Sophia Michaels
Metallica has offered up another glimpse at their 72 Seasons with “Screaming Suicide,” the second single off the heavy metal legends’ upcoming LP.
As the band shared in a statement, the track “addresses the taboo word of suicide.” “The intention is to communicate about the darkness we feel inside,” James Hetfield said in a statement.
“It’s ridiculous to think we should deny that we have these thoughts. At one point or another I believe most people have thought about it. To face it is to speak the unspoken. If it’s a human experience, we should be able to talk about it. You are not alone.”
Metallica also paired the single with a black-and-white performance video directed by Tim Saccenti, with the YouTube caption also listing suicide prevention agencies around the globe.
“Don’t ever speak my name/Remember you’re to blame,” Hetfield sings on the track. “Keep me inside/My name is suicide.”
“Screaming Suicide” follows the first single, “Lux Æterna,” from 72 Seasons, due out April 14. “72 seasons — the first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” Hetfield previously said of the album title. “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. Much of our adult experience is a reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”
Metallica will return to the road in April — the same month as 72 Seasons’ release — when they kick off their two-year M72 Tour, where Metallica will play two nights in every city on the trek, with set lists that won’t repeat songs night to night. The trek touches down in North America in August 2023 with Pantera and Mammoth WVH in tow.
