Current Hot Press cover stars Metallica have soared straight to No.1 on the Official Irish Albums Chart this week, following the release of their acclaimed new album, 72 Seasons, last Friday.

"A mere glance at the song titles tells the story: ‘Screaming Suicide’, ‘If Darkness Had A Son’, ‘Crown Of Barbed Wire’," Paul Nolan wrote in his review of the album for Hot Press. "[James] Hetfield sounds like a man being forced to sit through a Fair City omnibus. Though the title 72 Seasons denotes a loose theme based around the first 18 years of a person’s life, the subject matter essentially reprises Metallica’s keynote concerns: the overriding emphasis is on dark emotions, shot through with a deep sense of catharsis.

"If the lyrical terrain is familiar, Metallica continue to find new and exhilarating ways to finesse their sound," he continues. "The likes of ‘Shadows Follow’, ‘You Must Burn’ and ‘Sleepwalk My Life Away’ are all blistering metal workouts, rammed with scalding riffs and Lars Ulrich’s powerhouse drumming. Indeed, Metallica’s obsessive devotion to their craft remains remarkable, and goes some way towards explaining their continuing wild popularity.

"They sign off with the haunting ‘Inamorata’, an epic number that could well prove a live highlight. It’s a fitting conclusion to an album that’s vintage Metallica."

Metallica are followed on the chart by Taylor Swift's Midnights, The Weeknd's The Highlights, SZA's SOS, and Lewis Capaldi's Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.

In the current issue of Hot Press, bassist Robert Trujillo talks to Paul Nolan about the creation of their latest masterwork, chaotic times in America, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Stranger Things and headlining Slane. Oh, and gigging in Antarctica...

Read our full interview with cover stars Metallica in the new issue of Hot Press, out now: