Late last year, Metallica announced their brand-new 72 Seasons album for the first time. The long-awaited album was scheduled for release on April 14, 2023, seven years after their most recent release. The renewed success of the song "Master of Puppets" from Netflix's Stranger Things led to a renewed audience and renewed interest in the band. Something we didn't really see in the cinema yesterday. It was still mostly die-hard GenXers. Like this one :-)
April 13th marked the premiere of the Metallica album in cinemas worldwide. Each song was described by the band members and accompanied by a beautiful music video. Mark and I were incredibly curious about the experience, and it certainly didn't disappoint.
Every album should be presented this way, with good visuals and sound, and motivation from the creators. That adds so much value, especially now that you don't buy physical albums anymore. Although, in this case, you can buy 72 Seasons on vinyl and cassette.
The album is good, and there are definitely songs on it that we'll enjoy listening to again and again. But that's just my opinion, and everyone has their own taste.
Super tight marketing
From a marketing perspective: what a launch! On November 28th, the single " Lux Æterna " suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and BOOM, from that point on, it was one big launch party for four months. Here are the highlights and what you can learn from them:
- Keep in mind that it's essentially about launching a music album. And how do you get as much attention as possible for it and thus make as much money as possible (without selling your soul?)
- On November 28, Metallica suddenly drops the single ' Lux Æterna '
- after that they give away a single prize every 5-6 weeks, a mega world tour is planned
- The new 72 Seasons album will also be announced in November with a release date of April 14, 2023
- with flippin' awesome artwork btw, but more about that later
- A premiere is scheduled in cinemas worldwide the day before (April 13)
- The mega 72 Seasons world tour will then begin on April 27, 2023, in Amsterdam. The end date of the entire tour isn't until June of next year.
- Each concert will last two (!) days and there will be various ticket prices available from $129 to $7,000
- The album will be available everywhere online on April 14th, of course, but will also be released on vinyl, CD, and cassette. And, of course, there's a ton of (beautifully designed) merchandise .
- On Jimmy Kimmel's show on April 13th, you could see the band members playing with puppets. I understand that can have a lot of impact and that it's meant to be funny (because I'm a Master of Puppets, haha), but I wonder if it was really necessary...
The visual branding is top notch!
A quick side note about the design, call it a professional deformation :) Now, I'm not averse to old-school metal design anyway. Skulls, rotting zombies, devil spawn, and old junk, I'm in. But with 72 Seasons, the design, even for an epic grandpa band like Metallica, is completely new and fresh without losing its originality (just my opinion). Black and white and a single color has always been our thing and always will be. So black and white and bright yellow: hell yeah!
Long story short
I'm impressed, and we came out of Pathé last night full of energy. We listened intently to the songs, and at times almost snoozed under a warm, familiar metal blanket.
