Metallica - 72 Seasons (2023)

 Post # 403

Metallica released 72 Seasons in 2023, almost 7 years after their last album, Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting in 2020 and slowing the world down for over a year, one might wonder if that lengthened the gap between albums. Perhaps it did, and gave the band members some unexpected downtime to focus on writing music? Or maybe it held them back from jamming together, and stalled the creative process further? We may never know. Nevertheless, it's here now and Metallica are over a year into their M72 tour in support of this album. It's high time I took an in-depth look into it.

The album opens with the title track - '72 Seasons', a fast-paced, heavy thrashing number that opens with a galloping bass line, pacing cymbals, and after a few measures, the rhythm guitar kicks in, giving the song it's definitive key and direction. Lyrically the song seems to tackle the dog-eat-dog nature of our competitive society and how it shapes us through our first 72 seasons (18 years). Metallica have said that the overall theme of the album is this formative stage of life: our first 72 seasons.

A powerful, stop & go, mid-tempo riff introduces the next track, 'Shadows Follow'. It has a unique groove, and a distinctive riff to define itself. Overall, the bulk of 72 Seasons could be described this way- distinctive and creative riffs, introspective-to-esoteric lyrics, a strong mid-tempo groove delivered by bassist Rob Trujio and drummer Lars Ulrich's concrete rhythm section. Over the course of their career, the mid-tempo groove-thrasher has been Metallica's bread & butter formula: 'Enter Sandman', 'Wherever I May Roam', 'Seek & Destroy', 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'... you see it now. This album will give you plenty of songs in a similar vein.

When we reach the 6th track, we get this album's crown-jewel of a track in 'Lux Æterna'. Like the title track, this is another top-notch, fast-tempo thrasher that can be comparatively ranked among the best songs from their glory days in the mid 1980's. It was the first track released prior to the album's release, and deservingly so!

As a long-time Metallica fan, I found a couple of elements, be they lyrical, or musical, that I felt made connections with classic songs from the band's past. 'Crown of Barbed Wire', for instance, reminded me of the Load-era hit, 'King Nothing'. Similarly, I thought 'Inamorata' could almost be a sequel to The Black Album's 'My Friend of Misery', as they both focus on a personification of the emotion of misery. Whether these connections are intentional or coincidental is hard to say without sitting down and interviewing the band directly about it, but as a fan, it is fun to speculate.

Overall, this is an album packed will killer riffs, and plenty of introspective and cathartic lyrics. If 72 Seasons has any flaws it may be that it's too solid, too consistent, or too formulaic. One of my favorite elements of Metallica's music has always been their use of clean guitar tones, especially in songs where they juxtapose them with powerful, distorted riffs in songs like 'One', 'Fade to Black' and 'The Day That Never Comes'. For whatever reason, clean guitar sounds are as absent on this album as guitar solos were absent on the St. Anger album. Maybe Metallica just found a groove on this new album and stayed the course, believing there's no such thing as 'too much of a good thing'. It has certainly pleased the fans, and probably welcomed thousands more! While it may still be new and fresh, I will always look forward to the next Metallica album. Let's enjoy this one to the fullest in the meantime!

My recommended tracks from 72 Seasons:

-72 Seasons (Links to official music video)

-Lux Æterna

-Crown of Barbed Wire

-Too Far Gone?

-Inamorata

As with their last album, Metallica again filmed music videos for every track on the album. I won't embed every single one of them here, but I'll give you this link to their Youtube Playlist, 72 Seasons: The Videos.

Check out my personally curated (shorter) Metallica playlist on Spotify.

Or my Longer Metallica Playlist (10+ hours)

And as always... HAPPYHEADBANGING, Y'ALL!

PANTERA - Far Beyond Driven: 30 Years On...

 Post # 402

Pantera released Far Beyond Driven in 1994, the same year I graduated High School. It was their 3rd major-label release, and it changed the world of heavy music forever. On a personal level, it also changed my world of music appreciation. It was the first album I owned that was considered 'extreme' metal. I had mainly been into "glam" and ''hair" metal bands, like Guns 'N' Roses, Def Leppard, and Ratt, before then. I broadened my horizons and embraced the rage, aggression, and power that pulses through every measure of Far Beyond Driven. I was far from the only one to, literally, buy into this band with this specific album: it debuted at #1 on the Billboard music charts (the heaviest album to do so at the time).

With it now being 2024, I thought it fitting to commemorate this now-classic album with a fresh blog post. I did, of course, review it on this blog previously, in Post # 63-here, but this time around I'm just going to feature several links to my favorite tracks through video and streaming links. I have re-read the post, and stand by my opinions of each album as I wrote them.

This album spawned several singles, and music videos, despite its lack of radio-friendly melody. With their first 2 albums they set a tone with their following as a purely heavy, aggressive and intense band that wasn't going to bend to fit any trends in the music industry. Already established as one of the most promising new heavy bands, Far Beyond Driven doubled-down on Pantera's aggression, and it is arguably their heaviest album to this day.

Singles from Far Beyond Driven:

-I'm Broken

-5 Minutes Alone

-Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath cover)

-Becoming

My other personal favorites:

-Strength Beyond Strength (the album-opener! This song hit me like a ton of bricks! If you've never heard it before, check it out and tell me it doesn't!)

-Shedding Skin

-Use My Third Arm

-Throes of Rejection

Stream Far Beyond Driven on Spotify here!

Check out Pantera's Official Music Video Playlist on Youtube!

My personally curated Dimebag Darrell Playlist on Spotify (this one includes other bands he played in- including Damageplan & Anthrax!)

Happy Headbanging!

