Metallica marked National ASL Day on 15 April 2023 by releasing the title track from their new album 72 Seasons with a video accompanied by American Sign Language. Working with Deaf Professional Arts Network (DPAN) and Amber G Productions, their pledge was to complete this for the remaining songs, and today, the further 11 videos have now been released.
The project is the result of Metallica connecting with Amber Galloway of AG Productions. Amber’s team is known for signing at several music festivals the band has headlined, including Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.
“Metallica has shown the world what access and inclusiveness can look like,” Amber said. “Often times, hearing individuals think that captioning a music video is sufficient. Sadly text does not show intonations. It doesn’t show the emotional connection that ASL does. These videos also capture the voices of the instruments.”
Metallica also connected with The Deaf Professional Arts Network (DPAN), a 501c3 non-profit organisation founded in 2006 by deaf musician Sean Forbes and music producer Joel Martin to make music accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
“As a deaf musician who has been a huge fan of Metallica my entire life,” said Sean Forbes said, “it is an absolute honour to work with the band and Amber G Productions to make an entire album of their songs accessible in American Sign Language. It is our hope that more bands, artists, and performers will follow the example set by Metallica and make their music accessible in American Sign Language. There is an entire community of deaf music fans that are ready to experience more music, and Metallica doing this speaks volumes to the deaf and signing communities.”
