METALLICA Releases 'Too Far Gone?' Live Digital Single

METALLICA has just released "Too Far Gone? (Live From MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ - August 6, 2023)", a digital single capturing the debut "M72" tour performance of the "72 Seasons" standout track as played for some 80,000 fans on night two of the tour's North American opening weekend. Hailed for "its roaring melody" by the OC Register in their review of METALLICA's recent record-breaking weekend at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, "Too Far Gone?" has quickly become a staple of the "M72" "No Repeat Weekend" setlist rotation.

As for the original studio version of "Too Far Gone?", it's been reimagined as a music video directed by Coan "Buddy" Nichols ("The Original Skateboarder", "The Body Corporate", "Deathbowl To Downtown", "Love Letters To Skateboarding"). Through Nichols's lens, "Too Far Gone?" becomes the score to raw METALLICA performance footage intercut with action shots of pro skater Felipe Nunes. The energy levels of the two scenarios feed off one other, resulting in peak after peak of hyperkinetic intensity — plus a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Tony Hawk, who premiered the video yesterday.

METALLICA completed the first North American swing of "M72" world tour September 9 in Glendale, Arizona. The band will make a headlining appearance October 8 at Power Trip at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, before "M72" resumes with its next "No Repeat Weekend" taking place November 3 and 5 at the Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Presented worldwide by Liquid Death and Blackened American Whiskey (in North America only) and promoted by Live Nation, the 46-show "M72" trek launched in Amsterdam on April 27 and will include shows all over Europe and North America through 2024. Each "No Repeat Weekend" on "M72" features 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.

"Too Far Gone?" is taken from METALLICA's latest album, "72 Seasons", which sold 146,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked the band's 12th Top 10-charting album, of which eight have reached the top two.

"72 Seasons" had the biggest week for any rock or hard rock album since TOOL's "Fear Inoculum" arrived in September 2019 with 270,000 equivalent album units.

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

Speaking of the album-making process, Ulrich explained: "It's one of the only things that hasn't changed in 40 years. There'll be a whole slew of riffs and jams and sound checks, then it falls into my lap to go through them and identify, 'That one's great, that one's good, maybe there's a song over here.'"

Regarding the fact that guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo were given writing credits on more than half of "72 Seasons", Hetfield told the Associated Press: "All four guys were on the floor when we were writing, which is new for us. Usually it's just Lars and I sitting out there hashing it out. It felt really great to have the energy of all four. There's a lot more democracy on this album. Lars and I gave up the steering wheel a little more than usual."

Hammett agreed, saying: "It was much more collaborative. The attitude was just more open. There is less limitations on everyone's creativity and I think that shows."

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".