{"id":585022,"date":"2026-05-15T06:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585022\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T06:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:46:17","slug":"metallica-the-story-of-the-load-and-reload-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585022\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica: the story of the Load and Reload albums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Metallica<\/a>\u2019s Load<\/a> and Reload duology remain two of the most divisive releases in metal. In 2022, Metal Hammer looked back on how the albums were made, how much they annoyed the hardcore fans, and how the band just about stayed on top despite all of the complaining.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

Earl\u2019s Court, London, October 12, 1996. Metallica are playing Enter Sandman<\/a> to 20,000 baying fans when things start to go spectacularly wrong with their enormous stage set. A roadie high in the lighting rig gets electrocuted and falls from the gantry on the end of a rope. Another catches a flare and goes up in flames, running across the stage as he burns. Suddenly, the entire stage set begins to collapse around the band, and they\u2019re hastily ushered off to safety.<\/p>\n

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A few minutes later, they come back on and begin playing Am I Evil? through small amps, huddled close together amid the wreckage and lit by bare light bulbs. It\u2019s a headfuck for everyone watching. It takes a few minutes for it to become clear what is happening. This is a stunt, one that will close every show on the 125-date Poor Touring Me jaunt. With the internet still in its infancy, word of this epic prank hasn\u2019t spread. It\u2019s a masterclass in punking an entire audience. Ironically, that\u2019s what some say Metallica did with that year\u2019s Load album and its follow-up, Reload, released 18 months later.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

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Those two records were a world away from their old thrash metal<\/a> sound and even more mainstream than the world-beating The Black Album, baffling and enraging a large chunk of their fanbase at the time \u2013 a state of affairs compounded by the band\u2019s new, short-hair-and-eyeliner image. Twenty-five years after the release of Reload, that era remains the most contentious period of Metallica\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most admirable things about the band is they really don\u2019t think in terms of people\u2019s reactions,\u201d says producer Bob Rock, who worked on Load and Reload, as well as The Black Album and 2003\u2019s St. Anger. \u201cThey just do what they feel is right for them. They don\u2019t take into account what people think. When they go in a direction and they make a commitment to doing something, they just do it. And they don\u2019t hold back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metallica: The Memory Remains (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica:<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

During the 80s and early 90s, Metallica\u2019s ambitions were matched step for step by their success. They swiftly outpaced the thrash metal<\/a> scene they\u2019d spawned, making the leap from cult underground band to mainstream metal powerhouse. The Black Album\u2019s 10-million-plus sales had put them in music\u2019s top tier alongside the likes of Guns N\u2019 Roses and U2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey worked really hard and concentrated on becoming the biggest band in the world, and after The Black Album, they were,\u201d Bob Rock says. \u201cAnd after you get that, it\u2019s just a different ballgame. I think they felt a certain amount of wanting to stretch out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metallica had barely put a foot wrong over the previous decade, and by the time they wrapped up the massive tour in support of The Black Album, they seemed to be invincible. But even they weren\u2019t oblivious to the musical sea change happening around them. The rise of grunge had precipitated an identity crisis in countless established metal bands, while the genre itself was on the back foot, viewed as a spent force or even an embarrassment in some quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they just saw that culture was changing,\u201d says Bob Rock of Metallica\u2019s mindset at the time. \u201cAnd the rules of metal are very confining. The drum sound has to be a certain way, the guitar sound has to be a certain way, you can\u2019t do harmonies. I mean, that\u2019s just no fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no denying that, but in the run-up to Load Metallica seemed to be split between the traditionalist camp of frontman James Hetfield and bassist Jason Newsted on the one hand, and the more adventurous, experimental leanings of guitarist Kirk Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich<\/a> on the other. Kirk was hanging out with his artistic friends in San Francisco, earning himself the in-band nickname \u2018Kwirk\u2019 in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys see me as quirky and unpredictable, because I am more willing to try a lot of things they are a bit hesitant to experiment with,\u201d the guitarist told Metal Hammer at the time. Partner-in-crime Lars, meanwhile, made no secret of his love of Oasis, then the most-talked about band on the planet. \u201cI loved their arrogance, confidence and how every other word would be \u2018cunt\u2019 or \u2018fuck\u2019,\u201d Lars told the NME. Such was the drummer\u2019s fandom, that he even worked as the Mancunian group\u2019s impromptu lighting engineer at one Oasis<\/a> show in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

While the songs that eventually made up Load and Reload didn\u2019t bear the obvious influence of Noel Gallagher, they did draw from a broader range of influences than ever before: blues rock, Southern rock, country music, biker bar boogie. It showed off a willingness to try something different, even if Bob Rock insists the band didn\u2019t enter the studio with any preconceived ideas in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no conceptual decision that they would go somewhere different,\u201d says the producer. He adds that the most significant change during the sessions that took place throughout the second half of 1995 was that the four musicians worked together in the same room for the first time. \u201cIt freed them up from concentrating on what made them who they are. They realised that they could stretch the boundaries and that\u2019s what Load and Reload was.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"James\n<\/p>\n

