrash, some vocal harmonies in the pre-chorus, and Kirk's soloing is greatly improved since DM. I also love the production. No complaints there.
But again, the song is quite forgettable (but again, better than Hardwired). Has Hetfield forgotten how to write a vocal melody? The verses are identical to Hardwired, basically the same notes repeatedly. You can sing a metal song without sticking to the root note! At 6 minutes long, it didn't feel drawn out, it felt justified, pretty straight up structure, more like TBA, which I liked. And I'm glad there will be vocal harmonies, because DM was severely lacking there.

I'm losing faith they can even write songs as strong as DM any more, but given the better style and production here, I hope they can manage something I really enjoy on the album.

Good post Blob. Exactly this. I agree on all points.

Production is definitely better, vocal harmonies are great to hear. I'm still waiting to be impressed by the songwriting. I agree the structure was cool, but the melody could have been better. The first phrase of the verse melody caught my ear, it had hooky potential, but then never really went anywhere.

[Peace and Love]

Fucking awesome song!!

I love the chorus melody "Sold your soul..." - that part., love the guitar solo, love the production.

I am a very happy Metallica fan 

[Luoto]

Now that song is much better. Modern Metallica is best at catchy heavy metal with bursts of speed thrown in, moreso than wannabe thrash like Hardwired. The chorus is a fitting throw-off from what James has usually done; Kirk's solo wasn't that great though.

Has Hetfield forgotten how to write a vocal melody? The verses are identical to Hardwired, basically the same notes repeatedly. You can sing a metal song without sticking to the root note!

Vocal line doesn't have to have a lot of pitch variation to be catchy, and verses here are a good example. It has a solid groove!

[Train of Naught]

Hardwired is still terrible as fuck but this one is actually pretty good! Has some cool DM-esque grooves.

I wouldn't say this is better than anything on DM apart from My Apocalypse, but I would still be very happy if this album was almost as good as DM.

[Kotowboy]

Moth Into Flame will be more representative of the album since Hardwired was written and recorded within a week simply to have a short fast aggressive song kick off the album.

They've been working on the remaining 11 songs for two years plus.

[Kotowboy]

Hardwired is still terrible as fuck but this one is actually pretty good! Has some cool DM-esque grooves.

I wouldn't say this is better than anything on DM apart from My Apocalypse, but I would still be very happy if this album was almost as good as DM.

If Hardwired To Self Destruct is AS good as Death Magnetic with great production and vocal harmonies and composed solos - we'll have a winner.

[Onno]

Haven't even finished listening to the song yet, but the first thing I noticed was the similarity between the first part of the verses and the slow part of The Four Horsemen.

[BlobVanDam]

Has Hetfield forgotten how to write a vocal melody? The verses are identical to Hardwired, basically the same notes repeatedly. You can sing a metal song without sticking to the root note!

Vocal line doesn't have to have a lot of pitch variation to be catchy, and verses here are a good example. It has a solid groove!

There are only so many times you can do the exact same thing without it sounding generic and indistinct, which is the case with both new songs. Thrash E string, grunt out E over the top. For a band of 30+ years, I expect a lot more effort and ability than that. Why did it take them 8 years to write this? It sounds so phoned in.

[Luoto]

There are only so many times you can do the exact same thing without it sounding generic and indistinct, which is the case with both new songs. Thrash E string, grunt out E over the top. For a band of 30+ years, I expect a lot more effort and ability than that.

I agree about it being pretty generic, but I don't really expect Metallica to make anything truly great anymore with all their millions. That song is 7/10 at best, an enjoyable listen but can't keep it on repeat by any means.

[Peace and Love]

Why did it take them 8 years to write this? It sounds so phoned in.

It didn't.

They didn't start working on this the second DM was released. They toured for 2 years, made a movie, a music festival, and then worked on this.

[Kotowboy]

There's no pleasing some people.

[BlobVanDam]

Why did it take them 8 years to write this? It sounds so phoned in.

It didn't.

They didn't start working on this the second DM was released. They toured for 2 years, made a movie, a music festival, and then worked on this.

Yeah sorry, I didn't mean 8 years of writing it, I just meant it's been 8 years since DM, and in that time, this is the best they managed to do. At any rate, it's an incredibly weak effort imo.

There's no pleasing some people.

And some people are apparently too easy to please!

[Peace and Love]

At any rate, it's an incredibly weak effort imo.

I know there's no accounting for taste, but...

Seriously. I just finished my sixth listen and I am enjoying this song so much. I love the last chorus, the outro, the harmonies.

By no means is this incredibly weak. Incredibly weak would have been if they released Invisible Kid or The View from Lulu.

[Kotowboy]

And some people are apparently too easy to please!

God forbid I like the new song from one of my favourite bands.

Well Metallica it's a killer track, I grant you. There's vocal harmonies which were sorely missing on the last album. The production is great. Finally. Well done there. The solos sound composed

which is a huge step up from the last one. The structure is nice and doesn't sound as copy and paste as the last one either.

BUT THE VERSE MELODY COULD BE BETTER 0/100 FUCK YOU TRY AGAIN

[BlobVanDam]

And some people are apparently too easy to please!

God forbid I like the new song from one of my favourite bands.

Well Metallica it's a killer track, I grant you. There's vocal harmonies which were sorely missing on the last album. The production is great. Finally. Well done there. The solos sound composed

which is a huge step up from the last one. The structure is nice and doesn't sound as copy and paste as the last one either.

BUT THE VERSE MELODY COULD BE BETTER 0/100 FUCK YOU TRY AGAIN

 
I don't like something as much as you. Not the end of the world! I commented on those same things earlier as being great attributes of this song, and overall this is in the direction I wanted them to go after DM, I just don't think the songwriting itself is particularly strong.
I didn't say the song was bad, because I don't think it is at all, I think it's weak and forgettable. Much like Hardwired, after multiple listens, I can't recall a thing about it. No catchy riffs or melodies to me. My opinion of the song does not impact your ability to enjoy it in any way though, so carry on.

