Album Review: Metallica - 72 Seasons

Metallica - 72 Seasons

Blackened Recordings - 2023

5/10

Let me preface this review with some rudimentary bitching. I hope that whoever designed the packaging for the CD got a demotion, because this four-fold nonsense with absolutely nothing to hold the linear notes is an idea so annoying that it’s baffling evolution hasn’t taken us beyond that. Let alone the fact that the album art itself sucks, and has unflattering closeups of the band as the whole reason that this was used in the first place (probably), but if you’re gonna use cardboard, make it a damn digipak. Also, this is the obvious thing everyone probably thinks three whole days after release, but just because a CD can hold 80 minutes, doesn’t mean it should. It’s a little strange that this time around two discs weren’t used, which was never needed in the first place, seeing that both albums are the same length. All that does is confirm my theory that Hardwired… To Self Destruct was Metallica’s response to Iron Maiden, but I’m not gonna spend a whole paragraph about how this is too long, because it pretty much applies across the board and I think it’s not only obvious, but made clear enough in those two sentences.

Well, perhaps the exception is “Lux Æterna.” In any case, Metallica have returned with a similar story six years later with 72 Seasons being the talk of the town amidst the aforementioned single’s release. Musically, this is pretty (and very subtly) derivative of what we got back in 2017, however lyrically it seems to breathe more light into James Hetfield’s personal struggles. Regarding the listening experience, I find it most comparable to ReLoad not only as a continuation of the previous record, but also in quality vs. quantity aspect. ReLoad is a large game of finding the strong songs amidst a lot of boring schlock, here it’s about finding the fun riffs and strong leads that simply just should have ended three minutes earlier than they do. And that very thing is what leads me to single out “Lux Æterna,” because it’s truly great. Perhaps a bit of a tease, since it’s the literal only tune that makes its point swiftly, built on traditional speed metal rhythms with the new-age coating.

The common theme seems to be dragging on intros for too long, and repeating the hooks that admittedly strike a catchy chord following a solo that would have made a nice outing had it stopped there. “Sleepwalk My Life Away” is a fine example, as that bass-heavy, drum-topped kicker makes a nice impression on its own. You could argue the same about the opening title track, however the chorus for this one holds a little more strength than it has any right holding. What it boils down to, however, is that very little stands out on a full scale outside of little moments that you can acknowledge being enjoyable but make little impression. “If Darkness Had A Son” has a neat chorus, and a notable bridge, yet I can’t help but feel like most of it is leftover scrap that James and co. just couldn’t bring themselves to throw away. Seriously, I’ve listened to this disc several times since securing my copy and virtually nothing has grown on me. Hum along and move along.

Finding parts of 72 Seasons that do actually stand out musically is going to rely entirely on stylistic shifts beyond the general thrash clarity on the less extreme side, another thing that could describe much of the album’s makeup. So is there any of this? A little. “You Must Burn” relies on some slower, doom-cladded passages that I can appreciate, and some of the vocal patterns feel like a nod to the ‘90s Metallica run. “Too Far Gone?” seems to have a little more emotion than the others, though I’m using that phrase very liberally here. “Crown Of Barbed Wire” is also pretty catchy, another one that the riffs and vocal work pair together nicely. Notice a pattern about the better songs here? I’ll leave it to you to figure out (it might have to do with the length).

Iron Maiden and Metallica both seem to get off on this type of “record any and everything we think of and release it” mentality lately, and hopefully sooner or later that comes to an end. Megadeth was also guilty of this last year, and I guess in a way I’ve debunked my own idea that waiting enough time must allow for better writing like I said in regards to the latest Overkill record. You’d think the Use Your Illusion albums and the many similar experiences since would reveal the probability of this working by now, but I guess that’s wishful thinking. My final thoughts are this; if you can listen to this enough times to make it grow on you, then more power to you, but I prefer not to gaslight myself. There are plenty of catchy moments, but you have to have some pretty serious levels of patience to make it worthwhile. It’s a lot of what we already got in 2017 but without the concise focus that existed on far more of that. More disastrous things have happened, but sometimes I almost prefer that for the sheer sake that it’s interesting to some degree.