Metallica’s ’72 Seasons’ Is a Rager in the Band’s Classic Style, Even if Lyrics Leave Anger Behind: Album Review
variety.comA.D. Amorosi Since the group’s rabid four-album start, setting a ridiculously high bar for turning doom-metal and thrash-nihilism into wrenchingly emotional high art has been the blessing and curse of Metallica. “Kill ‘Em All” in 1983, the following year’s 1984’s “Ride the Lightning,” 1986’s “Master of Puppets” and 1988’s “…And Justice for All” blend into a single, crushing aesthetic achievement, an innovation akin to Stevie Wonder or David Bowie’s runs in the 1970s, where each recording was as breathlessly anticipated as it was thunderingly rewarding.
The new “72 Seasons” comes close to Metallica’s bone-crushing, skull-f%$3ng, ire-clinging peak, with more raging guitar solos courtesy of Kirk Hammett, if just a hint of the lyrical anger management by James Hetfield that we’ve heard since the therapy sessions contained in 2004’s “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” doc.
As in 2016’s “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct,” but with more mournful melodies as its guide, Metallica 2023 — Hetfield, Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo — reemerges energized without losing the forlorn freneticism of the new songs’ intent.
Plus, there is a density, a snap and a crack to drummer Ulrich and bassist Trujillo’s rhythmic partnership that was sorely missing from the quartet’s 2016 album.
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