Apr 20

Apr 20 Metallica - 72 Seasons

Metallica
72 Seasons
Release Date: April 14th, 2023
Label: Blackened

Review by Jared Stossel

Over the past two months, I’ve listened in depth to every Metallica album. I’m not an expert by any means, but I feel like I’ve come to understand the elements that make a great Metallica song and album: a runtime clocking in around an hour and fifteen minutes, tracks built around heavy-hitting riffs, intricate musicianship, kick drum beats that you can feel in your chest, and vocal lines delivered with power and gusto. 72 Seasons, Metallica’s eleventh studio album, is not reinventing the wheel. While it runs a bit long in certain sections, it showcases the Bay Area metal act doing what they do best.

Most of the tracks on 72 Seasons don’t have vocal lines that kick in until about ninety seconds into the song, with the album’s eponymous opening track lasting nearly eight minutes. The opening riff for “72 Seasons” almost sounds like the beginning of a Dick Dale surf-rock epic before careening in a high-speed heavy metal attack, with vocalist James Hetfield waxing poetic about the abstract wrath of man before a wah-pedal-laced solo from guitarist Kirk Hammett is delivered. Hetfield’s vocal cords sound like they’ve aged a bit since, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, a bit of gravel sitting atop every inflection and biting line delivered.

“Shadows Follow” once again touches on the pressures of fame and being held under a spotlight (“Demonized, liquified, tranquilized / Prophesied, just to hide from life / Night and day, led astray, in decay / Come what may, not to face that fight”). “Screaming Suicide” follows the pathway, in a faster and more powerful fashion than its preceding track. For maybe the first time that I can recall on any of the recent Metallica records, bassist Robert Trujillo is placed front and center during the intro to “Sleepwalk My Life Away”, his fingers slapping away at the fretboard in time with an upbeat groove driven by drummer Lars Ulrich. It builds into something that could almost be a spiritual sequel to “Enter Sandman”, referring to the rut that one finds themselves in while repeating the same thing day after day. These lyrical themes are all assumptions, of course – while Hetfield has gotten far more introspective with his lyrics than Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lightning, they’ve become more abstract and open to interpretation by the listener.

A dynamic riff kicks off “You Must Burn!” as the band walk slow down before immediately spiraling into “Lux Aeterna”, one of the best tracks on 72 Seasons. It’s high-speed, Hetfield sounds better than ever, and the band is in top form. You can call it my preferred taste, but I happen to love Metallica the most when they’re embracing their thrash metal roots. “Crown of Barbed Wire” finds a chord-driven riff blasting through the speakers before building into a consistent and circular rhythm. A little over a minute passes before Hetfield sings of the aforementioned garment and the weight it carries (“This rusted empire I own / Bleed as I rust on this throne”). Switching things up, the lyrics open the depression-riddled “Chasing Light”, an anthem-like metal track about overcoming the darkest moments in one’s inner psyche. Ulrich leads the band on a march through the depths of said psyche, each snare and kick hit pulling the band in tighter and solidifying them as a unit, a metaphorical acknowledgment of the addictions that drive us (“The beast still shouts for what it’s yearning / He strokes the fire, desire burning / The never-ending quenchless craving / The unforgiving misbehaving”). “Too Far Gone?” follows, raising the question as to whether the aforementioned beast has actually won, yet ultimately deciding to make it through another day. Once the daily struggle has concluded, “Room For Mirrors” leads into further existential thought, reckoning with the idea of acceptance from family and friends, despite the many flaws they feel they might hold.

The album concludes with the epic “Inamorata”, with lyrics that seem to make a sly reference to the band’s Black Album track “My Friend of Misery”. The concluding track marks a battle between the band and the idea of embracing misery. It’s a question that has plagued the arts for years: do you have to be miserable in order to make great art? Ultimately, Hetfield seems to make a conclusion (“Misery / She fills me / Oh no, but she’s not what I’m living for”). It’s the longest entry on the album, clocking in at nearly 11 minutes.

72 Seasons features Metallica doing what they do best, visiting some familiar territories while still managing to keep things sounding fresh and fun. They seem to have hit their stride with the release of Death Magnetic back in 2008, and the process they’ve employed to make records seems to be working incredibly well in terms of recording quality, lyricism, and showmanship. It would obviously be great if fans didn’t have to wait about seven years in between records, but if it’s working for them, then I’m in support of it. In the end, maybe less is more.