The release of a new Metallica album is a huge event these days, the musical equivalent of a new Star Wars movie or the launch of a game-changing Apple product. With it comes anticipation and expectation from an often demanding fanbase, a chunk of whom perversely seem to relish the possibility of being disappointed.
The band’s 11th studio album won’t disappoint anyone but the most truculent Metalli-fan. 72 Seasons follows the road map drawn up 2008’s knotty Death Magnetic and 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct: titanium-plated modern metal fuelled by a relentless intent to be better, louder and sharper than anyone else.
