Show of Shadows - A Review of Metallica's 72 Seasons

Whenever the world's most famous metal band Metallica releases a new album, a lot of people who really don't have much to say claim to be genre experts and usually dismiss the band's newest effort no matter which direction it favours. Well, let's cut the crap and get to the point. Twelfth studio album 72 Seasons continues in the genre stylistics of Death Magnetic and Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. The song material outclasses its immediate predecessor with its significant highs and lows but doesn't quite reach the quality of Death Magnetic's greatest cuts. The final result is a good but not an excellent effort.

Let's point out a few highlights. Opening title track ''72 Seasons'' convinces with guitar riffs that find the right balance between aggression and melody. The bass guitar play sounds more present than previously as Robert Trujillo offers his best performance so far since joining Metallica two decades ago. The drum play is incredibly precise and tight. Whether drummer Lars Ulrich really managed to lay down his greatest performance in career or whether some productional skills were used to improve the final result is left to everyone's own interpretation. The fact of the matter is that this opening song features excellent musicianship, great production and catchy sections that keep listeners hooked throughout its running time of almost eight minutes. However, this song also exposes this record's most obvious problem that Metallica shares with numerous other veterans such as Iron Maiden, The material is much too long, features too many repetitions, includes too many ideas, fails to get to the point and is sucking out energy rather than providing it.

Unsurprisingly, especially the shorter tunes on this album are truly convincing. ''Shadows Follow'' might not seem like a short track upon first sight but in the context of this particular album, it sits on top of the half of shorter tunes and sounds particularly addictive with its tight mid-paced riffing and James Hetfield's emotional vocals that make him sound at least a decade younger than he actually is despite his share of personal problems in recent and distant past. The singer is a survivor but his shadows always follow as you can learn in one of the band's most personal lyrics ever.

Another noteworthy cut is second single ''Screaming Suicide'' as it has a desperate, energetic and gritty tone that should get your head banging and assures this song's spot on set lists throughout the next few years.

Rightfully chosen first single ''Lux Aeterna'' combines New Wave of British Heavy Metal stylistics in the key of Diamond Head with Metallica's early ferocious thrash metal stylistics circa Kill 'em All as it rips your head off and takes no prisoners. An entire record of songs like this one, clocking in just below forty minutes, would be what most fans are craving for. It's however a blessing to even get one single song of this quality on a new Metallica record.

''Too Far Gone?'' convinces with similar despair, precision and speed and might qualify as this record's hidden gem leading to a surprisingly strong conclusion of this record. In the recent past, Metallica's records were often rather fading out but this one here offers stamina until the very end.

At the end of the day, 72 Seasons can't compare to Metallica's influential early years that will always stand the test of time as influential classics. However, in the context of contemporary outputs, this release is the greatest the band has offered in at least fifteen years and proves that the band  still has the energy, inspiration and will to leave new marks. If the group simplified its overtly long songwriting for the next output, it might even have the potential to surprise nagging naysayers and deliver its strongest output in many decades. As it is now, Metallica's 72 Seasons is a good contemporary thrash metal record for regular and faithful fans but ultimately of average quality in the band's impressive discography.

Final Rating: 70%