Late last year, Metallica shocked the rock and metal world with their first new song in six years, the throwback Motörhead-ish ripper "Lux Æterna." The lead single off their upcoming 77-minute, 12-track album, 72 Seasons, the NWOBHM-inflected throwback hinted at old-school things to come, but today (January 19th), the heavy-metal titans reared their heads again with a second 72 Seasons single, "Screaming Suicide," which leans a little more into the mid-tempo and longer-form approach of latter-day Metallica. Blast it above via its stark, black-and-white music video.
Metallica's James Hetfield has described the concept of the album'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," the Metallica frontman 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.
