When Metallica releases a new album, it’s always a big deal. After all, they don’t do it very often, thus all of their fans are eager to listen to their new songs. Metallica, whether you like it or not, became a “mainstream metal band”, if we can call them this, after the release of “Black Album”. Moreover, they are possibly the most successful metal band of all time, and they have the freedom to do things their own way, without concern for their image or anything else. And this is clear when we consider that in the last 30+ years (after the “black album”), they have only released a handful of good tracks and nothing else.
“72 Seasons” comes some 7 years after “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct” and is, in short, a Metallica music mixer. They’ve blended elements from all of their past albums (and eras), so the overall result isn’t bad, but it’s also not exciting. They’ve recycled some old riffs (for instance, “Too Far Gone?” has a riff that’s similar to “Seek and Destroy”), but the lengthy tracks don’t make the record stand out. I do not know why they continue to make long tracks when there’s no reason to do so, but they seem to enjoy it.
“72 Seasons” is easily Metallica’s best work since “Black Album”, even though that doesn’t mean anything at all. It’s a decent album with a powerful & punchy production, which will keep their fans satisfied for a while. Eventually, they’ll return to the band’s classics, as they usually do. I’d give it a solid 6 out of 10.
(by Thanos)
Metallica are one of the bands that has been almost synonymous with the genre they excelled in, but also one that really had one of the steepest declines, releasing a bunch of really leftfield albums in the late 90s before following that up with one that felt both weird, but also bereft of actual inspiration (hello “St. Anger”) a few years into the new millennium. They then managed to go on the mend and have been releasing progressively better albums in the past fifteen years or so, but they’ve never managed to recapture either their youthful energy of old, or the maturity of their middle years…
The eleventh album by the band, entitled “72 Seasons” (the number of seasons of anyone’s journey from birth into adulthood, at 18 y.o) seems to be going for a more serious, darker tone, while at the same time trying to recapture snapshots from different eras of the band, running parallels with underlying theme that these 18 first years and the experiences we amass during them, seem to largely dictate how are lives are going to develop going forward, to a large degree. I guess they’re trying to point out poetically that our “character” is developed during our journey into adulthood. Some people remain the same, others change, some are led astray, others fall in place… different things happen to different people.
Opening track “72 Seasons” feels a little bit like a Justice outtake, with a much fuller production. Its main riff feels inspired by “Damage Inc”, but the overall vibe’s more RnR… the chorus is really a variation of a verse… so not too much to write home about… as is the solo, which however feels appropriate sounding. Then the band decides to sort of restart the song around the fourth minute and turn its later part into a coda of sorts. A nicer doubled solo ensues leading into the third real verse, which is repetitive making the song needlessly long and not necessarily for the greater good of it all. With all its minor faults, this feels like a respectable enough offering.
“Shadows Fall” has a little, neat, capricious intro that leads it into a decent groove, which tries to ape “Black Album” rather desperately. The break and the ensuing chorus are a complete letdown however… dragging the song down, along the way. This could have been rather decent song if its chorus had any serious dynamics and didn’t feel like it was the afterthought of a verse, stuck on to it, almost.
“Screaming Suicide” has an interesting intro that tries to jolt some energy back into the proceedings and is driven by a rather rocking riff. It feels as if it could have been plucked from an imaginary session between the black album and the load albums. It has the rock swagger of the latter, but tries to bite like the former… and almost gets away with it. The rather bizarre bit is that it sort of waxes on the rather taboo subject of suicide, a notion that one wouldn’t expect to be on the forefront of any successful Rockstar’s songbook or mental agenda…
“Sleepwalking My Life Away” is more adventurous with a funky intro that doesn’t hurry along and a decent riff that’s driving it, that wouldn’t feel out of place in one of the Black album’s songs. It has this stoner hazey vibe going on, developing into something that feels like ‘Tallica, jamming on a Kyuss track or something… not terrible, just not super-duper either.
That vibe doesn’t let go on “You Must Burn” that shares dynamics with say “Of Wolf and Man” but over a lamer riff and not as much substance… while the existential anguish in the lyrics, feels rather genuine, the way it is portrayed in feels a little toe-curling, adolescent even. There’s a nice idea over the solo, but it doesn’t exactly resolve to much more than a nice improv, which is a shame as there are enough good aspects in this song, but not enough to dub it a winner.
“Lux Æterna” is latin for “Light Eternal” (and a bitch to find the Æ via character map) is basically for all intends and purposes, pretty much Diamondhead’s “It’s electric”, re-imagined, by some of their biggest fans. It’s neat and cozy, describing the excitement of performing and being part of a concert. Short, to the point… great… what’s not to like.
“This Crown of Barbed Wire” has a king nothing, bemoaning his misery, over a nightmarish, garish riff… it gets points for atmosphere, but not for the overall execution… too much waht-not and not enough cowbell… what would Bruce Dickinson say?!
“Harvester of…” excuse me, I meant to say “Chasing Light” has the style pegged down and a riff that’s workable, but again lacks in the inspiration department. The pathos of Hetfield in the delivery of the chorus is undeniable, but the chorus itself could have been a bit better, someone get me something to lean on… because repetition can get boring fast. Here the solo actually feels like a bit of a revelation, as it pushes the envelope on a song that’s stagnating lots up to that point. A few good ideas, but the overall implementation leaves quite a bit to be desired.
“If Darkness Had a Son”… It would be me… but…beside that… here all the metalliducks get in a row and the band delivers on the promise of more than half an album of good riff ideas, with a decently arranged number that flows naturally and changes gears as you would expect it to… despite being steeply based in a mid-tempo, it has the weight and the bite it needs to and a chorus that is right on the money… so even it’s largely wah-woe-ing solo doesn’t manage to undo it’s cool status… now if only if this was the blueprint for the entirety of album…
“Too Far Gone” is downright bizarre… it’s a pop punk/metal kinda jam, which really seems to get cross-eyed at some point, while trying to copy the MO of any-many number of NWOBHM acts. The production sounds decidedly thinner/treble too on this one, a little reminiscent of the “Justice…” days, but unlike anything you’ve heard before… and with a scorching little solo in there that doesn’t exactly feel like it would work, but which ultimately does. Initially I thought it was terrible, but repeated listens turned it into an unlikely grower.
“Room of Mirrors” is probably the culmination of too many complexes, being exposed and some amateur attempt at externalizing deeply buried sentiments… while I am ambivalent about the track itself, I find the lead idea rather enticing, even if it again mirrors an older one, or is inspired by it…
Again, I didn’t like this initially, but its little “maidenesque” odes, allowed it to wrap its tentacles around me…
Last but not least, “Inamorata” (a female lover) feels almost like the rockier companion piece to “My Friend of Misery” and not exclusively due to the repetition of the word misery, like a million times. It feels as if it was written for one of the “Load” albums, only sounding a bit edgier. It could be that JH is trying to exorcise his various demons and miseries of late or not, but that perceived catharsis, does serve the song well… what sounds a little less serviceable is the song’s middle part, but I guess it’s one way to segue into a solo… which itself feels a little overextended before the song veers into more repetitious patterns again just prior to a pseudoclimactic solo that leads to the song’s kinda awkward conclusion that leaves things a little unresolved. I feel that a fair bit of editing would have benefited this one, but still @ 11.11, it’s not too bad, a.a.m.o.f it’s one of the better songs on the album.
Largely, “72 Seasons” feels like a principally better album than its predecessor, at least in scope, since its predecessor’s better moments manage to eclipse some of what’s on offer here… so could we settle for a tie maybe? Or should a Creeping, sudden, death, be the penalty?!
