STACK #222 April 2023

MUSIC FEATURE

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Metallica L - R: Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo

Image credit: Tim Saccenti

Undisputed titans of thrash metal Metallica are poised to thump their 11th album into our everloving faces this month... so while we sleep with one eye open, gripping the pillow tight, we’re looking back at the timeline of vice and victory that led the four-piece to their enormously anticipated new record, 72 Seasons . Words Alexander Burgess A cross music’s history, eras have come to be defined by the prevailing social influences and listener preferences of epicentre of extreme metal’s origins in the early ’80s, fusing the abrasive sound of The ferocious and THE REASON FOR THE SEASONS

unrelenting style featured on Kill ’Em All was a revelation to those with a thirst for a heavier sound, one that integrated belligerent and transgressive lyrical themes to match the aggression of the music. Metallica continued to refine and hone this craft on their sophomore near-perfection on unequivocal masterpiece Master of Puppets (1986). This pair of records are now considered two of the greatest metal releases of all release Ride the Lightning (1984), before achieving

FUN METALLICA FACT: Right before the recording sessions for Kill ’Em All , Metallica let go of their original lead guitar player, Dave Mustaine. As history would have it, Mustaine would go on to form another one of the all-time great heavy metal bands, Megadeth. Along with Metallica, Megadeth is a member of the iconic ’Big Four’ of thrash metal, which also includes Slayer and Anthrax.

hardcore punk with the more traditional melodic approach taken by early pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (often abbreviated to NWOBHM). Released in 1987, the band’s debut release Kill ’Em All (widely credited as the first ’thrash metal’ record) galvanised a sonic movement that steadfastly rejected the political conservatism that had crept its way into mainstream consciousness. Equally, it was in direct opposition to the watered-down, pop centric brand of heavy metal that had started dominating the music charts.

the time. By logical extension, the artists that best conform to and exemplify these styles are inevitably the ones remembered as part of a particular era’s fabled chronology. Then, every once in a generation, an artist emerges that is so preeminent that they simply transcend; they become the sun in their own musical galaxy, as all other stars orbiting around them are dictated by the gravitational influence of their cosmic significance. The uncompromising musical phenomenon that is Metallica began as a tremor at the

time, the latter having garnered Metallica their first taste of commercial success as a major label release. Tragedy struck following the release of

72 APRIL 2023

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