The sharpest tracks pile up at the starting gate. "Hardwired" compresses a manic performance into three explosive minutes, led by Ulrich's galloping drums and a hyper riff that make Hetfield's tossed off lyrics (basically a bunch of curse words) beside the point. Massive guitars and muscle-flexing twists and turns underpin "Atlas, Rise!" which indicts a finger-pointing martyr who refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Ulrich does some of his finest work on "Now That We're Dead" with his dry, African-style drumming, which nearly mitigates the song's somewhat silly goth premise. The double-tracked guitars and stuttering ostinato at the heart of "Moth into Flame" underline Hetfield's critique of social media fame and a liar who sells his soul to "build a higher wall" (if you think he's singling out a particular politician, you're not alone).