How we doing people happy Friday. We got a big Friday today as one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time released their 11th studio album (full length albums, no concerts/LPs/EPs etc, sorry S&M), their first release in 7 years.

Let’s get this out of the way now, Metallica fucking rocks. They’re among the best to ever do it and they definitely always do it big. Those scene kids from NHP Memorial that used to tell me growing up that Metallica wasn’t real metal and that they stink can shove it up their fucking ass. I used to have kids with dyed hair, eye liner and nail polish try to tell me that some dude singing like a girl and whining about how hard his middle class life was is real metal. Credit where credit is due, they can scream for sure, but just because you can scream doesn’t make you metal.

When I first started taking guitar lessons my teacher Zack and I decided to throw away the book and just learn songs instead of doing scales. The first song, or rather riff I should say, was “One”. I sucked at guitar then and still suck at it now, but I would hammer out that intro like it was my job while he took lead and crushed that opening solo part, it was magical. He was a die-hard Metallica fan, one that was in the trenches with Cliff and grew to have his fair share of complaints about how things have gone but always loved them deep down. He would tell me crazy stories all about the history of the band and how the music was made/what to listen to and it really made me appreciate everything that much more. Shout out Zack, there’s a 1% chance you’re reading this, but I just want you to know you really helped shape me as a person and I’ll forever be grateful for the lessons we took together.

Metallica isn’t the perfect band by any means and definitely had their fair share of low points, but the good certainly outweighs the bad. The Black Album, Kill ‘Em All, And Justice for All (my personal favorite), and Ride the Lightning, are all fantastic albums cover to cover. The three newest albums they put out have all been very very enjoyable. Even Load and Re-Load have some classics on them, leaving just one red-headed stepchild and IYKYK. And forget about Master of Puppets, both the album and the song, are absolute works of art that belong in the Louvre. As I’m sure you saw recently, MOP was featured in a Stranger Things Episode and it lead an entirely new generation to learn about Metallica the same way I did during my guitar lessons in the basement of Laconia Music Shop. Normally this would be something I would be against and gatekeep, but not here, this was awesome to see. In short, I’ll leave everyone’s favorite bus driver to say what I’m trying to do before we get to the meat,

72 Seasons is the newest addition to the catalog and it is one that is very welcomed. Last night I had the pleasure of going to a movie theater in my neck of the woods for a “listening party” and it was like nothing I’ve ever been a part of before. A sold-out theater of Metallica fans with buckets of popcorn and surprisingly reasonably priced beers since that’s a thing at movie theaters now gathered to hear the latest and greatest from the fearsome foursome. I know not many are as big and flashy as Metallica, but, more bands should do this. The sound was impeccable, the visuals were pretty cool, but again the sound. The seats were literally vibrating from Lars’ kicks it was insane.

Quick unrelated but passionate tangent – go to your local movie theater and support the industry before it dies cause its days are numbered. Sure the prices aren’t the greatest, but there is literally no better way to enjoy media hands down. You can make the argument that now you can just get everything on your own TV to enjoy from your couch a few weeks later and it’s understandable. But is your TV fucking 30 feet high? Do you have Dolby speakers surrounding you cranked up to 11 for maximum immersion? No? Go to the movies god damn it.

Now to dive in while fittingly the opening track just came on my shuffle. The album opens with its namesake track, a bit out of place for the band since they usually place the title track 2nd. They wanna start off hot and heavy I’m absolutely here for it, this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The song opens with a Dick Dale type riff under some heavy chord progressions that get you ready for battle. Once things pick up, they pick up and we’re thrashing baby. I’ll be honest, I’m not too crazy about James’ new style lyric/verse structure, he’s been doing it now for a few albums. It just feels like a bunch of words grouped together with no really melodic structure to it but its a small gripe. Metallica isn’t Bob Dylan or Neil Young ya know, we’re here for metal not social justice messages.

The heaviness continues right into the second track with Shadows Follow. To me, this felt as if it was a Kill ‘Em All song written in 2023 with their current skill set. It has that gallopy thrash sound that early Metallica thrived off of with one of the most bad ass outros I’ve ever heard. The vocals are in the same style as 72 Seasons which again isn’t my jam but doesn’t take away from the song. And from there the ball keeps rolling and your head will keep banging.

I don’t want to sit here and give you a track-by-track analysis of the album, I think its pretentious and makes you think you have to feel a certain way about how you listen to things. I fell victim to this after not being able to wait until my show last night and read a few album reviews that made me think a certain way about certain songs. You should listen and form your own opinion, you don’t have to think how everyone else does regardless of what internet echo chambers make you believe. I do however want to highlight some good and bad that I took note of during my first listen-through.