Tony Martin interview about the Anno Domini box set with Now Spinning Magazine Podcast

 Post #401

While it is a great thing that Black Sabbath finally reissued the Tony Martin albums in the Anno Domini box set, it also may leave new listeners with a few questions. I found several answers to my own questions in this fantastic interview. Enjoy!

Black Sabbath - Anno Domini 1989-1995 (2024 Box Set)

Post #400

    I became a fan of Black Sabbath for the first time in the early 1990's, largely due to the fact that I was a fan of Dio, and I heard that Ronnie James Dio had reunited with Black Sabbath for the Dehumanizer album in 1992. I added that album to my collection, and proceeded to track down most of Black Sabbath's back-catalog over the next several years. Most of the albums I tracked down featured Ozzy or Dio as vocalists, but there were a couple more-recent ones featuring some guy named Tony Martin as the lead singer.

    The Sabbath/Dio reunion did not last beyond the Dehumanizer album, and the next album they released, Cross Purposes, again featured Tony Martin on vocals. As a new fan, I was a little frustrated with the inconsistency of their lineup in this era, but at the end of the day I didn't think much of it. They had one more album with Martin, Forbidden, released in 1995. Little did anyone know this would be the final studio album from Sabbath for years and years to come...

    Fast-forward to the post-iTunes, and streaming era of music, and all these digital platforms have a huge gap in Black Sabbath's discography: all the albums released under the I.R.S Records label! Coincidentally, these albums included 4 of the 5 albums that Black Sabbath recorded with Martin as vocalist. The first album he sang on, The Eternal Idol, was the band's last release under the Warner Bros. label.

    For years, the only way to hear these 'missing' albums was if you owned them in physical format from their initial release. The I.R.S. label folded in 1996. I had collected some, but not all, of these Tony Martin Sabbath albums as CDs, but for years I was missing others. In recent years I've become a 'streaming music' listener, and frequently craft my own playlists to listen to on my daily commute. The absence of these Black Sabbath albums left gaps in my Black Sabbath playlists, and the songs from these albums faded into obscurity...

    Thankfully, Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath's founding guitarist, and only member who was in the band throughout it's entire career, has been diligently working for years, if not decades, to try to get these missing albums reissued. Now, in 2024, this has finally happened!

Anno Domini 1989-1995 is a 4-disc box set collecting these 4 albums previously unavailable since 1996. 3 of them have been remastered and the 4th (Forbidden) remixed by Iommi himself. I have this box set on CD format now, but perhaps more important is the fact that they are now available on streaming platforms for the masses to access. I have also revised several of my playlists to now include tracks from these albums. Don't worry, I'll post links to some of these playlists at the end of this post.

    Now let's look back on the I.R.S. years, and the Tony Martin era contained therein. Joining Sabbath in the late 1980's, Tony Martin brought with him a voice that was perfect for the times: melodic with plenty of range. He was able to sing with power and grit, but also hit high, falsetto notes. While his voice can be described as closer to Ronnie James Dio's than to Ozzy's, it is still a unique voice, and deserves respect and appreciation in its own right.

    Another important element of their sound during this era is the keyboardist Geoff Nichols. Nichols adds the ambiance of keyboards on each of these albums. While their prominence varies from one song to another, they are perhaps most prominent during this era than in any previous incarnation of Black Sabbath. With these musical elements in mind, I'll now share my recommended tracks for each album.

Headless Cross

-Headless Cross (for this lineup, this song is like the track 'Heaven & Hell' was for the Ronnie James Dio Lineup)

    -When Death Calls

    -Nightwing

    -Cloak & Dagger* (a bonus track, not available on original release)

Tyr

Tyr is essentially a concept album based on Norse mythology. Tyr is the son of Odin, and is known as the God of War.

    -Anno Mundi

    -The Law Maker

    -The Battle of Tyr/Odin's Court/Valhalla (the centerpiece of the album, these tracks form a medley of continuous music, best played in order!)

Cross Purposes

 -I Witness

    -Immaculate Deception

    -Evil Eye (Cowritten with Edward Van Halen)

    -What's the Use* (another bonus track, not available on the original release)

Forbidden 

Forbidden has long been my favorite album from this era, and with Tony Iommi giving it a thorough remix with a fine-tooth comb, it has only gotten better!

    -The Illusion of Power (a slow and heavy, doom-laden track, but the most unique element? Guest vocals by the hardcore rap artist Ice-T!)

    -Can't Get Close Enough (starts off with the feel of a ballad, but morphs into one of Iommi's classic, heavy riffs- one of my favorites!)

    -Rusty Angels (a faster-tempo number, this one really rocks!)

    -Loser Gets it All* (another bonus track, nicely closing out the Tony Martin era of Sabbath)

Now, as promised, here are the links and brief descriptions of my updated Sabbath playlists that feature songs from this box set:

"The Sabbath Stones" This one is directly copied from the track list of a compilation of the same name, one that was briefly available from I.R.S. Records, but now can only be found for resale in the far corners of the internet...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/346jU680sRtuUptujFCkhY

"Best of Tony Martin" A response to a playlist challenge posted in a Facebook group devoted to the Tony Martin Era of Black Sabbath.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xpO1pKrsAjQ9R6odoEKHk

And last but not least, "Black Sabbath - Dark Sacrament" This playlist is focused on Tony Iommi's guitar work, and I've included some tracks from every recorded album I could find. Originally this was compiled on 4 CDR's, and progressed from early-to-late releases. I've even included Iommi's contributions outside of Black Sabbath where I could find them...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1U5FL6HPnDBI67l4WwbV10

Happy Headbanging!