Metallica’s ‘72 Seasons’ Is Surprisingly Decent

Metallica’s ambitious 11th studio album, 72 Seasons, has been out for nearly a week and it’s safe to say it’s not the slamming disappointment some were expecting it to be. Rather, 72 Seasons offers a satisfying journey through the many shades of metal Metallica has experimented with throughout their career, as it shares just as many sonic commonalties with the band’s youthful thrash era as it does their more groove centric era from the 90’s. With that, there are plenty of aspects to love about 72 Seasons, though it’s truly great moments are too inconsistently spread across it’s bloated 77 minute runtime.

Starting off with what’s great about 72 Seasons, James Hetfield is the star of the show as far as performances go. Hetfield’s voice is spectacular on nearly every track and he’s able inject some much needed personality on this record through his variety of well executed vocal inflections. Considering his tenure as a heavy metal vocalist, it needs to be emphasized just how well Hetfield’s voice has aged especially for someone who’s been singing aggressive music for over four decades. The delivery of Hetfield’s vocals on 72 Seasons play a significant role in the album’s overall marvelous production quality.

Guitar tones cut through with more ‘bite’ to them, more so than Metallica’s previous LP Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, and often this aspect brings 72 Season’s riffs out in the forefront for the better. Robert Trujillo’s bass has a fairly active role in 72 Seasons’ mix with his bass solo in “Inamorata” being a nice surprise and homage to Sabbath’s own Geezer Butler. Lars Ulrich’s limited yet tasteful drumming is elevated with the pummeling drum production showcased on 72 Seasons, and despite Ulrich receiving a fair amount of criticism over the years, the ferocious power behind his drumming comes across nicely on this record and further embellishes the band’s more classic and simplified groovy riffs.

As far as what’s lacking on 72 Seasons Metallica aren’t delivering anything that their fans haven’t already heard, it’s more the same or what you’d come to expect from the thrash legends at this point, which works for better and worse. The main issue with this aspect is the album doesn’t have its own unique sonic identity. Similar to how 2016’s Hardwired was more a retreading of the band’s thrash glory days, 72 Seasons is more a hybrid of everything Metallica has already done from the early 80’s to mid-90’s. Riffs occasionally embody a sense of familiarity and Kirk Hammett’s guitar solos often uses many of the same licks that he’s made a staple in his playing.

For the most part none of this is exactly ‘bad’ or ‘bad in the same sense that 2004’s St. Anger is, rather, it depends on one’s tolerance for Metallica sounding plainly like themselves. And if one thing is for sure, whether or not the fans like or dislike how transparent Metallica sound on 72 Seasons, Metallica themselves appear to be having the time of their lives and that certainly plays to the album’s benefit.

After weighing out all of 72 Seasons good and bad you end up with a rather puzzling verdict. On one hand it’s an album exhaustingly too long featuring a number of tracks that could’ve been aggressively trimmed or scrapped entirely, while on the other hand Metallica has crafted an album that’s certainly a worthy listen and a fun addition to their discography, even if this ‘good album’ is buried between 4 or 5 inconsistent tracks.

Essential Tracks: “Shadows Follow,” “Inamorata,” “Too Far Gone”

Verdict: 7/10