Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
You don’t even have to drop any songs to make it a single disc. Hell, the album is even shorter than Load!
Although granted including a naff Lemmy tribute that goes nowhere definitely does hurt.
METALLICA ALBUM RANKING GAME: #6 REVEALED
- Thread starter Mosh
- Start date
Although granted including a naff Lemmy tribute that goes nowhere definitely does hurt.
Oh sure, I'm just saying twelve songs on a single disc still feels like a lot (see Fear of the Dark). At 11 songs (including one very short opener) we're closer to Death Magnetic territory.
Also, I know this album has a Lemmy tribute on it but I couldn't tell you which song it is.
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
“Murder One”. Could’ve been a fine throwaway tribute single but honestly “Lords of Summer” would’ve been a better song.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
For me, Hardwired felt like an honest representation of the kind of music Metallica wanted to play at that point in time — something with one foot in their black album phase and the other in their classic period. Hetfield really seems to like playing these simpler grooves, but with some more complicated detours thrown in, and Hardwired stuck the landing more honestly than Death Magnetic did, IMO.
That said, I probably still prefer Death Magnetic by a hair over Hardwired due to overall song quality, even though it feels a bit more forced.
That said, I probably still prefer Death Magnetic by a hair over Hardwired due to overall song quality, even though it feels a bit more forced.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Hardwired is an exceptional album (if you eliminate half of the songs).
Minus the idiotic, childish lyrics in the self-titled song, the first half is pretty perfect. Not every song is a 10/10, but the ones that are (Atlas, Moth) are stellar. If you take the first "disc" + Spit Out The Bone (the third 10/10 on the album), you've got a killer short record.
It's the aforementioned title track and the entirety of "disc" two that drag it way, way down. But overall, the songwriting on the first half (plus Spit) is superior to anything they've done since ReLoad.
Minus the idiotic, childish lyrics in the self-titled song, the first half is pretty perfect. Not every song is a 10/10, but the ones that are (Atlas, Moth) are stellar. If you take the first "disc" + Spit Out The Bone (the third 10/10 on the album), you've got a killer short record.
It's the aforementioned title track and the entirety of "disc" two that drag it way, way down. But overall, the songwriting on the first half (plus Spit) is superior to anything they've done since ReLoad.
Sth2112
Ancient Mariner
Hardwired is alot better than it’s predecessor, more safe but also tighter, more solid, more melodic. Maybe also a litte one dimensional, it’s not all over the place as Load and Death magnetic. And why was Lords of summer not part of the main album? And I wish we had heard some songwriting input from Kirk on this album.
Impressive that they topped the charts in 57 countries with this album!
Impressive that they topped the charts in 57 countries with this album!
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RESULTS NOTE: When compiling data for the next entry, I discovered that I accidentally included a list twice. This did not affect any of the rankings so far although the scores changed slightly:
St Anger: 39 -> 38
72 Seasons: 69 -> 64
Load: 85 -> 78
Reload: 90 -> 87
Hardwired: 102 -> 98
This did impact the top half of the rankings though and deleting the extra list broke both ties. I will still honor the winners of the trivia contest and will flag what would have been a tie when it comes up. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6: Kill Em All
7: Hardwired...To Self Destruct
8: Reload
9: Load
10: 72 Seasons
11: St. Anger
Total score: 116
Highest score: 9 (@____no5 @Iron Taipei)
Lowest score: 1 (@Eddieson)
What could be the game's first upset, we have Metallica's debut album coming in with a somewhat unimpressive showing, even falling below one of Metallica's 21st century albums (although I think that speaks more to Death Magnetic's popularity than Kill Em All's unpopularity, as Kill Em All still scored significantly higher than Hardwired and the other albums on the bottom half of the list). For our trivia watchers, this was the album that tripped everybody up as almost everybody guessed that Kill Em All was ranked #1 on at least one list. In reality, Kill Em All failed to even be ranked #2 on anybody's list and only cracked the top three on two lists. I guess Maidenfans doesn't have a lot of time for this scrappy NWOBHM worship.
The album is scrappy and at times feels more like a demo. Hetfield's vocal melodies largely amount to shouting, Kirk's leads sometimes feel like a random flurry of notes, and the band is generally a bit rickety throughout. Still, this album is filled with teenage charm. There's a lot of catchy riffing throughout and it sounds like the output of a bunch of kids who pretty much spend all day and all night listening to imported Metal albums. When this album shines it's on the more mid tempo riff driven tracks like Jump in the Fire, Four Horsemen, and Seek and Destroy. Those songs are legitimately catchy and show an early knack for hook writing that would propel this band to massive commercial success years later. The thrashier songs, such as Hit the Lights, never really did it for me as theses songs don't feel quite as well arranged. Metallica would get better at these on the next album.
