LARS ULRICH Says '72 Seasons' Is 'The Most Friction-Free Record METALLICA Has Ever Made'

In a new interview with Japanese music critic and radio personality Masa Ito of TVK's "Rock City", METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich spoke about how the making of the band's latest album, "72 Seasons", benefited from the bandmembers' increased maturity and respect for each other. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We love being in METALLICA and we love METALLICA and we cherish METALLICA and we want to be the best METALLICA possible. And I guess that 40 years later, to still be able to make music together and still be able to make a difference is something we cherish so much and it's something that we're so respectful of. I think that in the past there were times where we were more weary about… there was so much internal differences and so much negative energy within the bandmembers that writing songs and going to the studio was often kind of like… not something that we really wanted to do, because it was so exhausting. But now, with this record, and certainly as we get older, there's less and less in-fighting, there's less and less disagreements."

He continued: "This record we made, I think, without any arguments. Nobody was shouting or yelling or doing anything crazy. There was no posturing or 'my way' — it was basically nothing of that. And so I think ultimately that joy of going to the studio and creating this music shows up in the energy and the passion — the passion shows up in there somewhere. And like I said, this may be the most friction-free record METALLICA has ever made internally between the bandmembers.

"I think there's been enough documented over the years about how we made records," Ulrich added. "The Black Album was a very difficult record to make. A lot of the albums with [producer] Bob Rock — not because of Bob Rock, but just because of where we were at as people at the time, when we were having a hard time working in a collective environment… And I think now we're so much more appreciative and respectful and love each other in a different way now. I mean, we've always loved each other and cared for each other, but I think now we're protective of those relationships because we wanna make sure that they sustain through every experience that we have and we come out the other side fully intact. That, I think, is always the goal."

"72 Seasons" was released on Friday (April 14) via METALLICA's own Blackened Recordings. Produced by Greg Fidelman with guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and Ulrich, it is METALLICA's first full-length collection of new material since 2016's "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct".

In the seven years since the arrival of "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", METALLICA has reissued some of its classic albums, released a second live album with the San Francisco Symphony, commissioned a covers album featuring the likes of GHOST, VOLBEAT, WEEZER, Corey Taylor and THE HU, and landed on the Billboard songs chart with "Master Of Puppets" after a prominent placement in the hit Netflix show "Stranger Things".

METALLICA's "M72" world tour will feature two-night stops in nearly two dozen cities. Presented worldwide by Liquid Death and Blackened American Whiskey (in North America only) and promoted by Live Nation, the 46-show trek will launch in Amsterdam on April 27 and will include shows all over Europe and North America through 2024. Each "No Repeat Weekend" on "M72" will feature two completely different setlists and support lineups. The "M72" tour will feature a bold new in-the-round stage design that relocates the famed METALLICA Snake Pit to center stage, as well as the "I Disappear" full-tour pass and the debut of discounted tickets for fans under 16 years of age. Opening acts for the tour include PANTERA, MAMMOTH WVH, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, ICE NINE KILLS, ARCHITECTS, VOLBEAT and GRETA VAN FLEET.