Metallica's New Song "If Darkness Had a Son"

By Chloe Chang

Photo by Ross Halfin

Heavy metal band Metallica released "If Darkness Had a Son" from their album 72 Seasons which is set to come out on April 14th!

Before the official release of "If Darkness Had a Son", Metallica utilized Tik Tok to build excitement for the song. The band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, first posted a video of him playing a beat on his drum kit with the caption, "Duet this." The next Tik Tok from Metallica's account was bassist Robert Trujillo adding a bassline to Ulrich's drumming. In the third and fourth Tik Toks, Metallica's guitarists Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield played off of Trujillo and Ulrich. The fourth and final video from Metallica on April 28th announced "If Darkness Had a Son," with the caption saying that it would be released on March 1st.

Along with "If Darkness Had a Son," Metallica also dropped two other tracks from the upcoming 72 Seasons album: "Lux Æterna" last November and "Screaming Suicide" this January.

72 Seasons will be Metallica's 11th studio album, six years after their last album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. The band has been working on 72 Seasons for the past year and a half, and it is what Ulrich calls their "COVID lockdown record," on the Howard Stern Show. Ulrich stated that one thing that sets this record apart is that the band has been relatively quiet about it, with no "countdowns" or "Guess what's coming your way."

In an interview with ALT 105.1, guitarist James Hetfield explained the meaning behind 72 Seasons. He said, "72 Seasons came out of a book I was reading about childhood, basically, and sorting out childhood as an adult. And 72 seasons is basically the first 18 years of your life. How do you evolve and grow and mature and develop your own ideas and identity of self after those first 72 seasons?... Some things are more difficult than others — you know, some things you can't unsee and they're with you for the rest of your life, and other things you're able to rewind the tape and make a new tape in your life. So that's the real interesting part for me, is how you're able to address those situations as an adult and mature."

The band is also going on a world tour later this year after the launch of 72 Seasons. The tour, called the "M72 World Tour" will begin this April in Amsterdam. The "M72" tour will be full of surprises, as Metallica will be performing two nights in every city and each night will have a different setlist and opening act.

Fans on Twitter are loving Metallica's newest release and can't wait for 72 Seasons. Check out some fan reactions below!

"If Darkness Had a Son" by Metallica is out now on all platforms, and the 72 Reasons album is out April 14th!