Metallica's James Hetfield Talks Old-School Metal Influence on New Song "Lux Aeterna"

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In case you've been living under a rock, last week Metallica announced their new album, 72 Seasons (due out April 2023), and dropped a fast-and-furious new song called "Lux Æterna." It's a three-and-a-half-minute rager that sits right in the pocket of Metallica's pioneering thrash sound, and in a new video posted to the band's socials, guitarist-frontman James Hetfield opened up about the old-school metal influences that he and his bandmates were channeling on that track. 

"'Lux Æterna' is an upbeat, kind of fast and joyous song, I would say," Hetfield said. "Really indicative of New Wave Of British [Heavy] Metal stuff, so kind of a harkening-back-to-'80s kind of riff. It's just fun and makes me move.

"It was fun making the video, fun recording a song that comes out really easy, that was a real easy song to write and to perform. Like I said, very much like the early '80s for us."

See Hetfield's spiel below and then crank "Lux Æterna" after the jump.