Photos - What the Release of Metallica's '72 Seasons' Looked Like

On Friday, April 14, Metallica released 72 Seasons, their highly-anticipated follow-up to 2016's Hardwired...to Self-Destruct.

As if 77 minutes of brand-new music from the legends wasn't enough to get the world excited, Metallica spent a lot of time throughout the week of the album's release to build anticipation and excitement even more.

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From a four-night residency on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to a deep, one-of-a-kind conversation with Howard Stern, Metallica kept themselves busy as the world prepared to hear 72 Seasons.

Watch Metallica Perform "If Darkness Had a Son" on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

On the day of release, record stores across the globe celebrated the new album with giveaways and listening parties and the day after, there were two very special pop-up shops in Europe that took the parties to a whole new level.

No one gallery of photos can quite capture what it was like for the rock world to come together to celebrate Metallica's new album, but we figured we'd try.

So, as we continue to listen to 72 Seasons and get ready for Metallica's massive two-year, worldwide M72 tour that kicks off on April 27 in Amsterdam, it'll do us all some good to step back and reminisce about the many different ways the record was promoted and memorialized the week of its release.

Metallica: The Week They Released '72 Seasons'

There's no question that Metallica's new album, 72 Seasons, was already one of the world's most anticipated releases of the year when it came out on April 14. Leading up to that release, Metallica only upped the anticipation with performances and appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Howard Stern Show and with their global listening party on Thursday, April 13. There was a lot more that happened to celebrate the release, too, so we put together some of our favorite moments of the 72 Seasons release week in the gallery below.