Metallica: Ranking Every Album's First Song

Metallica's most recent album at time of writing is 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct and, on the whole, it was a pretty decent return to form.

At this point, the band have established a nice balance between their old thrash style and their newer, more rhythmic sound. Hardwired... is another nice blend of both and received good reviews as a result.

It's opening song, the sort-of title track "Hardwired", sits more in the old school camp. It's a thrash song through and through, with a pounding riff, quick drum fills, and a blistering solo from Kirk Hammett.

All of this sounds good on paper, but, in reality, it's nothing we haven't heard before.

The song serves its purpose well; it's short and punchy and gets you into a good mood for the upcoming record. But fans of the band will not be particularly surprised, as it's basically a demonstration of 'how to write a thrash metal song'.

Whilst there's nothing wrong with "Hardwired", it just isn't very inspiring. Hardcore thrash fans might think that's a good thing, but for the legions of Metallica fans who have grown to enjoy the band's varied musical style, this opening song would have been a bit of a let down.