James Hetfield in 1997. (Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Load was released on June 4, 1996, preceded by the single Until It Sleeps (which gave them their very first Top 10 song in the US). Reload, consisting of songs written at the same time as its predecessor that the band simply didn\u2019t have time to record, followed in November 1997. The reception to both was mixed. Some recognised Metallica\u2019s desire to try something different, but many viewed the two records as an unwanted and unnecessary drift towards metal\u2019s middle ground.<\/p>\n

Musically, Load and Reload had plenty of high points across their 27 tracks. Until It Sleeps was one of James\u2019s most personal songs, addressing his mother\u2019s battle with cancer, and Reload\u2019s gleefully mutton-headed opener Fuel remains a live staple to this day. Elsewhere, there were some fascinating departures. The Memory Remains has a wonderful gothic twist to it, thanks largely to an inspired guest appearance by 60s singer-turned-art rock doyenne Marianne Faithfull. Mama Said highlighted James Hetfield\u2019s love of country music, and Low Man\u2019s Lyric is a warped-at-the-edges ballad of the sort they\u2019ve never attempted before or since.<\/p>\n

Conversely, there was plenty of mid-paced filler amid the 27 tracks that made up the two albums. The stodgy, forgettable likes of Slither, Cure and Thorn Within marked a slip in quality control that wasn\u2019t present on previous Metallica albums. The perception that the band had sold out wasn\u2019t helped by the radical image change they unveiled around the release of Load. The four bandmembers appeared in promotional photos sporting short hair, eyeliner and, in the case of Lars Ulrich, a fur coat \u2013 heresy in the world of 90s metal.<\/p>\n

The aesthetic overhaul extended beyond haircuts and wardrobes. The self-consciously highbrow covers for Load and Reload were provided by US artist Andres Serrano<\/a>, based on his controversial artworks Blood And Semen and Piss Christ (the latter featuring a crucifix suspended in a tank of urine). Even their own iconic spiky logo had been \u2018de-metalled\u2019. \u201cWe were a heavy metal band seven or eight years ago,\u201d Kirk told Metal Hammer in 1997. \u201cI think we started our separation some time around The Black Album.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was quite an admission for a group with the word \u2018metal\u2019 in their name \u2013 one that hinted at an existential crisis in the ranks. Metallica themselves were, of course, bullish in their dismissal of criticism. \u201cIf people think we\u2019re a heavy metal band, a Satanic thrash band from Norway or guys that wanna hang around and do all of Oasis\u2019s drugs, I can\u2019t find the energy to defend that,\u201d Lars told Metal Hammer. \u201cI don\u2019t really care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metallica – Fuel (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

While Load and Reload were never going to match The Black Album in terms of sales, their commercial performance was far from disastrous, even if their sales figures (five million and three million in the US respectively) suggested the albums had undeniably lost Metallica a swathe of their following. Tellingly, their first tour in support of Load saw them headlining alt rock travelling circus Lollapalooza (ironically, the festival\u2019s organisers were criticised for booking a \u2018metal\u2019 band as headliners).<\/p>\n

However, the subsequent Poor Touring Me tour, with its collapsing stage set, played directly to their own fanbase, its success serving as a fuck-you to their critics. Metallica themselves have been critical of Load and Reload in subsequent years. Lars admitted that the world could probably have done \u201cwith 12 or 15 less\u201d songs, and Kirk \u2013 one of the two chief co-conspirators in the band\u2019s mid-90s shift \u2013 put Load last and Reload third from last when ranking their albums in order of quality.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, James saw the period around Load and Reload as a misstep in their career. \u201cAs far as doing something that doesn\u2019t feel right, I\u2019m sure there\u2019s been a few times that it\u2019s happened \u2013 the Load and Reload era, for me, was one of those,\u201d the singer told Clash magazine. \u201cI wasn\u2019t 100% on with it, but I would say that that was a compromise. I said, \u2018I\u2019m going with Lars and Kirk\u2019s vision on this. You guys are extremely passionate about this, so I\u2019ll jump on board.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Metallica\u2019s two mid-90s albums are far from perfect, that period stands up far better than its detractors would have it. Trivium<\/a> frontman Matt Heafy is one of the biggest cheerleaders for Load and Reload. \u201cAnybody who was ever a naysayer of those records back then should re-listen to them now,\u201d he told Loudwire. \u201cThe tones of those two records and the tone of [1998 covers album] Garage Inc. \u2013 those are some of the best recorded metal albums ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Load and Reload were a watershed for Metallica. It showed that the world\u2019s biggest metal band weren\u2019t infallible. They continued to stretch the boundaries with bold creative decisions, some of which paid off (teaming up with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for the original S&M shows), some of which put the controversy surrounding Load and Reload in the shade (that St. Anger snare drum sound; their collaboration with Lou Reed on Lulu).<\/p>\n

So what are we to make of Load and Reload 25 years on? The experiment may have been only partially successful, yet far from being the sound of a band selling out, those two albums ultimately reflected Metallica\u2019s desire to move forwards, against the wishes of fans who wanted them to stay exactly the way they used to be. For Bob Rock, it\u2019s simple. \u201cThey wanted to grow as a band,\u201d the producer says. \u201cAnd to give them credit, they\u2019re still around and they\u2019re still huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in Metal Hammer issue 367, November 2022. Metallica will reissue Reload in various formats via Blackened on June 26.<\/p>\n

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