Metallica’s 72 Season Features Strong Performances

72 Seasons is the 11th studio album by American metal band Metallica, and was released on April 14th 2023, through their own record label, Blackened Recordings. The album was produced by Greg Fidelman, who produced the band’s previous studio album, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct. While the album was received positively by critics and praised for its vocals and hooks, it was criticized for its length, with an hour and fourteen minute runtime. There was plenty of buildup for the bands most recent album, with tons of interviews and previews of upcoming singles, as well as some new renditions of previous work, such as an acoustic version of their 1989 song, “Blackened.” Metallica’s James Hetfield commented on the album’s title by saying, “72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.” Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this album. I really liked the vocal performance from Hetfield, as well as the drumwork from Ulrich, and what’s a Metallica album without the banger guitar riffs and solos. 72 Seasons keeps up with the heavy fast paced themes of Metallica’s other work, but isn’t afraid have some slower parts sprinkled throughout the album. The only negative thing about this album that I could say would be how long the album feels with its 12 tracks, and how in a few songs the vocals can seem repetitive and boring, but overall, I would totally recommend this album.