Metallica are preparing for the release of their new album 72 Seasons. Blazing singles like “Lux Æterna” and “Screaming Suicide” continue to build the anticipation for the record, and the newest one, “If Darkness Had A Son,” is doing the same.
In typical Metallica fashion, the track is seven minutes long, throwing the listener straight into an immersive, rollercoaster-like experience. The guitars are corrosive as James Hetfield howls poetic, dark lines: “If darkness had a son, here I am / Temptation is his father / If darkness had a son, here I am / I bathe in holy water / Temptation, leave me be.”
“72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” Hetfield explained about the album in a statement. “The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are.”
“I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today,” he continued. “Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
Listen to “If Darkness Had A Son” above.
72 Seasons is out 4/14 via Blackened Recordings. Pre-order it here.