Metallica recently surprised their fans by releasing an unexpected single, ‘Lux Æterna,’ announcing a new album named ‘72 Seasons,’ and exciting their fans with a world tour. The giants are still eager to give us a breath of fresh air with new efforts after six years. Speaking to Howard Stern, Lars Ulrich detailed the behind-the-scenes story of this album.
“Just being able to share this moment with you, Robin [Quivers], and the rest of your crew,” Lars Ulrich said, “I mean, you guys have been so supportive of Metallica for decades. We’ve had three or four great shows with you, playing and all that great stuff. So, we’ve been working on a new album for the last year and a half, a covert lockdown record, and the one thing that we’ve done all through that is, for the first time in our career, we’ve never really talked about it.”
He continued, “So, rather than ‘Hey, there’s a new record,’ countdowns, ‘Guess what’s coming your way!’ and all that kind of sh*t, we’ve been tight f*cking lipped about it. And this morning, I want to share a new song with the world and tell everybody about the new Metallica album. We have a new tour, we have a song, we have a video, we’re f*cking all the bells and whistles, and we thought for sure this thing would leak. It hasn’t f*cking leaked!”
“We’re announcing a new album that’s coming in April next year,” the drummer repeated. “We’re announcing a two-year World Tour. We have all the dates for ’23 and ’24 ready to go. We’re coming to a city near here. We’re playing two nights in every city, playing two completely different shows. So, you buy one ticket for two shows on a Friday and a Sunday, and you get a no-repeat weekend, which is obviously an old radio term. You get two 100% completely different and unique shows.”
When it came to the first single from the album, Ulrich revealed the meaning of its title, which might even be the general theme of the band’s upcoming record. He said, “It’s called ‘Lux Æterna,’ which basically means ‘Eternal Light.’ It’s Latin for eternal light.”
So, Metallica shocked their fans by announcing a new album, single, and world tour in one breath. During the M72 tour, the band will travel to 22 cities for 40 shows, with Pantera, Mammoth WVH, Five Finger Death Punch, and Ice Nine Kills as opening acts. On the other hand, ’72 Seasons’ is set to release on April 14, 2023.
