Metallica
Hardwired...To Self-Destruct

Listening notes

Metallica's *Hardwired...To Self-Destruct*, released in 2016 on the band's own Blackened label, arrived as a double LP spanning four sides of vinyl. The catalog number BLCKND031-1I places it within Blackened's own release catalog, reflecting the band's continued operation of their independent imprint. The album falls under the genres of heavy metal, rock, and thrash.

The four-sided format accommodates twelve tracks across sides A through D. Side A opens with "Hardwired," the shortest entry on the record at three minutes and nine seconds, followed by "Atlas, Rise!" at six minutes and twenty-eight seconds, and "Now That We're Dead" at seven minutes and one second. Side B carries "Moth Into Flame," "Am I Savage?," and "Halo On Fire," the last of which extends to eight minutes and fourteen seconds, making it the longest track on the album. Side C presents "Confusion," "Dream No More," and "ManUNkind," each running between six and seven minutes. Side D closes the record with "Here Comes Revenge," "Murder One," and "Spit Out The Bone."

Taken as a sequence of track lengths alone, the album leans heavily toward extended compositions, with ten of the twelve tracks surpassing five minutes. Only the opening "Hardwired" departs from that pattern, sitting well under four minutes. The overall runtime across all four sides is substantial, a consideration that shapes how this release functions as a physical double LP.

*Hardwired...To Self-Destruct* represents Metallica's output under their own label infrastructure, issued under catalog number BLCKND031-1I in the vinyl format.