Metallica Drop New Seven-Minute Epic ‘If Darkness Had a Son’

After Metallica teased snippets of their new song “If Darkness Had a Son” for the kids on TikTok, the metal legends unleashed the seven-minute 72 Seasons epic in its entirety Wednesday.

The track comes paired with a Tim Saccenti-directed music video capturing Metallica performing the song at a Los Angeles studio on Jan. 9, 2023.

“If darkness had a son, here I am/Temptation is his father/If darkness had a son, here I am/I bathe in holy water,” James Hetfield growls throughout the track. He later sings, “Return again to where it’s darkest/Dragging home this heathen harvest/And all the children subjugated/Manipulated, propagated.”

“If Darkness Had a Son” marks the third single off 72 Seasons, out April 14, following “Lux Æterna” and “Screaming Suicide.”

“72 seasons — the first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” Hetfield previously said of the album title. “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 a reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”

Metallica will return to the road in April — the same month as 72 Seasons’ release — when they kick off their two-year M72 Tour. During the trek, Metallica will play two nights in every city, with set lists that won’t repeat songs night to night. The tour touches down in North America in August 2023 with Pantera and Mammoth WVH in tow.