72 Seasons
Metallica
Blackened Records 2023
Although I didn’t start out as a Metallica fan I found myself enjoying a lot of their later albums.
I suppose my conversion started with their Load album which was released in 1996. This album could best be described as hard rock rather than metal and displayed a broad range of influences from Southern rock, blues, roots and even some country rock.
It marked the beginning of the band’s melodic period and I personally found it quite appealing.
It’s interesting that Load received mixed reviews. Metallica were praised for their inventiveness and the album debuted at number 4 in the Billboard album chart but many of their died-in-the-wool metal fans were disappointed with their lack of hard-metal purity.
Metallica followed Load with Reload (1997) which as the name suggests was a continuation of the path travelled with the previous album.
The album debuted at number one on the Billboard top 200 and went on to be certified 3X Platinum but, despite achieving greater sales and continuing their crossover to the mainstream charts, some disquiet remained amongst fans.
This melodic approach continued through their next few albums; St Anger (2003), Death Magnetic (2006), and to some extent Hard-Wired to Self-Destruct (2016) but by then you could sense that a change was coming.
It took seven years before Metallica released a new album and it seems that the band has come full circle.
72 Seasons marks the length of the band’s journey and the album has greatly pleased their hard-core fans because it’s a return to the sound and heaviness that brought Metallica their early success.
My initial notes on listening to the album were “77 minutes of unrelenting blackness and cliché”. It’s a harsh assessment but one that I stand by.
The melodic approach is gone in favour of pared back melody and massively heavy sound. Doom metal, bleak, and lacking any nuance or lightness of touch. And at a running time of 77 minutes it’s much too long and all too much for me.
Hardly surprisingly Metallica have once again divided their fans. Their hard-core followers are delighted while many others are not so enamoured of the album.
72 Seasons debuted at number 2 on Billboard so it’s already been a success. Thanks to my mate Neil for lending me his copy for review.
