Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, the long awaited new Metallica studio album, and follow up to Death Magnetic, will be released on November 18th. The double CD will include nearly 80 minutes of music.

"I've been getting lots of cool texts from lots of buddies today talking about how much they're digging the new song (lead track and first single “Hardwired”),” drummer Lars Ulrich says during an in-depth chat about the new LP with Rolling Stone. An excerpt from the interview follows:

RS: "Hardwired" is only three minutes long. Is the album as a whole more concise?

Lars: “A little bit. That's actually the last song we wrote for the record. We started this album by throwing different ideas around. The shape of it, as a collection of songs, didn't come into focus until we were deep into it. At that point, the songs were getting tighter, shorter and leaner. A couple of months ago, we were sitting there taking stock of the record and thought maybe we should write one more fast, little crazy song, and that became "Hardwired”. It just kind of happened. I think James [Hetfield] and I wrote and recorded it in less than a week, which, for us, is basically a nanosecond [laughs].”

RS: What was the process of going through the song ideas like early on?

Lars: “We record everything we do. When we started the album, I had an iPod with over 1,500 song ideas, jams and riffs on it, and they each have a number. I went on some really long road trips and listened to that for hours and hours. I'd write down, "'912' sounds like a good idea." [Laughs] Then James and I started connecting the dots about a year, year and a half ago. That's when the songs started taking shape.”

Read the complete interview at RollingStone.com.

A music video for the album’s lead track and first single, “Hardwired”, can be found below. Check out the “Hardwired” single artwork...

Says the band: “Hardwired… represents the next phase of our journey as Metallica and we are so excited to share it with you. If anyone was tuned into radio station 93X in Minneapolis earlier today, you heard the world debut of the first track, “Hardwired”, and we’re hoping you’ll hear a lot more of it in the coming days. Produced by Greg Fidelman, along with James and Lars, this is our 11th studio album and is available for pre-order in a variety of configurations including 12 songs on a double CD, vinyl, digital download, as well as a deluxe version with the riffs that were the origins of the album. Everyone who pre-orders the album through Metallica.com will receive an instant download of the song “Hardwired”.

“We cannot wait to hit the road to play these songs live and get in your faces once again, so strap yourselves in… INCOMING!”

Tracklisting:

Disc One
“Hardwired”
“Atlas, Rise!”
“Now That We’re Dead”
“Moth Into Flame”
“Am I Savage?”
“Halo On Fire”

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” (Riff Origins)
“N.W.O.B.H.M. A.T.M.” (Riff Origins)
“Tin Shot” (Riff Origins)
“Plow” (Riff Origins)
“Sawblade” (Riff Origins)
“RIP” (Riff Origins)
“Lima” (Riff Origins)
“91” (Riff Origins)
“MTO” (Riff Origins)
“RL72” (Riff Origins)
“Frankenstein” (Riff Origins)
“CHI” (Riff Origins)
“X Dust” (Riff Origins)

“Hardwired” video:

(Photo - Herring & Herring)