Metallica 72 Seasons 2LP

Consequence Top 50 Albums of 2023 - Rated 20/50!
Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of 2023 - Rated 93/100!

Metallica's 12th studio album, 72 Seasons, was produced by Greg Fidelman with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Clocking in at over 77 minutes, the 12-track 2023 album is the band's first full-length collection of new material since 2016's Hardwired…To Self-Destruct.

Speaking on the concept of the album title, James Hetfield said: "72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told 'who we are' by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is a reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry."

Never before has Metallica seemed so comfortable being Metallica, embracing their identity as a collective and letting each member play to their strengths...there are no slow moments, there are no ballads: the entire record barrels forward at an advanced clip and crushing volume. It's heavy but it's not grimy or gritty. Metallica are old pros at this point, so they favor clearly articulated production, and they know how to reserve their energy so they play for endurance, not speed; even when this comes close to thrash tempos, the band never threaten to give themselves over to abandon. The clarity of the production makes it easy to admire what Metallica achieve with 72 Seasons - this is a maturation that never sacrifices their integral characteristics...