Since Metallica's release (deservedly) completely dominated our site, this week's Top 11 couldn't be anything else. Here are 11 interesting facts about this release that definitely marked 2016!
11.
This is Metallica's first studio album to be released on their own label, Blackened Recordings, which they created in 2012 and which acquired the rights to the band's previous albums.
10.
Despite being released as a double CD, “Hardwired… To Self Destruct” is not the longest studio album among Metallica's 10 albums. It is 77:26 long compared to 78:52 for the album “Load,” which was released as a single CD at the time in 1996.
9.
The album's producer, Greg Fidelman, had previously worked with the band on 2008's "Death Magnetic," but only as a sound engineer and mixer. Taking on the role of producer in addition to engineer and mixer was his first experience on a purely Metallica album (he had previously done so on Lou Reed and Metallica's "Lulu" project). He shares production credits on the album with James and Lars.
8.
The new album features the song ManUNkind , which Robert Trujillo co-wrote. Prior to this song, Robert was credited with composing the music for "Death Magnetic" (2008), but not the lyrics.
7.
The album cover generated controversy due to its similarity to the cover of Crowbar's album "Odd Fellows Rest," released in 1998.
6.
In 2014, Kirk Hammett lost his cell phone at Copenhagen airport, which contained nearly 250 ideas for riffs that could have been used on the new album. Because of this, the album doesn't feature any compositions by the guitarist, something that hadn't happened since "Kill 'Em All" in 1983, the year Hammett joined Metallica.
5.
On November 12, 2016, six days before the official release of "Hardwired... To Self Destruct," all 12 songs from the album leaked online in MP3 format. The previous album, "Death Magnetic," had leaked 10 days earlier because a French store started selling it before the official release date. At the time, Lars stated he was happy that the album had leaked only 10 days before its release. The release of "St. Anger" was also brought forward by five days for fear of the album leaking.
4.
The song "Murder One" is a tribute to Lemmy of Motörhead and is named after Lemmy's favorite stage amplifier.
3.
The three singles – Hardwired , Moth Into Flame , and Atlas, Rise! – entered the Billboard Rock charts. This is the first time a band has placed three songs on the charts since 2008, when Metallica themselves achieved the feat with The Day That Never Comes (number 1), Cyanide (number 35), and My Apocalypse (number 40).
2.
With just two days to go before the album's release, Metallica released music videos for all the songs on the new album. In addition to the three singles that already had videos released, the band launched a promotional campaign, releasing a new video every two hours. This resulted in 18 consecutive hours of releases (from 3 PM in Brazil until 9 AM the following day), covering all 12 songs on the album plus the bonus track, " Lords Of Summer ".
1.
It was worth the 8-year wait, the longest between new Metallica albums, because “Hardwired… To Self Destruct” is one of the band's best albums! Secure your physical copy of the album here !
