Metallica are returning in 2023 with a new album and tour, with the legendary metal band sharing a song called 'Lux Æterna' to celebrate.

Produced by Greg Fidelman, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich; Metallica's new album 72 Seasons arrives April 14 next year.

Their tour dates kick off in Europe the same month, before a string of North American shows later in the year. Extra stints are scheduled for Europe and America in 2024.

Dublin may not be on the list as of yet, but the band last played a huge gig here at Slane Castle in 2019. It marked their first Irish concert in 10 years and their first ever Slane performance. Prior to that, they played on our shores in 2009 at Marlay Park in Dublin.

The tour includes two shows in each city visited, and the band promises completely different setlists and support lineups at each.

In a press release, Hetfield explains the record’s title thus:

"72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry."

72 Seasons is landing more than six years after its predecessor, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct.

Since then, Metallica have reissued some classics, released a second live album with the San Francisco Symphony, commissioned a covers album featuring the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Kamasi Washington, and saw 'Master of Puppets' rise up the charts after a feature in Stranger Things.

Check out the Tim Saccenti–directed video for 'Lux Æterna' below.

72 Seasons tracklist:

01 72 Seasons
02 Shadows Follow
03 Screaming Suicide
04 Sleepwalk My Life Away
05 You Must Burn!
06 Lux Æterna
07 Crown of Barbed Wire
08 Chasing Light
09 If Darkness Had a Son
10 Too Far Gone?
11 Room of Mirrors
12 Inamorata