By now, you've heard the teaser clips, and you know that Metallica's new single, the title track off their upcoming album, 72 Seasons, has the fastest, thrashiest riffing of any of the four cuts they've released from the LP so far. Today (March 30th), the rock titans unleashed the full, eight-minute-plus song, and yeah, it's a fucking ripper, veering between throwback speed metal, mid-tempo marches and anthemic chant-alongs. Blast it above via its frenetic, light-streaked performance video.
Metallica's James Hetfield has described the concept behind the album and song's title as a reflection on the first 18 years (or 72 "seasons") of a person's life. "72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves," he said. "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."
72 Seasons is out April 14th, 2023 via the band's own Blackened Recordings. You can pre-order it here.
