Metallica will make a music video for every song on new album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.
The band’s 10th album is released on November 18 and so far they have issued videos for the tracks Hardwired, Moth Into Flame and Atlas, Rise!
Drummer Lars Ulrich says the band have been sure to stay active online in the run-up to the album’s launch.
He tells The Straits Times: “We like to stay active on social media. It’s fun to do stuff where it instantly shows up all over the world.
“You have to accept the way that the world is spinning. Now that YouTube is the world’s biggest television station, we figured we may as well knock a video out for every song.”
Metallica have been recording the videos while making the album and on downtime from their current run of tour dates.
Ulrich adds: “The practicality of shooting 12 music videos is kind of crazy, especially when you’re trying to promote your record, and you’re all over the place, and trying to make sure it doesn’t leak. It’s crazy but, at the same time, fun.”
Meanwhile, frontman James Hetfield insists he has paid no attention to the online reaction to their new material, telling Metallica’s official fan magazine So What!: “I truly don’t give a fuck. I really don’t. I’ve embraced the idiocy of the internet, and the freedom you have to say whatever you want all the time.
“At some point, you get so desensitised to it that it makes no sense. Just do what you love. How can you go wrong? It always goes back to, ‘Why are we doing this? Because we love doing it, and we want to write some music that we like to listen to.’ Simple as that. If you like the music, then listen with us.”
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Hetfield also discusses the lyrical content of the album’s lead single Hardwired and the follow-up, Moth Into Flame.
He says: “Hardwired is so simple, it is not Shakespeare, I know that. But gosh, are humans really doing the right thing? And in the history of time, we’re a little blip. And are we gonna be gone? Are we phasing ourselves out with electronics? Are we becoming this? Are we gonna self-destruct because of our egos and all of the stuff that makes humans human?
“That whole sentence ‘hardwired to self-destruct’ came from a friend of mine that was just throwing it out there as a struggling addict. Is that what it’s like for us?
“Is our default just to die? Earlier than we’re supposed to. Wreck. Destroy our lives – are we hardwired to self-destruct? And that just caught my ear.
”Moth Into Flame is pretty literal. These days everyone has an obsession with being famous. Being popular. Whether it’s your Facebook account or walking around the street, watching someone doing selfies of themselves as they’re walking down the street. What are you doing?”
Metallica have tour dates lined up through the new year and into April of next year.
Metallica Hardwired… To Self Destruct tracklist
Disc 1
- Hardwired
- Atlas, Rise!
- Now That We’re Dead
- Moth Into Flame
- Dream No More
- Halo On Fire
Disc 2
- Confusion
- ManUNkind
- Here Comes Revenge
- Am I Savage?
- Murder One
- Spit Out the Bone
Metallica tour dates 2016-17 so far
Nov 03: Guatemala City Estadio Cementos Progreso, Guatemala
Nov 05: San Jose Estadio Nacional, Costa Rica
Jan 11: Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome, South Korea
Jan 20: Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo, China
Jan 22: Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore
Feb 03: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 05: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 07: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 09: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Mar 25-26: Sao Paulo Interlagos Racetrack, Brazil
Mar 31,-Apr 01: Buenos Aires Hippodrome San Isidro, Argentina
Apr 01-02: Santiago Parque O’Higgins, Chile
