Metallica announce first new album in eight years Hardwired...to Self-Destruct

Their eleventh studio record follows 2008's acclaimed Death Magnetic

James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett play guitar for Metallica (Getty)

Metallica have announced the upcoming release of their first new album in eight years.

The heavy metal group will drop the two-disc Hardwired…to Self-Destruct on 18 November, with fans being treated to almost 80 minutes of new music. It follows 2008’s Death Magnetic, with the gap between the two albums the band’s longest yet.

“Hardwired represents the next phase of our journey as Metallica and we are so excited to share it with you,” the band said on their website.

The first track from their eleventh studio record, “Hardwired”, debuted on 93X Minneapolis yesterday morning (official music video below), with a further 11 songs as yet unheard.

Greg Fiedelman has produced Hardwired along with frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. It is available for preorder on double CD, vinyl and digital download, while more devoted fans can buy a deluxe version featuring “the riffs that were the origins of the album”.

Metallica will be touring the album in due course but dates are yet to be confirmed.

The tracklist in full:

Disc One

“Hardwired”

“Atlas, Rise!”

“Now That We’re Dead”

“Moth Into Flame”

“Am I Savage?”

“Halo On Firemetallica”

Disc Two

“Confusion”

“Dream No More”

“ManUNkind”

“Here Comes Revenge”

“Murder One”

“Spit Out The Bone”

Disc Three (deluxe edition only)

“Lords Of Summer”

“Riff Charge”

“N.W.O.B.H.M. A.T.M.”

“Tin Shot”

“Plow”

“Sawblade”

“RIP”

“Lima”

“91”

“MTO”

“RL72”

“Frankenstein”

“CHI”

“X Dust”

Metallica are the focus of Spotify’s first music documentary, Metallica: The Early Years, which launched on the streaming service yesterday. The film documents the “early pen pal tape sharing, the birth of thrash metal, heavy-riffing cellists and the origins of one of rock’s most influential bands”.