Too Far Gone?
Alan: Hello Craig, it’s been a while since we spoke about Metallica. We need to talk about 72 Seasons. On first impressions, it’s the same bland material the band has been churning out since the early 90s. And yet… I can’t stop listening to it.
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Craig: Hello, Alan. Oh no. Is your music player of choice malfunctioning? Has it been possessed by a spectre and/or demon?
I also thought 72 Seasons was a bit bland. As with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I’m excited to hear new music from my favourite bands but I am seemingly doomed to hear the same old same old sounds.
(Aside: I asked an AI chatbot to write a Metallica song about a band doomed to repeat themselves. Results included at the end of this article1)
What changed for you, Alan?
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Alan: My music player is working just fine – it’s an intentional choice! What changed for me: last week I went for a long trail run and listened to And Justice For All, intentionally, for the first time since forever. I’d heard tracks like ‘One’ and ‘Blackened’ many times of course, but I had always bounced off the terrible bass-free mix and the sheer sonic density. So there I was, running through the forest avoiding snakes (photo evidence supplied) and halfway through Justice I felt… bored! I was scanning every branch for snake activity (perhaps I should have listened to ‘Don’t Tread On Me’?) but otherwise, my mind was wandering.
Every song started to blend into the next after ‘One’, a slow funereal sludge without the interesting bits of real doom metal. The album picks up for the last track ‘Dyer’s Eve’ but I was shocked to find myself excited to hear 72 Seasons again.
Later that evening I revisited Load and Reload which are just terrible. 72 Seasons has that same hard rocking, “gimme fuel gimme fire gimme dabajabaza” vibe, but the songwriting is far better than I had originally given credit. It’s not fresh but it’s also not that dated.
Can we agree that ‘Chasing Light’ (seizure warning for that video) kicks ass?
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Rhythmic Pockets
Craig: Any Metallica song that isn’t resting entirely on E minor is always a treat. Still though, as mixed a bag as Load and Reload are, at least the songs have their own personality. If you spliced up the songs of 72 Seasons into ten-second clips and remixed them together, I don’t think I’d notice.
Hands up – This is a ‘me’ problem and I will get over this. Lars said on Conan O’Brien’s podcast that he and Hetfield write songs with “rhythmic pockets”. When asked about how he keeps time with their complicated songs (like ‘One’), Lars says:
Some of the stuff from back in the day was a little nuttier. Now we really like the feel and creating songs that have moods, and swagger, and bounce, and “pockets” as we called it, rhythmic pockets.
Rhythmic pockets with bounce and swagger probably make for better running music. “Rhythmic pockets with bounce and swagger” is also how I’ve heard people describe your running style (chuckle chuckle yuck yuck yuck).
For me, it’s hard to hear the same section repeated over and over. But I do need to give the full album another proper listen.
‘Too Far Gone?’ is the track that has grown on me. I think I described the chorus to you as having pop-punk vibes. On closer inspection, it would fit comfy in The Offspring’s catalogue. But oh my, the glorious Thin Lizzy-esque guitar harmonies at 2:30! More! More of this, please!
Alan, when you say the songwriting is better, what do you mean by that?
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And Justice For Prog
Alan: I mean, “When I first listened I found it unmemorable, but it’s grown on me with repeated listening”. (I have also realised a limitation of the ‘collaborative essay’ format: I can’t edit what I wrote earlier in the conversation without gaslighting you! I will try and write with first-time precision…)
For me, a well-written song is one that sustains my interest throughout. It shouldn’t feel repetitive, it shouldn’t be too predictable, if there’s a shredding guitar solo then it needs to gel with the rest of the track – it can’t be non sequitur noodling. I listen to a lot of metal, everything from the world’s shortest song to 30-minute-long Vietnamese prog metal epics. People have joked that “prog” means “twice as long as it needs to be”, and that Hac San song is a good example of something interesting that I think justifies the run time (and then some – it’s incredible!)
Metallica songs have been too long since And Justice For All. They’re like our writing post-Student newspaper: in dire need of a brave editor to tell them when to stop. Obviously, St Anger is the poster child for this – many of the songs are 3 minutes of material stretched to 7 minutes of tedium – and in 72 Seasons, you can often hear the part where the song should have naturally ended before they add the same chorus again or an extended outro that doesn’t add anything new. It’s like they stitched another few bars in Pro Tools to artificially extend the run time. The difference between the new album and Load or Reload is that I’m bored by the end of a 72 Seasons track, but in Load I’m bored within 30 seconds. I said the songwriting was better, not that it was good!
‘Too Far Gone?’ is one of the more fun songs. I am fond of ‘Crown of Barbed Wire’ which has an interesting, dirty riff that represents the best of post-thrash Metallica. Unfortunately, the worst is also represented (‘You Must Burn!’ and ‘Sleepwalk My Life Away’).
I know that many are inexplicably fond of Death Magnetic – again, it doesn’t sustain my interest most of the time and the compressed mix is truly dire – but for me, the first disc of Hardwired… To Self Destruct would make a genuinely great EP2, especially if you added ‘Spit Out The Bone’. Tighter songs, full of energy, and it’s got the ‘Thin Lizzy-esque’ harmonies you describe, which I’d probably call ‘Maiden-esque’.
Running on Empty
Your comment about ‘better running music’ is an interesting one. I’ve been working on my running technique lately, including increasing my cadence. 180SPM is often cited as the sweet spot for running efficiency, but if you try running to 180BPM music – think ‘Moth Into Flame’ from Hardwired – it’s fast, much faster than you might think. It was certainly faster than my body could handle: I gave myself a stitch when I tried to run at that cadence! I’ve settled into a sweet spot of 170SPM or so for now –’72 Seasons’ pace – focusing on form over footwork.
