Metallica - Load
Metallica
Load
Release Date: June 4, 1996
Label: Elektra
The success of The Black Album was far more significant than anything that Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted could have ever expected. They weren’t just the biggest act in metal, they were the biggest band in the world. Now, it’s important to note that the grunge movement would kick off just four years later, with Nirvana taking that spot with the release of their Nevermind album. But at this moment, Metallica were the reigning kings. It is true that they had alienated fans by transitioning the furthest away from their thrash metal beginnings than they’d ever had at any point in their career. Despite this rather vocal subset of naysayers – some of whom are still mad about it to this day, this newfound success found the band headlining arenas and stadiums worldwide. After incessant promotion and touring in support of The Black Album, the band found themselves with a new task: follow it up with an even bigger success.
Personally, I don’t think that they would produce an amiable successor to The Black Album until 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct (although Death Magnetic would be a worthy effort). What follows The Black Album is the period of Metallica that is rife with experimentation, substitutions, reconfiguration, and rediscovery. With the explosion of popularity in grunge and the dissemination of heavy metal as one of the most coveted rock genres in the mainstream, Metallica found itself regrouping with Black Album producer Bob Rock. Despite Rock’s strive for absolute perfection that found the band coming to a head with the veteran producer during the recording sessions for the last album, the quartet agreed that they had created something absolutely extraordinary. If they did it once before, they could do it again, right?
Throughout the mid-90s, Metallica would lay down nearly three hours’ worth of material that differed far more than anything fans would expect from them. The songs were slower, having more in common with contemporary hard rock than acts like Exodus and Testament. The results of these sessions were albums Load and Reload, two albums that the band intended to initially release as one double LP; the band would end up removing them in separate waves over a period of two years (this was the right decision). The artwork of Load was a photograph created by Andres Serrano, who took a microscopic slide filled with bovine blood and his own semen, magnified it, and photographed it. The cover alone is a bold statement; this is avant-garde Metallica, whether you like it or not.
Listening to Load decades later, it feels at times like Metallica were trying to put their own spin on the wave of alternative rock and grunge that was sweeping the nation. From the chord progressions, the utilization of reverb, and the usage of deeply personal lyrics tackling depression, addiction, and the death of loved ones; it feels like the sound of a band trying to find their place within a new world in which they were once the kings. The elements are all there; a booming rhythm section backed by Ulrich and Newsted, frantic guitar work from Hammett, and conductor Hetfield leading everyone into new territory. Hetfield’s voice is astounding on this record, whether he’s working through a ballad (“Mama Said”), an anthemic crowd pleaser (“King Nothing”), or a hard rock mosh-inducer that features biting vocal inflections (“Ain’t My Bitch”); you can practically hear him smirk as he drawls out the last word of the chorus of the opening track, turning it into a resounding “Biiiiiitch-chyeah!”
The two moments on Load that stand out the most to me are “Hero of the Day” and “Mama Said”. The former seems to be almost too upbeat of a Metallica song; while it is a good track, something about it seems off, and I can’t quite put my finger on why despite numerous listens. In just one listen, it’s clear why “Mama Said” may be one of the most divisive tracks Metallica has ever released, approaching near-sacrilege in heavy metal circles for not only being a ballad but a country-inspired ballad. But realizing that it’s from the same band that wrote “Fight Fire With Fire” and “The Thing That Should Not Be” nearly a decade earlier is quite amazing. Both Load and Reload take some gutsy liberties, continuing to subvert expectations of what people could expect from this band. Lyrics tackle addiction (“The House Jack Built”, “Cure”), death of family members (“Bleeding Me”, the aforementioned “Mama Said”, “Until It Sleeps”), and depression (“Poor Twisted Me”, “Thorn Within”). “The Outlaw Torn” concludes the album, the band meandering off into the sunset as a gentle vocoder-like guitar riff gently wafts through the speakers. Reload closes in a similar fashion – but more on that another time.
After listening to the album more, it grew on me. Load is not my favorite entry in Metallica’s catalog, and much like Reload, it can feel a bit too self-indulgent at times. But within that collection, there are some worthy additions to the band’s catalog, like “Bleeding Me”, “King Nothing”, “Cure”, and “Wasting My Hate”. Every time I listened, I found something new in the production, and it holds up over multiple listens despite running a bit too long.
In retrospect, I think it was the right call for the band to release Load and Reload as two separate entries. After all, there can be too much of a good thing.
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