Metallica announced on Monday a release date for the band’s 12th studio album, 72 Seasons, as well as a stadium tour that includes Canada.
Produced by Greg Feldman with James Hatfield and Lars Ulrich, the 12-track album is set to come out April 14. It is the first new new collection from Metallica since 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.
According to a release, the title refers to “the first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves.
“The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are.”
Hetfield added: “The most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
The first track from 72 Seasons, “Lux Aeterna,” is now available and comes with a music video directed by Tim Saccenti.
Metallica is scheduled to perform Aug. 11 and 13, 2023 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and will return north the following summer to play Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Aug. 23 and 25, 2024.
Pantera and Mammoth WVH will open the first of each pair of shows and Fiver Finger Death Punch & Ice Nine Kills will open the second.
Metallica promises a “two totally different set lists” and encourages fans to purchase a two-day ticket so they “won’t see the same song twice for a total of over 30 songs spanning our 40+ years of being lucky enough to make music.”
Two-day tickets go on sale Dec. 2 and single-show tickets go on sale Jan. 20, 2023.