I wanted to wait a few days for my mind to rest and to be sober with all the hype and make this video. Metallica is my personal favorite band, and whatever they come out with and deliver, I will consume, so I wanted to speak with the most neutral point of view I could. I have listened to 72 Seasons about 10 times now. Front to back. I am already at the point where I easily recognize each song.
I will go straight to the point here. I like this alum, I think that it was a surprise for most people the level of technique it has, just talking about the technical point of view. I mean, l Lars’s double bass sound better than 20 years ago, and James’ voice is shining like never before, we finally have more inputs from the very good player, Roberto Trujillo, and, after so many shy releases from Kirk… We finally have his crunchy riffs and more interesting guitar solos. All that, considering that this band has delivered the most iconic metal tunes over the last 40 years. Having this band at this level in 2023 is mindblowing in my opinion.
I listened to the long interview delivered by James that talks about the start of the inception of this album. He wanted right away more input from all the band members, and he achieved so, surprisingly, in the start with Zoom calls during the first months of the Pandemic. You can tell that in 72 Seasons. I liked Hardwired, but this album has a broader expansion of musical visions. you could tell that 99% of Hardwired was written by James and Lars. It is not that I dislike that, but I rather have also the contributions of Kirk and Robert, because this way songs get more interesting I think.
One thing I listened to during the cinema premiere of this album was that the recordings were based initially on a bunch of good riffs. And you can tell that. All the songs have a good riff that, at least will stick into your head. There are seriously good riffs inside 72 Seasons, and Metallica’s most iconic songs are so popular for their riffs basically. The riffs in this album sound good, fresh, and heavy.
There are two types of bands: one that keeps repeating their sound over and over and other types of bands that do a different thing with every release. I think that Metallica is 80% repeating and 20% inventing. It is like they already have some specific notes, they arrange them differently, with different tones and tempos, and with that they could write an infinite amount of songs. That makes it sound similar in some cases. I personally like when bands twist things and try something different. But for some reason, Metallica does a good job doing what they do. For me, it sounds similar but that extra space they add here, that riff played slowly and heavier… All that makes the music enjoyable. Some bands do this same thing and they don’t achieve my gratification. So I don’t know what it is, but in my opinion, Metallica does this right.
You can hear on several songs from the new album that some parts, especially the guitar sounds so similar to some songs from the last album. For example (put here the new one, and compare it with Here Comes Revenge). That is something that I am not a fan of. Because in this case, the guitar sounds practically the same to me. But this happens only in some parts of some songs. As a positive comment, I have to say that all the songs from this album have something I particularly like. all the 12 songs and this is something that didn’t happen to me since the Black Album. Not even one boring song!
People were expecting one song to be instrumental. I am a huge fan of instrumental songs. And Metallica never disappoints me. The latest one, Suicide, and Redemption is a gem. Even though Loudwire sets it as the worst Metallica song. 72 Seasong lacks the instrumental actually. And I am thankful for that because James’ voice is in such good shape that it would be a shame to have one song without his melodies.
I have mentioned this before. But I will do so again because I think the cherry on the top of this record is the bass lines of Roberto. Talking about doing something different. It was since Master Of Puppets, an alum released in 1986, that we have a Metallica album where the bass input was so important. Starting from the solos of Roert at the start of Sleepwalk My Life Away, or even his underground but apparent contributions through several songs. This gives the album a more pleasing and interesting sound I think.
If you are just going to hear one song from this album, I would highly recommend checking out Inamorata. This is the final track on this album and it is the most proggy one for sure. I don’t think I have listened to Metallica making so many transitions that were presented in such a way singe Justice. But Inamorata is different in its own way. It has slow bass drum kicks that are full of emotion, overall this is a very emotive song by the way. It has that guitar riff that sort of speaks and responds to James in the verse. And it has the mindblowing, headbanging transition that starts with Robert’s bass line. If you have listened to this song you know what part I am talking about. I you have not listened to this song, just go and do it!
I would not end this video without talking about Greg Fieldman. I think that the band has found the person that makes them sound at their best. They have found a sound signature with Greg that I really dig. That is why, whenever Metallica enters the studio, goes and play a concert on their own, or with the San Francisco Symphony…. Greg is always there for checking how they sound and for twist nobs.