If you try to run while keeping pace with the beat on a typical playlist, it’s too erratic. The music is motivating but it’s also largely incidental, I’ve got my own internal metronome. You’re right that the ‘bounce and swagger’ of hard rockin’ Metallica is a great fit for a long run, but then again so is a bit of Killswitch or Bad Religion. Perhaps the better question is: what can’t I run to? Jazz, maybe?
I hear you about the repetition and that’s probably my biggest criticism of 72 Seasons, you could easily cut every song in half. In fact, I would suggest you have a go if it wasn’t for Lars Ulrich’s legendary litigiousness.
But to come full circle, I think what has brought me around to appreciate this album: they sound like they’re having fun, and they definitely weren’t having fun on the Load sessions. Fun is infectious!
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Craig: This chat has helped me appreciate the album for what it is.
As a band, they definitely do seem to be in a good place. Going further, it’s probably worth remembering that, in spite of their age, they are monsters on tour. They are doing a two-year tour for this album, and their live performances are as intense as ever. Maybe the album recordings, as solid as they are, are not the intended way to experience them. Listening to ‘72 Seasons‘ played live in front of thousands of people definitely gives me a stronger appreciation of the album. James’ vocals are as powerful as ever.
I feel we are wrapping up here and, while I don’t want to end on a downer, I do want to air my final grievances.
- Rob is now the longest-tenured bass player in Metallica’s line up but I still feel he hasn’t given us any interesting bass lines. He tends to follow the guitars and he is rarely featured on his own. To my earlier point, he’s a beast playing live but I’ll take Jason Newsted or Cliff Burton’s bass lines over Rob’s anytime.
- The way they write songs still irks me. It’s James and Lars laying out the entire piece with guitar and drums. Then Rob seems to be invited in to squeeze in a bass. Then Kirk drops in a solo. Maybe the last two swap round, but I do feel the bass and second guitars are afterthoughts.
- Kirk’s guitar solos bore me. There’s a video of Bob Rock producing the solo to one of the songs on Metallica (the Black Album) where he is pushing Kirk to do something melodic and to write a solo that serves the song and isn’t just shredding. It’s like watching a disappointed teacher lecture a bored student. But yeah, maybe I need to abandon that thought and accept that if the songs are about swagger then the guitar solos are about being explosive.
If you want to wrap this one up, let’s end with the best song and the worst song from the album. You go first.
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Alan: We should continue past the obvious end of this article and drag it out, Metallica-style!
Just kidding. Best song – ‘Chasing Light’. Worst song – I don’t even remember ‘Room of Mirrors’ so it’s probably that one, but ‘You Must Burn!’ is the one I remember liking the least. How about you?
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Craig: Good idea. Let’s loop the second paragraph three more times and then finish with the opening paragraph again.
Best song: It was ‘Lux Æterna’ before this article but I’m going to switch and agree that it is ‘Chasing Light’. Worst song: ‘Sleepwalk My Life Away’, aptly-named because I have vague memories of not liking the on-the-nose lyrics and don’t remember the music.
Damn, now I need to finish the article. Oh, it took me ages to decode the title: “72 Seasons” / (4 seasons per year) = 18 years. I guess the songs all fit with the idea of the first 18 years is what shapes you as a person. They really are quite introspective now, aren’t they? 18 years is also the age when most fans lock into their preferred Metallica era/sound. So, yeah, think about that while reading these AI-scribed lyrics.
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FOOTNOTES
1. @AI write the lyrics and describe the music for a Metallica song about a heavy metal band doomed to repeat themselves↩
“Verse 1:
We hit the stage, the crowd goes wild / We play our songs, we’re feeling proud
But deep inside, we know the truth / We’re doomed to repeat, a tired old groove
Chorus:
Heavy metal band, stuck in the past / Same old riffs, same old blast
We try to change, we try to grow / But we’re trapped in a cycle, we can’t let go
Verse 2:
We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the drive / But we can’t escape, this endless vibe
We want to break free, to find our way / But we’re stuck in this rut, day after day
Chorus:
Heavy metal band, stuck in the past / Same old riffs, same old blast
We try to change, we try to grow / But we’re trapped in a cycle, we can’t let go
Bridge:
We need a spark, a new inspiration / To break this cycle, of repetition
We want to evolve, to find our sound/ But we’re trapped in this loop, we can’t break out
Chorus:
Heavy metal band, stuck in the past / Same old riffs, same old blast
We try to change, we try to grow/ But we’re trapped in a cycle, we can’t let go
Outro:
We’ll keep on playing, we’ll keep on trying/ To break this cycle, and stop denying
That we’re stuck in a groove, but still we’ll thrive/ Heavy metal band, we’ll keep the music alive.
The music for this Metallica song would likely be heavy and driving, with fast-paced guitar riffs and pounding drums. The verses could be more melodic and introspective, with a slower tempo, building up to the explosive chorus. The bridge could feature a guitar solo or instrumental break, showcasing the band’s talent and musicianship. The outro could be a powerful, uplifting finale, with the band members playing together in unison. Overall, the music would be a fitting tribute to heavy metal bands who struggle to evolve and find their own unique sound in the face of industry pressure and audience expectations.”
2.That is, one that people would listen to even if it didn’t have ‘Metallica’ written on the cover.↩
