“Being able to focus a little more on the light in life instead of all of the… how it used to be and how horrible it is…”

James Hetfield opened up on some of the core themes behind Metallica’s upcoming 11th studio album “72 Seasons”, and noted how the upbeat nature of its lead single “Lux Aeterna” harks back to the band’s signature ’80s sound.

Metallica’s big announcement from last week came completely out of the blue, while some fans might have been even more surprised by the band’s decision to revisit its sonic roots on “Lux Aeterna”. Moreover, instead of imbuing the song’s lyrical content with darkness characteristic of classics such as “Enter Sandman” or “Master of Puppets”, James Hetfield decided to dedicate the single to a sense of hope and unity – shining light amidst the troubles of today’s world, and hinting that Metallica still lives and dies by its code of brotherhood.

Speaking to ALT 105.1 in a recent interview, the frontman commented on the song’s bright sound (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“‘Lux Æterna’ is an upbeat, kind of fast and joyous song, I would say — really indicative of New Wave Of British [Heavy] Metal stuff, so kind of a harkening-back-to-’80s kind of riff. It’s just fun and makes me move. It was fun making the video, fun recording a song that comes out really easy, that was a real easy song to write and to perform, like I said, very much like the early ’80s for us.”

It is perhaps all the more inspiring to understand that decision to break away from the darkness comes as a result of a deeper introspective process that marks the entire album. Speaking on the inspiration behind the album’s concept, James 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.

“There’s been a lot of darkness in my life and in our career and things that have happened with us, but always having a sense of hope, always having the light that is in that darkness… Without darkness, there is no light, and being able to focus a little more on the light in life instead of all of the… how it used to be and how horrible it is… There’s a lot of good things going on in life — focusing on that instead, and it helps to balance out my life.

“And there’s no one meaning to it — everyone has some sense of hope or light in their life, and, obviously, music is mine. And the song specifically talks about gathering of people at a concert and [being] able to see the joy and the life and the love that comes out of music and the family and the kinship in that, and just a sense of uplifting.”