• AllMyVinyl #10
• Band: Metallica
• Album Title: 72 Seasons
• Release Date: 14 Apr 2023
• Date purchased: 14 Apr 2023
• Location purchased: Amazon.com
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 2
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

Before I get into talking about this album, I need to talk about myself first.  This album came out 14 Apr 2023.  It was right  before this that I found out I had prostate cancer.  I’m doing quite well with that now, but at the time, I was a bad place mentally.  As such, when the new Metallica album came out, I bought it  because I’ve bought everything Metallica put out since 1984 or so.  However, I wasn’t in the frame of mind to really get into it.  I did listen to it, I enjoyed parts of it, but it never stuck with me.  Kind of got forgotten about.  That’s not a dig on the album, it’s a personal feeling towards it.  I wanted to bring that up, because a lot of this will sound like I’m indifferent towards the album.  I’m not. I think it’s a good album, but it never found that spot in my brain where I lodge “Hey, that’s damn good”.  That’s on me, and I admit it.

Having said that..  I listened to the album in full today for the first time probably since it came out, and I have to say I did very much enjoy it.  There’s pretty much two camps with Metallica fans.  You either love everything, or refuse to acknowledge anything going forward from about the Black album.  I’m the former.  I like all their stuff – even Load/Reload/and yeah – St. Anger.   However, they did finally return to form with Death Magnetic some years back, and since then they’ve been mostly the band they were in the 80’s if perhaps not as fast/trash as they used to be when they were younger.

72 Seasons continues in this vein.  Very well done album with quite a few hooks and songs I like.  In reading for this writeup, I saw some remarks that people think the album is too long.  I’m not sure I get that.  I had no problem with the length of the album.  One interesting thing I found – since I listened on vinyl and it’s a double disc release, there’s a distinct concept of Parts 1 & 2.   I have to say as a whole I liked songs from the second half of the album more.  I’m not sure what that means, but as I listened to it today I found myself jamming to it a bit more than the first half.

I’m not going to break down each song or anything, but I did jot down a few short notes on some songs as I listened.  First off, I did really like the singles when they came out.  Specifically Lux Æterna & Screaming Suicide.  I thought they worked well as single choices.   The opening of Sleepwalk my Life Away has a great beat that I wish stuck around longer than it did as an intro.  I did like how the song 72 Seasons started the album as a whole.  Thought it was great way to start the album.  Crown of Barbed Wire had some great guitar work.  Chasing Light made me do air drumming at my desk, so that’s a good sign.

Then we come to the last song on the album.  Inamorata.  It’s the longest song Metallica as recorded (unless you count covers).  I VERY much enjoyed that – might be my favorite song on the album – in fact when I finished the album this morning, I put the needle back and played it a second time a row.  Can’t tell you why I liked it – I just did.

So basically I wrote more than I thought I would about 72 Seasons.  I mean it’s not Master of Puppets, but then a band can only have one best album, eh?  But I very much enjoyed it, I should listen to it more.  Found more here to like than I realized.