Metallica
72 Seasons

Trujillo's bass kicks off the first track “72 seasons”, which develops with a fast guitar riff moving into the verse supported by a driving riff; after the long chorus, we reach the solo dominated by speed and melodic lines that lead us towards the final part of the piece.

It continues with “shadows follow”, “screaming suicide”, and “sleepwalk my life away”, slightly less fast than the opening track, characterized by predominantly hard ‘n’ heavy riffs and Ulrich's drums confidently following the dual guitars, all consistently coupled with Hetfield's powerful voice that draws us in with his melodic lines.

“you must burn!” (with a main riff reminiscent of Black Sabbath) and “crown of barbed wire” are dominated by a steady rhythm, in contrast to the faster “lux aeterna” and “room of mirrors,” leading to the long and concluding “inamorata”, another steady track characterized by a chorus that attempts to “envelop” the listener, passing through a clean interlude with a bass line echoing the melody of the chorus, developing into guitar harmonizations culminating in Hammett's solo that brings us to the long closure, but the piece is too uneventful for such a long duration dominated by the chorus and a few riffs repeated and harmonized for too long.

The album is mostly characterized by compositions based on riffs (mostly simple in technical terms) with shades of thrash and hard ‘n’ heavy “interlocking” as they follow one track after another, the vocal lines are full of harmony and the dual guitars frequently indulge in various typically heavy metal melodies. As the tracks progress, however, this continuous “interlocking” and “cut and paste” of riffs feels forced, and the sensation of constructing the length of the tracks becomes markedly pronounced (“sleepwalk my life away”, “crown of barbed wire”, “chasing light”).

I consider “lux aeterna” the best track on the album, structured in classic style, with an excellent speed metal riff, enriched by a chaotic solo. In “screaming suicide” (with a curious nod to Deep Purple's “speed king” during the solo) and “room of mirrors,” the sensation of forced compositions is noticeable but not overly so, allowing the two tracks to reach their end without issues.

Hetfield's voice is powerful and reaches notable highs as in “lux aeterna”. The lyrics seem characterized by the theme of “confession”, laying bare in front of a mirror, questioning uncertainties and fears.

Kirk Hammett's solos often seem to follow the same line of construction, starting with slower solo parts, then let loose in fast passages dominated by pentatonic scales but often without succeeding in creating memorable melodic lines. This solo construction indeed fits some tracks better than others, while Ulrich's drums keep up with simple and classic rhythms for the rhythm guitars, even though he often indulges in drum rolls on the snare, but over time it results in a mechanical and flat sonic choice; here we arrive at one of the points I do not appreciate about the album, the mastering.

All the instruments come through powerfully and clearly to the ear but in such an excessive manner that there is no dynamism in the sound, which in its entirety unfortunately results “flat”, lacking any “craftsmanship” and the notes emanating from the instruments are devoid of “color” (especially affecting the drums). One of the things I appreciate is the powerful yet not razor-sharp guitar distortion and Hetfield's voice that manages to have “color”.

Overall, I consider “72 seasons” a successful album for the vocal melodies, choruses, and mostly effective riffs, while I mark down for the mastering and the excessive forced construction of almost the entirety of the tracks; trimming a few minutes from some songs would have helped to reach the end of the album with a lesser sensation of mechanical construction.