Metallica is celebrating National ASL (American Sign Language) Day by partnering with the Deaf Professional Arts Network (DPAN) and Amber G Productions teams to release ASL videos for all 12 songs from their 72 Seasons record. Metallica is now the first rock band to release an entire album in ASL and the first band to release official videos side by side with an ASL interpreter.
Amber Galloway of AG Productions is known for signing at several music festivals Metallica has headlined, while The Deaf Professional Arts Network (DPAN) is a 501c3 non profit organization 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, it is an absolute honor to work with the band and Amber G Productions to make an entire album of their songs accessible in American Sign Language," said Sean Forbes. "It is our hope that more bands, artists, 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."
"Metallica has shown the world what access and inclusiveness can look like," said Amber Galloway. "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."