Starting with the good, this album is an important one to the band and you can tell. Before they played each song they would interview the boys and they would tell a small little anecdote about the song and what it means and feels like to them and it was really cool to hear it all.

I think this is some of Lars’ best drumming in years I really do. He was dialed in for all 77 minutes and it is very apparent. He’s looking good these days and I hope his playing translates to the concerts they have coming up. In some of the aforementioned reviews I read, people were accusing him of using a drum machine for assistance but I definitely don’t think that’s the case. Lars is a great drummer who we know has the chops, he hasn’t been showing it in recent years as much as he could’ve been but I’m happy to say he’s back. I feel like recently he’s been trying to get overtly technical and it’s just not something he needs to do. You’re not Danny Carrey and that’s not an insult, it’s just a fact. I don’t want to call thrash drumming simple because it’s really not, but he stays within his means here and hones the energy and sound he had in the earlier stuff.

The album also highlights Kirk Hammet’s god-like playing. I’ve long since said Kirk Hammet is the most underrated guitar player of all time just beating out Alex Lifeson of Rush. Kirk plays solos as if Eddie Van Halen started worshipping the devil, best way I can describe it. The riffs are always fat and heavy but he just does it so effortlessly. He’s a quiet dude so he probably enjoys the nonexistent praise, but I will continue to strum this string until the end of time, Kirk Hammet deserves your undying respect and attention at all times.

If you’re a fan of the band you know that James’ has recently fell on some hard times and had to go back into rehab a few years back. I’m glad to say he’s back sounding good and looking healthy, old, but healthy. Father times a bitch nothing we can do about that one. That being said though, I think he tried to make things deeper than they really had to be. It’s great to have substance in every song, but with the lyrical style they rock with now, I just don’t think it really lends itself well. Granted, I wasn’t sitting there with a lyric sheet and when I get the vinyl I’ll definitely be giving things a closer look but I just didn’t catch “man getting over demons through the song” vibe he was trying to give. Specifically during Crown of Barbed Wire, a song he personally highlighted as a deep one with meaning in the interviews, I just felt it didn’t meet the vibe he wanted. You take a look back at some of their deeper tracks like Welcome Home and like The Unforgiven, these are songs that tell stories and have meaning delivered in my opinion insanely well and much better than now. But with all that being said, I’m just happy to see James back on his feet fronting the band that he loves so very much, grey hair and all.

Rob Trujillo is one bad motherfucker with a bass in his hand. He’s not cliff and no one ever will be (RIP) but he’s definitely the next best thing the band can have. I truly believe he captures all that Metallica stands for and understands what they’re always looking for. That being said, I feel like he got Newsted’ed here a little bit. I want more Rob man, I want to hear his thunderous sound I know his capable of. He was definitely prominently featured on a few tracks, including the 11 minute epic album conclusion Inamorata, but yo let’s turn him up a bit more.

All in all, this is Metallica just being Metallica at its core and its 300% welcomed in my eyes. This was a hard, thrashing, unforgiving (pun intended) album that had me ready to start a mosh pit in the middle of a movie theater. Is it going to be on their Mount Rushmore of albums? No. Are there any instant classics on here like Sandman, Puppets, and One? Also no, at least to me. But it’s an enjoyable cover to cover listen and your head won’t stop banging. I did a second listen-through this morning while in the gym and it was just non-stop high octane. I can’t lie, the songs do kind of blend together a little bit with noticeable influence from past songs, but that’s just their sound man. Metallica gonna Metallica and I’ll be here every single time they do.

The boys are hitting the road this Summer to accompany the album with an insane stadium tour that will feature two nights in each city with NO REPEATS. Taking the Grateful Dead/Phish route and I’m absolutely here for it. Oh, and fucking PANTERA (or what’s left of it at least) will be one of the opening acts. The catalog is so vast that this is something that can be very very interesting. They’ll be at Metlife on August 4th and 6th and surprisingly 2 day tickets are pretty affordable for a band of this caliber. I’m definitely going to be trying to hit both shows pending my future schedule and plans, but if I can’t (and if you can’t) the band also confirmed they will be live streaming their 2 nights in Dallas (August 18th and 20th) in theaters. If its playing anywhere near you and you’re a fan that couldn’t get to the shows I highly recommend going to that. I have yet to see them live and I imagine that is obviously the best way to experience it, but their sound lends very well to movie theaters as we saw with Through the Never and Last Night so I’m guessing it’s the next best thing.

And that’s all I got to say about that, go check out the album and let me know what you think on Twitter. See you guys this weekend for the playoff preview \m/ \m/