Metallica Seoul, South Korea -- Credit: Ross Halfin

Metallica: Screaming Suicide - What We're They Thinking?

With Lux Aeterna, the sound we've all been longing for seems to have made a return. With Metallica's latest single drop, Screaming Suicide, they seem to be pulling from their mid-era catalogue, with sounds of the Black album and Load. There are certainly great songs from both those albums and this latest single seems to pull from the successes they had there. Maybe too much.

For starters, three, THREE, intro riffs before we get into the first verse. The main riff behind the first verse is solid. I wish they would have just started there and scrapped the first two opening riffs. If anything, the second intro riff was absolutely not necessary. The third intro riff running as long as it does with the other two behind it just added length without substance to this 5:39 song.

By the time we get to the first listen of the chorus, I am ready for something that elevates the song only to be disappointed by a weak chorus, lyrically speaking. I think the riff driving the chorus is solid and would love to hear more of it. Overall, the vocals and lyrics kill the chorus.

Just like the intro, the bridge after the second chorus is just unnecessary riffage setting up a section for a solo. 

After the solo, cool tribal beat and nice break from the rest of the song, but James again ruins it with some cheesy local band sounding vocals after which we return back to the chorus and head out. 

I am not terribly familiar with Daniel Lachman's work as a producer, however this could have gone way better if the song was restructured to cut out the nonsense extended intro, upon intro, upon intro and gotten right into it. What's the saying? Don't bore us, get us to the chorus? Something like that. All in all, disappointing single here that had potential and was bludgeoned to death.

Screaming Suicide is part of the new album 72 Seasons which will be released April 14th, 2023.

Listen for yourself and let me know what you think.