See the statement.
In an interview with the official fan club, Metallica answered several questions about their new album, "Hardwired... To Self Destruct." James Hetfield spoke about the album's lyrics:
"Hardwired is very simple, it's not Shakespeare, I know that. But man, are humans doing the right thing? I know. And in the history of time, we are nothing. And are we going to disappear? Are we disappearing through electronics? Is that what we are becoming? Are we going to destroy ourselves with our egos and all the things that make us human?"
The entire phrase “hardwired to self-destruct” came from a friend of mine who was venting like an addict in treatment. Is that how it will be for us? Is that our default, just to die? Sooner than we should. To end, to destroy our lives. Are we programmed to self-destruct? And that got to me.
"Moth Into Flame" is pretty literal. These days everyone's obsessed with being famous. Being popular. Whether it's on Facebook or just walking down the street, you see people taking selfies of themselves while walking down the street. Like, what? What are you doing?"
