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Metallica returns with ‘Hardwired...To Self-Destruct’

James Hetfield of Metallica performs at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
(Felipe Dana/Associated Press)
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Metallica has returned with its first new album since 2008.

The veteran group announced “Hardwired...To Self-Destruct,” its first non-collaborative record since 2008’s “Death Magnetic.” The band’s last LP was a head-scratcher of a collaborative concept album, 2011’s “Lulu,” with the late Lou Reed. The band also appeared in the 2013 feature film “Metallica Through the Never.

In the era of curated streaming, “Hardwired” is a rare double-disc, 80-minute leviathan (with a third bonus disc of extras in the deluxe version) that, with a titular ellipsis, harkens back to the band’s early days on “...And Justice for All.”

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The group also released the record’s similarly throwback first single, a double-time vintage thrash single that largely avoids their occasional stabs at radio-friendly rock. Its hook, in fact, amounts a nihilist’s statement of “we’re all screwed.”

Furthermore, Spotify just entered the film business with a four-part documentary on Metallica’s early years, following the quartet’s scrappy years in the Bay Area up to megalithic rock stardom. The first installment premieres Aug. 18.

For breaking music news, follow @augustbrown on Twitter.

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