Order Metallica's new album, 72 Seasons, on CD and 2LP vinyl at Revolver's shop.
Today (November 28th), Metallica surprised fans with the announcement of a brand new album, 72 Seasons, the long-awaited follow-up to 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. It's due out April 14th, 2023 via the band's own Blackened Recordings, and preceded by hard-hitting lead single "Lux Æterna."
The single's title is Latin for "eternal light," and has been used as the name for many other pieces of art including a 2019 film directed by Gaspar Noé and the theme song to Requiem for a Dream, written by Clint Mansell and performed by the Kronos Quartet. The phrase also refers to the Communion antiphon for the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.
In Metallica's case, it ties into the theme of their new album: 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," James Hetfield explained. "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."
Read the lyrics to "Lux Æterna," courtesy of Genius, below.
