[9] In an interview with Australian magazine The Music's official podcast in March 2019, bassist Robert Trujillo said that Metallica had begun jamming on new material for its next studio album.

"[10] In an interview with Australian magazine Mixdown the following month, guitarist Kirk Hammett said that the band had tentative plans to enter the studio after the conclusion of its WorldWired Tour in support of Hardwired... to Self-Destruct.

"[11] In April 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, drummer Lars Ulrich said in an interview with Marc Benioff that Metallica could work on its next studio album while in quarantine.

[15] In November, Ulrich said in an interview with Phoebe Bridgers for Rolling Stone that the band was "three, four weeks into some pretty serious writing"[16][17] and stated that "It's the heaviest thing, the coolest [...] but all kidding aside, if it wasn't because we thought that the best record was still ahead of us, then why keep doing it?

"[18][19][20] He followed up in January 2021 by saying that progress on the album had been "glacial",[21][22] while vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield said in March that "It's either touring or writing, so COVID chose for us [...] but, yeah, [we will release] a bunch of songs.

[24]On November 28, 2022, Metallica announced the album's title, release date, tracklist and a promotional tour of North America and Europe, featuring Pantera, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills, Greta Van Fleet, Architects, Volbeat, and Mammoth WVH, titled the M72 World Tour.

They were interviewed by host Jimmy Kimmel and gave recorded live performances of 72 Seasons singles "Lux Æterna" and "If Darkness Had a Son", as well as the tracks "Master of Puppets" and "Holier Than Thou", which were each broadcast over the next few days.

[50] Similarly positive sentiments are shared in a Rolling Stone review, which says that the album shows Metallica "[playing] with more purpose than in their speed-demon days" and features segments that "don't sound like anything the thrashers have recorded before".

The review gives the album 4 stars out of 5, remarking that Hetfield "[breaks] the facade of brash metal rage as he searches for his own truth" with an "agony [that] sounds authentic".

Although remarking that the music of the album "[nails] massive, crunching, half-time stadium metal", the review points out that much of it "maintains a similar tone and pace throughout" and often "can't match [the] dynamic range" that Hetfield's lyrics display.

[51] The album debuted at number one in 20 different countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.