Metallica perform live session for BBC Radio

By ( Metal Hammer ) last updated

Video of Metallica's performances of Hardwired and Atlas, Rise! has been released – along with audio of entire performance at Maida Vale

A picture of Metallica in London to promote new album Hardwired... To Self-Destruct
Metallica in London to promote new album Hardwired... To Self-Destruct (Image credit: Getty)

Footage and audio from Metallica’s recent BBC Radio session has been released.

Video of the thrash giants performing new tracks Hardwired and Atlas, Rise! can be viewed below. And audio of the entire performance is available for listeners in the UK.

Hardwired and Atlas, Rise! are taken from Metallica’s 10th album Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, which was released last week.

Drummer Lars Ulrich has explained how they came up with the idea for the superimposed image on the album’s sleeve. It came about when he got married to Jessica Miller last year and the photographers presented him with an unusual picture.

He said: “I met those guys four or five years ago. When Jess and I got hitched up in the mountains, we asked them to come up.

“For a wedding present they gave us this crazy picture of the two of us superimposed on top of each other. It was this awesome thing.

“I showed it to James at the wedding and said, ‘One day, when we do something in the future we should get these guys to do all of us on top of each other.

“They came out and shot all of us doing that crazy superimposed stuff. The images were so cool that they became the whole package – this whole campaign, for lack of a better word.”

Metallica are in the process of revealing their WorldWired tour dates, set to expand across 2017 and beyond. They’re the cover stars of the current edition of Metal Hammer, on sale now in print and via TeamRock+.

Metallica tour dates 2016-17 so far

Dec 17: Oakland Fox Theater, CA
Jan 11: Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome, South Korea
Jan 18: Beijing Le Sports Centre, China
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

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.