Metallica: Consequence's 2023 Heavy Band of the Year

Our 2023 Annual Report rocks on today with the announcement of Metallica as our 2023 Heavy Band of the Year. Keep it locked for the rest of our annual report, detailing the best music, film, and television of the year. Find our full Annual Report coverage here, and don’t forget to see our 30 Best Metal & Hard Rock Albums of 2023 list, too.

The biggest metal band in the world reasserted their position at the top of the heavy music heap this year. Metallica dominated 2023 from beginning to end, and did it in grand style.

In April, Metallica released 72 Seasons, their first studio album in nearly seven years, earning rave reviews — and a Consequence cover story — for what many consider to be their best full-length since 1991’s mega-selling “Black Album.” A couple weeks later, frontman James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich, and bassist Robert Trujillo embarked on the band’s ambitious “M72 World Tour,” a unique outing stretching into next year that sees Metallica playing “no repeat” shows on Friday and Sunday in each city, performing a completely different set of songs on each night.

For 40-plus years, Metallica have never been afraid to take chances, and not every risk has been met with enthusiasm from their fans. Whether it was cutting their hair in the ’90s, or exposing their intra-band dysfunction in the documentary Some Kind of Monster, or releasing the big-budget IMAX movie Metallica: Through the Never to meek box office results, Metallica haven’t let any criticism or setbacks stand in their way of taking on the next challenge.

As Hammett tells Consequence in an exclusive year-end interview, “Since the very, very, very beginning [of the band], there’s always been an adverse factor… People didn’t really know what to think of us, and when people don’t understand something, they knock it. They get negative, they criticize it. So, we’ve always had to put up with that factor. As far as I’m concerned, we were the perfect people to be in that position because all of us are ornery and kind of sarcastic and a little angry to begin with, so bring it on!”

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He continues, “It’s always been more a fact of just doing what the fuck we want to do. It’s not like we’re going, ‘Okay, we’re going to take a chance and do this and do that.’ No, it’s just like, ‘Let’s do this. Yeah, it sounds like a great idea. Let’s do it.’ Everyone gets enthusiastic about it, and that’s just another version of ‘we’re gonna do whatever the fuck we wanna do,’ if it sounds like a good idea to us.”

The “M72 World Tour” is a great example of Metallica doing “whatever the fuck [they] wanna do,” not worrying if a fan who attends just one of the two shows in a particular city is going to miss out on “Master of Puppets” or “Enter Sandman.”

As Hammett sees it, “The choice is completely theirs to see both shows or to just opt to see one or the other. And, unfortunately, sometimes people are in situations where they can only see one show… But the way I kind of approach it is that I see both shows as having just one big long setlist that takes us two days to get through.”

While the “M72 World Tour” has proven to be a massive success thus far, Hammett has had a couple of hiccups along the way. He flubbed the intro to “Nothing Else Matters” a couple times (including once at the Power Trip festival), and tripped and fell hard onto the stage last month in Detroit, angrily tossing his guitar as he got up.

Asked whether he can laugh off the guitar flubs, Hammett admits, “I tell everyone that I just laugh it off, but the reality is I am hard on myself… It’s very fucking human thing, but it’s bewildering to me when it does happen.”

The guitarist goes on to say that he may have been dehydrated at the Power Trip show in the California desert, but also chalks up those imperfect moments to Metallica’s raw approach to playing shows: “At the end of the day, bands do what they need to do to fucking play the show, and I can’t mock a band if they make the choice to use tapes during a part of their performance. If that’s their decision, that’s their decision. And I respect that, because if that’s what they need to do to deliver the goods, then good luck with that.”

He adds, “Our approach is different. We’re a much more organic, traditional band that relies on our own abilities to be able to just do what we do. And we rely on our own prospects to be able to deliver a good show. We don’t need jack shit to play a good show. All we need is guitars, drums, some mics, and we’re off — and there’s no stopping us. We’re an unstoppable force.”

Metallica’s anger and aggression are also evident on 72 Seasons, a key reason why Hammett believes the album has resonated with fans and critics alike: “I think the overall tone of this album is just one of energetic aggression, and it’s venting. There’s a lot of musical venting because we were pretty fucking pissed off about the whole pandemic and lots of time lost of space, intimacy… everything. All those emotions and feelings and thoughts worked their way onto that album.”

Conversely, creating the album showed the band members that they can make quality music together no matter the circumstances.

“We learned that if we really needed to depend on each other, musically, even though we’re not all in the same room, we can do it.” explains Hammett. “That was a huge revelation for us. It gave us the confidence to get those songs together when we were all just isolated from each other. I can remember putting the song ’72 Seasons’ together with Lars, and I’m laughing at him because he’s like, ‘Okay, come up with another riff.’ And I’m staring at him and his drum kit through a screen. I’m standing there in my living room in surf shorts, with my guitar, and we’re getting Metallica songs together, and we’re separated by 3,000 miles.”

With all the success that Metallica have had this year and over the past four decades, perhaps the most commendable aspect of the metal legends’ career is their charitable efforts. Through their own All Within My Hands Foundation, the band has raised millions of dollars toward workforce education and the fight against hunger, among other causes.

The foundation has donated $100,000 to charitable causes in each city on Metallica’s “M72 Tour,” and $200,000 to relief efforts related to the devastating wildfire in Maui. Additionally, a partnership with shoe company Wolverine has raised $750,000 for the “Metallica Scholars Initiative” that supports technical education programs.

“I have to say that I feel amazingly blessed to be in this opportunity help so many people, not just with the music, because I feel like I’m helping people with the music that we create, but with All Within My Hands,” remarks Hammett. “My whole thing these days is always trying to figure out how I can contribute more to the wellbeing of everyone. … It’s great to be able to help people. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.”

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This time next year, every member of Metallica will be over 60 years old, but the band shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, Hammett says he was inspired by playing on a bill with Iron Maiden and Judas Priest at the Power Trip festival in October.

“That’s the exact conversation I had with [Iron Maiden] bassist Steve Harris [at Power Trip],” reveals the guitarist. “I just went up to him and I said, ‘Steve, thank you for keeping on doing it, and doing as much touring as you do and playing as many shows as you play.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, you guys are still doing it, too.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, but you guys have been doing it for longer and you still play more shows than we do, and put out more albums than we do… Thank you for keeping the freaking flag raised high.'”

And it’s not just the classic metal acts that continue to push Metallica to keep the machine rolling. “I’ve got to tell you, what’s most inspiring is seeing The Rolling Stones put out a new album,” marvels Hammett. “I mean both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are [around] 80 years old. That’s amazing.”

Photo Gallery – Metallica and support acts kick off North American leg of “M72 World Tour” at MetLife Stadium (click to expand and scroll through):

Metallica at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Five Finger Death Punch at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Ice Nine Kills at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Ice Nine Kills at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Ice Nine Kills at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Overkill outside Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Metallica tailgaters at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson

Metallica tailgaters at Metlife Stadium (Aug. 6), photo by Kevin RC Wilson