Gotta say, this album has really grown on me. I was unsure at first, but I think this is the most I've enjoyed a Metallica album since 1991.

Am I Savage is a fucking beast of a song.

My top 5 on the album are:

1. Am I Savage

2. Atlas, Rise!

3. Moth Into Flame

4. Dream No More

5. ManUNkind

I have two fairly unpopular opinions about the album. 1. I feel Spit Out The Bone is a tad overrated and 2. I feel the title track is better than its given credit for.

Overall though, their strongest album in years imo.

MattyJam said:

I for one think Spit Out The Bone is an absolute ripper, a classic Metallica album closer thats rips your face off before it ends like the untouchable 80s albums. Funny you mention Am I Savage. Most people that I've seen talk about Hardwired online consider Am I to be one of the weaker tracks. But I stand with you 2, it's probably my favorite off the album as well.. The thing about the new record is that it caters to all the different kinds of Metallica fans out there. It's got the thrash that the stubborn purists who swear by the first 4 'Tallica albums can enjoy. It contains the accessable, big-chorus stuff ala Black Album. Slow and bluesy? Yeah, its got that too for the Load/Reload fans. Something for everyone. That's probably why it's been so well-received if you ask me. I'm not the biggest Black Album fan. Find it to be incredibly overrated, even though there's some undeniably great shit on it. I am, however, a HUGE Death Magnetic fan, and consider it to be the best one since Justice. I dunno man, something about DM just spoke to me. And with that said, I consider DM the superior of the 2 most recent ones. But like DM, Hardwired also suffers from over-indulgence. There's more than 1 track that could use a good edit to trim down some of the unnecessary doodling, and it really suffers in some spots because of it. I can also absolutely do without Now That We're Dead, Confusion, and ManUnkind. They're not bad songs, per se. They just stand out as inferior compared to the strong/stronger/super-strong other tracks. Overall, I was very pleased with it, especially after the 8-year wait. It proved that Metallica could still absolutely bring it if they really wanted to, and that they haven't really lost a step. They just took a couple steps in the wrong direction at times. Better than I expected. Forgive me if this post is classic "tl;dr" material.

dont forget the incredible version of "When a blind man cries"...