Metallica Address “Taboo Word” With Latest Song/Video

Metallica Address “Taboo Word” With Latest Song/Video

Metallica has released a second song/video from their forthcoming album, “72 Seasons,” which will arrive on April 14. Much like the album’s first single, “Lux Æterna,” the band’s latest tune, “Screaming Suicide,” sports a heavy New Wave Of British Heavy Metal vibe. 

“Screaming Suicide addresses the taboo word of suicide,” said James Hetfield in a press release. 

“The intention is to communicate about the darkness we feel inside. It’s ridiculous to think we should deny that we have these thoughts. At one point or another I believe most people have thought about it. To face it is to speak the unspoken. If it’s a human experience, we should be able to talk about it. You are not alone.”

The video for “Screaming Suicide” was directed by Tim Saccenti. “We first worked with Tim on ‘Lux Æterna’ and were so blown away that we asked him to come back for round two,” said Metallica. 

“72 Seasons” was produced by Greg Fidelman and features more than 77 minutes of music spread out over 12 songs. It’s the band’s first record since 2016’s “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.”

The lyrics to “Screaming Suicide” are:
“Welcome to this life
Born into the fight
Here to claim your dream
Look you in the eye
Patch the broken sky
Craving dopamine
Then my voice appears
Teaching you of fears
Are you good enough?
You don’t recognize
Head is full of lies
You should just give up

Listen well, better listen well
Listen well, better listen well

Don’t ever speak my name
Remember you’re to blame
Keep me inside
Keep me inside
My name is suicide

Curse another day
Spirit locked away
Punish and deprive
Hate to be awake
Living a mistake
More dead than alive
Then a voice appears
Whisper in your ears
‘You are good enough’
Throwing down a rope
A lifeline of hope
Never give you up

Listen well, better listen well
Listen well, better listen well

Don’t ever speak my name
Remember you’re to blame
Keep me inside
Keep me inside
My name is suicide

Terrified in sleepless nights
Caught in spotlight dead to rights
Isolate and fight your mind
Telling you you’re left behind

My lying voice inside
Keeps drinking cyanide
And no more can you run
Into the sun

Terrified, sleepless nights
Caught in spotlight dead to rights
Isolate and fight your mind
Telling you you’re left behind

And now you speak my name
You’ve given back the blame
Keep me deep inside
Don’t you keep me inside
Screaming suicide

Now that I’m exposed inside
Shined a light on cyanide
I’m no longer needed here
Now you’ve faced your biggest fear”

Hetfield explained that the album’s title was inspired by some of the difficulties he’s faced. 

“’72 Seasons’ came out of a book I was reading about childhood, basically, and sorting out childhood as an adult,” he said. “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.”

Hetfield said that darkness in his life has been trying, but that it also has inspired him to focus on the positives. 

“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.”

B.J. LISKO
Follow B.J.

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