NOT A DRILL: Metallica Have a New Album Coming Next April, First Single “Lux Aeterna” Out Now

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Talk about unexpected news. The biggest band in the world just dropped a bomb with the sudden announcement of not just a new song in “Lux Aeterna,” but the title of their 12th studio album: 72 Seasons. Slated for release on April 14, 2023, this came out of fucking nowhere.

Prodcued by Greg Fidelman with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich backing him up, this is the band’s follow up to the (in my opinion) pretty good 2016 release Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. It’s apparently got over 77 minutes and 12 tracks, and will have a whole mess of formats available when it’s released.

Hetfield himself explained the concept behind the album’s title as the formative years of a person’s life.

“72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. 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.”

As for the single, “Lux Aeterna,” it’s a fast, three and a half minute rocker that’s not as punchy or in your face as “Hardwired to Self-Destruct” was, but it’s got it where it counts. The drums are still pretty fucking lackluster, but everyone including Dave Mustaine knows why…

You can check out the single below, as well as the album cover and track listing.

Metallica, 72 Seasons

72 Seasons
Shadows Follow
Screaming Suicide
Sleepwalk My Life Away
You Must Burn!
Lux Æterna
Crown of Barbed Wire
Chasing Light
If Darkness Had a Son
Too Far Gone?
Room of Mirrors
Inamorata