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Uncovered: Metallica - 72 Seasons

Uncovering the detail behind some of the Best Art Vinyl 2023 shortlisted album artworks, we turn next to the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on their own record label Blackened Recordings. We were excited to have the the opportunity to discover the story behind the art from Creative Director Jamie McCathie from General LLC.

72 Seasons was Jamie's first project after leaving his position as Executive Creative Director at a "big fancy branding agency" to go it alone and find new interesting projects. David Turner (Turner and Duckworth) had reached out to ask if he wanted to collaborate on the project and the work began.

Jamie told us. "The band were amazing to work with. I have worked on numerous projects with them and probably the best thing is working with people that are truly creative. Beyond musicians, these are artists. They have a strong sense of style, love concepts and ideating with us. James (Hetfield) is a closet graphic designer (he designed the original logo in 1982). We had a mix of zoom calls and unperson meetings with the band that always felt exciting."

Explaining the idea behind the album's title Jamie tells us, "72 Seasons is about the impact of someone’s first 18 years. The term ‘prisoner of Childhood’ came up in our briefing call and this phrase went on to inspire the prisoner theme depicted through the crib and the die-cut ‘bars’. I remember David Turner had a sketch he did for the ‘Lux Æterna’ single that was just a simple bright yellow background and the words typed small in the middle. The theme of dark/light so clearly came across in this song, the name being almost the most uplifting and optimistic."

Metallica - Lux Æterna single cover typeface 2022

Jamie continues, "I loved this modern use of colour for the band and we quickly integrated it into the concept and ideas we had, in particular the crib image that at the time was on white and was kind of missing something. The colour became such a powerful tool to tie the campaign together, it’s eye-catching and so different from the heavy metal genre. I loved seeing it in a record store next to every other album, it zings."

Jamie emphasises that the project overall came to fruition through an immense amount of collaboration between the core creative team and every artist that worked on the campaign. Together with David Turner and designer Ian Conklin, Jamie developed the album's visuals, concepts and ideas and they succeeded in developing a visually rich, and layered album experience.

Metallica 72 Seasons full packaging

The project was an entirely integrated creative vision that complemented the album artwork. Jamie tells us, “The band were adamant EVERYTHING in this campaign had to sing from the same song sheet, so they put extra pressure on us to develop and oversee everything Metallica would be working on leading up to it’s launch."

It was a collection of talented people that were hired to execute their vision. Jamie explains, "Photographer Stan Musilek was hired to shoot the cover. David had worked with him (Stan) before, we knew we wanted the cover to look precise and elegant, and Stan’s fashion background was perfect for the idea. Mark Welsh and his team were the model team burning and fucking up all of the items outside Stan’s studio on the street in SF. The amount of care that went into this process was incredible."

The inner sleeves were created from honest portraits of the band and Jamie tells us more, "I knew that we had to photograph the band in a new light. Not the overly try hard, leather jacket, sunglass rockstars we are used to seeing. But the real them. This is a band that is getting older, and I wanted to show them in a striped down, authentic way. Discovering photographer Lee Jeffries was serendipity. His portrait work, in particular of homeless people captures the most raw, honest, and beautiful moments in humanity. He was perfect for the shots that became the vinyl sleeves. This approach was so different from a standard band shoot, it made everybody excited to push for this new side of Metallica further."

Photographer Lee Jeffries at work

L to R: Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo, Lars Ulrich

The layered album experience even extended to the the music video, in keeping with the cover art as Jamie explains, "When I put forward Director Tim Saccenti to do the music video for Lux, I wanted to challenge the band and its fans. His work has modern art / digital vibe feels lightyears from your average metal band. It turned out so well, he was hired for the rest of the album videos. I love the way we were able to tie together the videos and the rest of the artwork - the screaming suicide video style and the concept fell out of a conversation me and Tim had about Lee Jefferies' portraits. Everything influenced everything, it was beautiful to witness."

Lux Video by Tim Saccenti

Three months after the album launched, Jamie started his business General LLC with friend and co founder Daniel D’arcy. He says, "It’s a company with the vision of working on any kind of creative project and ideas, beyond those you might expect from a corporate design studio. Our current clients include everything from bands to Bourbon distillery owners and a fruit company. Pretty general right? Nimble, small, mighty, with a network of collaborators that we have had the pleasure of working with for the 20+ years we’ve been in industry. Working with interesting people, companies and brands that want to do or make really cool shit is who we are hoping to attract."

We suspect General LLC will never be without a heaving client list with this epic Metallica project in their portfolio!

72 Seasons by Metallica on Blackened Recordings is shortlisted for Best Art Vinyl 2023

Creative Directors: David Turner & Jamie McCathie. Design & Art Direction: Ian Conklin. Cover and object photography: Stan Musilek. Props/burning: Mark Welsh. Band portraits: Lee Jeffries. Music video director & band group shots: Tim Saccenti

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Oscar Isaac attends the 89th Annual Drama League Awards held at Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 19, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Eichner/Variety via Getty Images)

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#art commissions open

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#art commissions open

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Help my friend out!

Comissions and why im doing them

I, an 18 year old as of the 8th of march, left the foster care system. My social services were paying me to support me, which lasted until the beginning of last month. I am getting universal credit, but my payment does not arrive until 3 weeks. Im trying to find a job so i have a steady source of income, and am having no luck

I've been struggling mentally since leaving care, and the people who are supposed to make sure im okay, aren't helping me, despite me clearly not being okay. I stuggle to seek help, so me opening comissions was the best thing i could do. I have enough food for this week only

Im free a majority of the time when not job searching, do commisions will help me feel productive and help my mental health most likely. Art is a comfort for me.

Heres my rules as of the current. Nothing i say is in offense to anyone, and i request that you are polite.

What i will do and what i am artistically capable of

Heads and facial expressions

Full body (Anatomy isn't my strong thing, so, im so so sorry.)

Head to shoulders.

Solid colour backgrounds.

Doodles

Sketches

Lineart

Traditional and digital art.

Peoples Oc's

What i refuse to do, or am artistically incapable of.

People of colour, im still working on how i draw them, and to make sure skin tones and cultures used are accurate and inoffensive. I swear this isn't because of your race, i just am not capable and don't want to fuck it up /genuine

Regions. Again, dont want to mess it up, especially with people who wear hijabs and turbans. And i am also researching and trying to make sure i can eventually do this. /genuine

NFSW. No. Dont ever ask me to do this shit

More than one person

Backgrounds, i can give a solid colour background though!

Animals

Fursonas. Im sorry. I just can't draw them, i get uncomfy and i will probably mess it up. </3

Heres what i do, and their prices in different currencies!

Traditional line art only

GBP £3

USD $4

canada: $5

Euros: 4

Traditional sketch only