Metallica - 72 Seasons (New Album April 2023)

It sounds so repetitive in the middle, at least after three listens. When I hear the twin harmonies on the excellent last two tracks I'm all, "we needed more of THIS!"

But I will say that none of the weaker tracks are bad. There's no "Unforgiven 4" here. But I can't shake the kind of fatigue and depression I feel whenever I want to torture myself with Load/Reload deep cuts.

yeah the twin harmonies at the end were really nice and something they've really underutilized in recent years.

it really does feel like a 'there's nothing BAD here, but there's not much great here either' album.

I'll revisit this morning, but then I'm going to the new Overkill

also very little thrash here, they very much wanted to go to the NWOBHM well. which is cool! but there aren't many moments when you'll want to flail your limbs

The one weird thing that sticks out for me is, this is the first time they've included "studio talkback" stuff on a for-real album (as opposed to the Garage Days EP), and I don't love it or hate it, it's a value-neutral proposition for me, but I'm wondering why they chose to do it. To make them seem more human and less like cyborg riff machines? Unnecessary. But maybe Meshuggah should try that...

Anyway, I'm quite deliberately not paying any attention to the lyrics and focusing on the riffs, and...they rule. I made it all the way through twice yesterday and will go back again today.

lars absolutely killing it on this record :)

the opening of the first song has me mf hyped

If I'm being honest, after one listen to each, I prefer the new Overkill.

At an appointment with dad so Metallica back up next

I tried with the new Overkill, but as always, Blitz's voice is a deal-breaker. He's on the wrong side of the Udo line for me.

lol:

i'm getting reports our new video for metallica has killed dozens, perhaps hundreds of their fans 😓 if you're a fan of real music DO NOT WATCH pic.twitter.com/QgojsBd3NV

— sam rolfes (@samrolfes) April 17, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv5Rhp3fX60

I started watching that, but 1) super drummer vs. Lars is no contest and 2) I don't want to hear that song more than once, if that.

spent a little more time with this and i think it's the most consistent of their back-to-thrash releases even tho i mean "consistent" in a slightly damning way, like there are only a few songs as good as "all nightmare long" or the entire first disc of hardwired. still the title track has been stuck in my head for weeks. think every song is at least ok but the album really hits a stride from "lux aeterna" on and i kinda wish the album was the title track, "shadows follow," and then that run

pretty otm there. the songwriting is consistent, more of the bad excesses of Hardwired and Death Magnetic lopped out, and there's a better flow to each song, but at the same point, it's kinda like being a contact hitter in baseball, they're getting on base more, but it's mostly singles.

few songs that utterly blow me away. I've only relistened once since drop date. I relistened to Hardwired more.

I wound up watching a really well-shot audience cam of night two of the Amsterdam shows, and was struck by how it seemed more mechanical than you'd expect from Metallica. Minimal interaction, just two hours of material broken up into half hour quarters. No encores, no extras, just "Here's Enter Sandman, goodnight." And the band looks oddly dwarfed by the huge roller derby stage. The aerial camera angles are super cool, but I'm not sold on this in-the-round concept for football stadiums.

The way these shows are structured, they really want to coax fans to both concerts, which is understandable I suppose. Plus the guys probably don't want to do epic two and a half, three hour sets anymore. But having seen these guys play for nearly 40 years, this set felt oddly devoid of fun.

Though starting both shows with Orion and Ktulu is a wicked idea. Love it.

Hey would you look at that, Lars' dad is still around. 94 and I hope he's thriving.

v dumb metallica ranking ahoy

(lulu)
justice
kill 'em all
master of puppets
ride the lightning
st. anger
metallica
reload
hardwired.../72 seasons
load
death magnetic

I don't know about dumb, everyone has their own history with Metallica. Mine is probably:

And Justice For All / Ride The Lightning
Master Of Puppets
Kill Em All
Lulu
Hardwired / Death Magnetic
Black Album
72 Seasons
Load / Reload
St. Anger

The new one, the energy is there and I like the production but the riffs aren't that great and the songs all stretch out to lengths that can't be justified due to the (lack of) strength of aforementioned riffs, it's a real slog.

I guess it's a question of time until someone edits these songs down to a more concise "42 Seasons".

Master of Puppets
And Justice For All
Ride the Lightning
Lulu
Kill 'Em All
Metallica
72 Seasons
St. Anger
Hardwired
Reload
Load
Death Magnetic

Ok, here's my comprehensive list of Metallica albums that I would feel like listening to again

And Justice for All
Master of Puppets
Ride the Lightning
Lulu
Metallica
Hardwired
Load
Kill 'Em All

Master of Puppets
Lulu
Kill Em All
And Justice For All
Ride the Lightning
Black Album
The single-album edit Spotify playlist I made of Hardwired to Self Destruct

The single-album edit Spotify playlist I made of Hardwired to Self Destruct

Oh yeah obviously this is implied

if were just the first disc + "spit out the bone" it'd be right below ride the lightning on my list

haha i hadn't listened to mine in forever, and that's exactly what I ended up doing back then

Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
Now That We're Dead
Halo on Fire
Moth into Flame
Dream No More
Spit Out the Bone

"ManUNkind" is one of the dumbest song titles in history

Naming a song ManUNKind definitely makes it a funny Metallica alb

Xpost goddammit

Probably my favorite stupid song title since Yelawolf's "Slumerican Shitizen"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edkV2e0wYxs

god this song rules