[Kotowboy]

I dunno. I guess i'm a little over excited by it

I'm not sure what more you could want from a new Metallica song. It's got everything imo. It's catchy as fuck.

With this production and vocal harmonies and composed solos and songs at least as good as this - it could be their best album in 25 years.   

Easily better than the last 3.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Hell yeah, fuckin awesome song!!!

For modern day Metallica, this is as good as it can get. I'm more than satisfied

[Kotowboy]

Hell yeah, fuckin awesome song!!!

For modern day Metallica, this is as good as it can get. I'm more than satisfied

Me too I love it to bits.

[mikeyd23]

Het's vocals sound soooo much better. That's one big check mark checked for the new album.

[Zydar]

Nice, I like it

[BlobVanDam]

I dunno. I guess i'm a little over excited by it

I'm not sure what more you could want from a new Metallica song. It's got everything imo. It's catchy as fuck.

I don't judge music as a checklist of attributes, otherwise it would pass easily here. I love the direction. I judge based on songwriting, which I don't find catchy in the slightest. As I said, the vocal melody is largely repeating the same note over (just like Hardwired did), over a riff of mostly thrashing E. That's not catchy to me. Even the early thrash stuff where Hetfield's voice was at its most unrefined has a lot more melody than this, not to mention the classic riffage. I'm glad you like it. I wish I could be excited by something Metallica does in 2016.

[Kotowboy]

Het's vocals sound soooo much better. That's one big check mark checked for the new album.

The sad thing is - someone isolated his vocal track for Cyanide and he had loads of grit and anger on it - but DM's horrible production means it was entirely lost.

[mikeyd23]

Het's vocals sound soooo much better. That's one big check mark checked for the new album.

The sad thing is - someone isolated his vocal track for Cyanide and he had loads of grit and anger on it - but DM's horrible production means it was entirely lost.

Absolutely, I blame most of the difference between this new stuff and DM stuff on the production. Little harmony and reverb go a long way, huh?

[Kotowboy]

Het's vocals sound soooo much better. That's one big check mark checked for the new album.

The sad thing is - someone isolated his vocal track for Cyanide and he had loads of grit and anger on it - but DM's horrible production means it was entirely lost.

Absolutely, I blame most of the difference between this new stuff and DM stuff on the production. Little harmony and reverb go a long way, huh?

That's the difference between a good producer and Rick RUIN.

[mikeyd23]

I don't judge music as a checklist of attributes, otherwise it would pass easily here. I love the direction. I judge based on songwriting, which I don't find catchy in the slightest. As I said, the vocal melody is largely repeating the same note over (just like Hardwired did), over a riff of mostly thrashing E. That's not catchy to me. Even the early thrash stuff where Hetfield's voice was at its most unrefined has a lot more melody than this, not to mention the classic riffage. I'm glad you like it. I wish I could be excited by something Metallica does in 2016.

Generally speaking, I pretty much agree with your assessment of the song, if you judge it against the stuff they did in their prime, it's not very good. My frame of reference was DM. So I automatically compared this new track in my mind to DM, so for me the impression was better.

[Kotowboy]

Production wise at least - this is how Death Magnetic should have sounded all along.

[BlobVanDam]

I don't judge music as a checklist of attributes, otherwise it would pass easily here. I love the direction. I judge based on songwriting, which I don't find catchy in the slightest. As I said, the vocal melody is largely repeating the same note over (just like Hardwired did), over a riff of mostly thrashing E. That's not catchy to me. Even the early thrash stuff where Hetfield's voice was at its most unrefined has a lot more melody than this, not to mention the classic riffage. I'm glad you like it. I wish I could be excited by something Metallica does in 2016.

Generally speaking, I pretty much agree with your assessment of the song, if you judge it against the stuff they did in their prime, it's not very good. My frame of reference was DM. So I automatically compared this new track in my mind to DM, so for me the impression was better.

In many ways I much prefer this to what they did with DM, so it is a fairer comparison. Despite my criticism of DM however, I actually enjoy it overall and think it's a solid album. The funny thing is, so far the new album has rectified all of my major criticisms of DM, so it's unfortunate the two songs released haven't hooked me yet.

[Luoto]

Production wise at least - this is how Death Magnetic should have sounded all along.

I think it still sounds a bit flat, even if it's better than DM. Rhythm guitars could have a bit more meat and the bass is non-existent. There's potential for the mix to sound a lot better.

[Kotowboy]

Non existant bass ? I'm not sure what you're listening to it on...

[Mladen]

This one is decent. Nothing impressive, but fine. It makes me glad Hardwired came out earlier and got me excited - had this one come out first, it wouldn't have had the same impact.

[Adami]

I liked it.

Not a classic, but enjoyable, which I can't say about anything Metallica has done since S&M.

[Kotowboy]

I liked it.

Not a classic, but enjoyable, which I can't say about anything Metallica has done since S&M.

Mmm. This is probably the most i've enjoyed a brand new Metallica song since Fuel.

The Day That Never Comes didn't really blow me away.

[pogoowner]

It's definitely better than the last song. I agree with Blob that the vocal melody is severely lacking in the verse again. I hope James does a lot more than that on the rest of the album, or it's going to be real slog to get through the whole thing. Same with chugging on the E string. But overall, not bad.

[axeman90210]

Metallica is doing a club show at Webster Hall in NYC tomorrow.  That would be amazing to see.

Yeah, I may try to find a ticket on CL or something.


New song seems decent enough.

[adace]

Pretty decent song. Like it better than the first single.