METALLICA Launches Inaugural Marching Band National Competition

On the eve of the release of METALLICA's eagerly awaited 12th album, "72 Seasons", the San Francisco Bay Area-based metal legends have announced the "Metallica Marching Band Competition", a national challenge to marching bands of all levels to craft their most exciting, unique, and impressive performances of some of the band’s most beloved songs.

Marching bands entering the competition at metallicamarchingband.com will have access to a library of marching band charts, provided by Hal Leonard via sheetmusicdirect.com, for METALLICA songs including:

* Creeping Death
* Enter Sandman
* Fade To Black
* For Whom The Bell Tolls
* Fuel
* Hit The Lights
* Lux Æterna
* Master Of Puppets
* One
* Sad But True
* Seek & Destroy
* The Unforgiven
* Wherever I May Roam

Bands will compete in the five categories listed below. High School and Collegiate winners will be narrowed down to five finalists by professional judges. METALLICA will select the final prize winners in each category. Fan-favorite winners will be chosen by popular vote.

1. Collegiate: Division 1 - $75,000 in prizing
2. Collegiate: Division 2, 3 - $40,000 in prizing
3. High School - $15,000 in prizing
4. Fan Favorite: Collegiate (across all divisions) - $10,000 in prizing
5. Fan Favorite: High School - $10,000 in prizing

The victors in each category will win musical instruments and equipment for their school programs at the values listed above, furnished by METALLICA and sponsors including Tama, KHS America, Zildjian, D'Addario and Gator, in partnership with Sweetwater.

Video submissions for the "Metallica Marching Band Competition" are due by November 16, 2023, with voting beginning on November 17, 2023. Winners will be selected on December 1, 2023.

For further information, go to metallicamarchingband.com.

"72 Seasons" will be released April 14 via METALLICA's own Blackened Recordings. Produced by Greg Fidelman with guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and clocking in at over 77 minutes, the 12-track "72 Seasons" is METALLICA's first full-length collection of new material since 2016's "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct". The album will be released in formats, including 2LP 140g black vinyl and limited-edition variants, CD and digital.

METALLICA and Trafalgar Releasing will hold a worldwide "72 Seasons" listening party. For one night only on Thursday, April 13, "72 Seasons" will be played in full in surround sound, exclusively for cinema audiences worldwide — with every one of the new songs featuring its own music video and exclusive commentary from the band.

The "72 Seasons" global premiere sees METALLICA and Trafalgar joining forces once more, having previously worked together on the October 2019 worldwide cinematic release of "S&M²", which documented METALLICA and San Francisco Symphony reuniting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their original "S&M" (Symphony & Metallica) concerts and releases.

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".