First Metallica ’72 Seasons’ Review Calls It ‘An Intense Album’

We’re just a little over two weeks from the release of Metallica‘s 11th studio album 72 Seasons, and while we’ve already got a taste of what it has to offer from the four tracks the band has shared, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. One of the first reviews, which was published in Classic Rock Magazine, has called it “an intense album” that “goes hard,” but also added that it “isn’t an easy listen.”

So far, Metallica have unveiled “Lux Aeterna,” “Screaming Suicide,” “If Darkness Had a Son” and the title track from the album, the latter of which just came out today (March 30). Each song has had its own identity both sonically and thematically, but there are still eight songs to digest once the full package is available.

“The 11th studio album won’t disappoint anyone but the most truculent fan,” Classic Rock wrote toward the beginning of the review via [Reddit], adding that it fits in appropriately with their last two records, Death Magnetic (2008) and Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (2016).

The first bit of 72 Seasons that we heard was “Lux Aeterna,” which was released at the end of November. Fans have had a while to sit with the track since then, but the reactions to its thrashy sound were generally positive. Classic Rock notes that the rest of the album is “denser” than what that first song demonstrated, calling it an “intense album, one that goes hard for virtually every second of its 77-minute running time.”

Though the musicians’ musicality is still up to par with what we’d expect from Metallica, Classic Rock suggests that James Hetfield‘s lyrics, inspired by his personal trials and tribulations over the last couple of years, are what add to the intensity of the album — describing them as “tormented and bleak.”

READ MORE: Fans React to Metallica Releasing ’72 Seasons’ Title Track

Furthermore, the publication revealed that there aren’t any ballads at all, “and even big melodies are scarce.” They chose closing track “Inamorata” as one of the best of them all, and concluded with a score of 8 out of 10.

72 Seasons will be out April 14 and can be pre-ordered here. Their tour kicks off a few weeks later in Europe, with the North American leg starting in early August. See all of the dates and get tickets here.

PLAYLIST: 21st Century Thrash

Listen/follow here and view the first 100 songs on the playlist below.