Metallica’s 72 Seasons: 4 Seasons Later

Metallica’s 72 Seasons: 4 Seasons Later

By Atanas Tanchovski

When the heavy metal titans dropped “72 Seasons” one year ago, it was a post-COVID stress relief, for sure! It’s as if everything in the world was right again. The album 7 years in the making was eagerly awaited by old fans and new, especially after Metallica’s surge in popularity, following the inclusion of their mega-hit “Master Of Puppets” on Netflix’s hit series “Stranger Things”, back in 2022.

The album illuminated us with its bright yellow attire, enigmatic cover art, which depicted scorched items; which one is likely to own in their first 18 years (72 Seasons), and the Papa Het topic of choice: childhood. From the get-go, it felt like they were targeting this album to the new generation of Metallica fans, which is a unique approach, for sure, and a testament to the band’s desire to stay youthful and relevant. Its most intriguing detail, however, which could only be seen on physical copies of the album, was the very bold promise of “42 years of Metallica in over 77 minutes”. Did they deliver? Let’s go over the album in a little more detail on its 1 year anniversary and find out together.

In order to dive deeper into the album and understand it better, we must first visit 2016, as that marked the year “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” was gifted to the world. Subsequently, that marked a new era for Metallica, as they introduced a new-old sound into their catalogue. Following the harsh criticism of 2003’s “St. Anger”, and the better-but-still-criticised sound of 2008’s “Death Magnetic”, it only made sense that the band played it safe and returned to something they not only knew but nailed once before. However, just like everything Metallica does, that also came with a twist. “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” re-introduced fans to a production sound and songwriting style quite reminiscent of their highly acclaimed self-titled, or as you probably know it: “Black Album”. The aforementioned “twist” was, in fact, the once again divisive “overproduction” of the album’s sound, which made the album sound a little “too clean”, and “polished”, as many fans put it.

This is where “72 Seasons” comes in. Someone in HQ must have really enjoyed the sound of “Hardwired…”, so they brought it back a second time around in “72 Seasons”, making it a sister album to its 2016 counterpart; essentially what “Reload” is to “Load”, but with 7 years in between and an entirely different look and lyrical themes. This threw many fans off, as they were all expecting a new renaissance of the band, especially since they didn’t tour for 2-3 years during Covid. This sparked a rather massive YouTube trend, which saw musicians who run Metallica-themed channels, creating a bunch of “What If…” videos, which saw them taking songs from “72 Seasons” and reinventing them to sound like songs from different time periods of Metallica’s career; predominantly the big ones from the 80s. That solidified many of the fans’ suspicions that behind the “overproduced” sound of the album, was hidden the true writing genius of Metallica, which never really left. Funnily enough, one year later, these reinventions also seem to be 72 Season’s biggest legacy (apart from the Grammy which the band won for the title track). I think it’s safe to say that this album belongs to the people.

I did mention there are a few differences between “Hardwired…” and “72 Seasons”’ in terms of their sound, and those lie in a few factors. The first would be the highlighted vocals of Hetfield, which really take a shine in this album. The rasp, combined with the higher note reach, made for an enticing combination which fit the groove and energy this album tried to sell, and I believe it successfully did. The most celebrated part about the album, however, is certainly the band’s return to guitar harmonies. Despite the criticism, this part of the album gained unanimous support and is the highlight of the whole thing! The best examples of the harmonies can be found in “Room Of Mirrors”, “Too Far Gone?”, and “Inamorata”. Another, somewhat overshadowed factor, which is worth mentioning, is Rob’s bass. It is much more haunting and present in the mix this time around, and although subtle in terms of its contribution for the most part, the sheer depth of the roar is enough to really catch onto, and really make one appreciate just how much it elevates the album. Had the bass been present in these amounts on “Hardwired…”, with it being the overall heavier album between the 2, I am certain it would have been a more talked about album, but I digress. When it comes to Kirk’s and Lars’ contributions, however, things take a slight turn.

Kirk Hammett has been facing some backlash since “Hardwired…”, with the same comments returning this time around. The criticism was mainly towards the “lack of originality” and “technicality” in his solos. Some months ago, Kirk came out with a defensive statement on his choice to only use the pentatonic scale for his solos, as he doesn’t see the need to combine it with any other scales, which many critics feel would elevate his solos back to the standard they used to have. Many of the aforementioned YouTube “reinventions” also included updated solos, which may mean there is some truth to the criticism. I personally also feel that his solos could use a boost in some cases, but I still very much enjoy their personality within the songs, as well as their melodic composition.

As far as Lars goes, his detractors have a cult dedicated to spewing dirt his way, no matter what he does, so we need to look at the facts. His drum sound is strong and up there in the mix, which compliments the heavy and groovy riffs. He uses a little more double bass in this album – as compared to “Hardwired…” – and in places that add to the originality of the song (“Screaming Suicide”). However, where he falls short is the overall composition for the majority of the album. Although his drumming style is focused on fitting to the song as best as possible, it feels like he put in the bare minimum, which just covers the song. That again led to criticism, and the usual “updated” versions on YouTube, by other drummers, which nobody seemed to dispute.

Moving on from sound production, it’s time to talk about structure. This is another area where they full-out retraced their steps from “Hardwired…”, as this album also includes 12 tracks, with each track’s position more or less mirroring its “Hardwired…” counterpart. For example, “Atlas, Rise” was no.2 on the track list for “Hardwired…” and was used to end the band’s YouTube videos at the time. Now, in “72 Seasons”, “Shadows Follow” is track no.2, and is the current song used to end the band’s YouTube videos. I mention this because it seems like the band is following a recipe-of-sorts, and creating songs with specific purposes, rather than what they may create if they thought out of the box. It feels like it could be more of a business decision, than creating art for passion, at least from this point of view. This is leading the band in a

comfort zone, that if repeated a 3rd time in the future, will most surely come back to bite them. But then again, who knows if we’ll get another album if we have to wait another 7-8 years when the boys will be in their late 60s.

When it comes to song structure, however, I believe that it’s something they got right in this album, and a lot of it comes down to their passion for honouring the ones who came before and inspired them. In this case, their main influence was themselves, and a whole lot of Black Sabbath, some Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, and others. This resulted in a fascinating blend of the youthful speed and energy previously offered in “Kill ‘Em All” (“Lux Æterna” and “Too Far Gone?”, etc), but mixed with the evil, slow and heavy riffs, reminiscent of Sabbath’s signature sound (“Shadows Follow”, “Inamorata”, etc.).

Overall, Metallica created an album with the youth in mind, which also rekindled their youthful side, and that resulted in some exciting arrangements, which they paid tribute to their early years. The vocals, the riffs, and the harmonies are the main highlights of the album, once again cementing James Hetfield’s place at the top of the leaderboard of metal icons. Rob’s bass sound is a close second, for sure. The rest of the band had strong contributions at times but did not quite elevate the album to the heights we know they’re ultimately capable of. As far as the “42 years of Metallica in over 77 minutes” statement, I believe this was ultimately misleading because although it had moments where it definitively delivered this, it mostly followed a newfound recipe of conformity, in which the band are unfortunately finding comfort in. Nevertheless, 1 year later, the album continues to be a perfect choice for the casual listening sessions, when you don’t want to overdo the classic Metallica records, but still want a heavy kick of that special Metallica “umpf”, that only they can deliver.

Our top 5 picks from “72 Seasons”:

1. Lux Æterna

2. 72 Seasons

3. Too Far Gone?

4. Room Of Mirrors

5. Inamorata