Overall I'm not too surprised at this result, although I wasn't really expecting any of the 90s/00s Metallica albums to best anything from the 80s here. This is the last Metallica album in the game to not appear at the top of anybody's lists and it's also the last album to be last place on anybody's list. From here on out, every album is cherished by somebody on the forum while there isn't any strong contingency coming out against any of the remaining albums.
St Anger: 39 -> 38
72 Seasons: 69 -> 64
Load: 85 -> 78
Reload: 90 -> 87
Hardwired: 102 -> 98
This did impact the top half of the rankings though and deleting the extra list broke both ties. I will still honor the winners of the trivia contest and will flag what would have been a tie when it comes up. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6: Kill Em All
7: Hardwired...To Self Destruct
8: Reload
9: Load
10: 72 Seasons
11: St. Anger
Total score: 116
Highest score: 9 (@____no5 @Iron Taipei)
Lowest score: 1 (@Eddieson)
What could be the game's first upset, we have Metallica's debut album coming in with a somewhat unimpressive showing, even falling below one of Metallica's 21st century albums (although I think that speaks more to Death Magnetic's popularity than Kill Em All's unpopularity, as Kill Em All still scored significantly higher than Hardwired and the other albums on the bottom half of the list). For our trivia watchers, this was the album that tripped everybody up as almost everybody guessed that Kill Em All was ranked #1 on at least one list. In reality, Kill Em All failed to even be ranked #2 on anybody's list and only cracked the top three on two lists. I guess Maidenfans doesn't have a lot of time for this scrappy NWOBHM worship.
The album is scrappy and at times feels more like a demo. Hetfield's vocal melodies largely amount to shouting, Kirk's leads sometimes feel like a random flurry of notes, and the band is generally a bit rickety throughout. Still, this album is filled with teenage charm. There's a lot of catchy riffing throughout and it sounds like the output of a bunch of kids who pretty much spend all day and all night listening to imported Metal albums. When this album shines it's on the more mid tempo riff driven tracks like Jump in the Fire, Four Horsemen, and Seek and Destroy. Those songs are legitimately catchy and show an early knack for hook writing that would propel this band to massive commercial success years later. The thrashier songs, such as Hit the Lights, never really did it for me as theses songs don't feel quite as well arranged. Metallica would get better at these on the next album.
Overall I'm not too surprised at this result, although I wasn't really expecting any of the 90s/00s Metallica albums to best anything from the 80s here. This is the last Metallica album in the game to not appear at the top of anybody's lists and it's also the last album to be last place on anybody's list. From here on out, every album is cherished by somebody on the forum while there isn't any strong contingency coming out against any of the remaining albums.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
I ranked Kill 'Em All second-to-last and I stand by it. It's just too raw and the songwriting (and performance) is just not there. The level up in composition between the debut and Ride The Lightning is nothing short of astounding.
Shmoolikipod
Stranger to the Light
Hardwired - where I differ from most is that I really like disc 2. ManUNkind has interesting rhythms and an oddly uplifting vibe, Am I Savage is pretty out there too, and Confusion and Revenge are solid.
Disc 1, minus the title track which is quite awful, is one banger after the other. Halo and Spit are two of the best Metallica songs period, and Moth is what sparked my interest in music. Hardwired has a wide palette, just like the black album, and it's very free-flowing. No, not a revolutionary masterpiece, but I kinda like it more than those.
KEA - had it at #6. For a debut, it's stunningly good. The juvenility of it is exciting, far surpassed by the superior songwriting of the classics, but it alone draws me more than the good songs on the later, very uneven albums (other than Hardwired of course). Motorbreath is my favourite here and exemplifies my feelings well. It's not some intricate creature, but it gets the adrenaline kicking.
Disc 1, minus the title track which is quite awful, is one banger after the other. Halo and Spit are two of the best Metallica songs period, and Moth is what sparked my interest in music. Hardwired has a wide palette, just like the black album, and it's very free-flowing. No, not a revolutionary masterpiece, but I kinda like it more than those.
KEA - had it at #6. For a debut, it's stunningly good. The juvenility of it is exciting, far surpassed by the superior songwriting of the classics, but it alone draws me more than the good songs on the later, very uneven albums (other than Hardwired of course). Motorbreath is my favourite here and exemplifies my feelings well. It's not some intricate creature, but it gets the adrenaline kicking.