Before their latest album, I was something of a casual Metallica fan. I liked a handful of their songs, and considered the rest of their songs to be recycled versions of their songs that I liked.

Then St Anger happened. I thought they were maybe getting too old to keep raging like hormone-driven teenagers, maybe they should start releasing c&w albums or something.

Then 72 Seasons came along and blew my tiny little mind.

I’m not massively keen on every song, but (imo) there are no weak songs on this album. It has a different energy, they tried different approaches to lyrics, soloing, drumming etc, while incorporating those fresh ideas into their established sound.

My personal favs off the album are Lux Æterna and Inamorata. Such great energy and great messages! My boss at work loves Inamorata so my colleagues tolerate it, but they are sick to death of Lux Æterna (I had it on repeat for a long while).

So that’s my Metallica story. What’s yours?