Sheavy (original review from ProgArchives.com)

Who kidnapped my Metallica? This album is actually better in my opinion than the previous, but it is also not anywhere near being their best, but I can still enjoy this album and I have say this is the best 90's album from Metallica. While a lot of the songs do not have that destinctive Metallica feel I think this album gets unfairly bashed just because it is such a departure from what they had been previously been putting out.

I find the songs as a whole to be more memorable than those on The Boring Black Album, even if they are not all that consistent. i really enjoy The Outlaw Torn, and King Nothing is another one that I am pretty found of too. 2x4 is another one that I enjoy, as is Cure which are both very nice little hard rock songs.

The rest however are a bit too out there (from this bands stand point) to be very enjoyable. Bleeding Me takes to long to get going and is forgettable. Ronnie is a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant, who died in a plane crash in 1977. The only problem with this song is that it has that country rock sound, which i like being an Alabamian, who loves to drive around downtorn Birmingham with a Skynyrd song coming out my speakers. The problem with this song is it is a very bad sounding country rock song. This band is very fond of Lynyrd Skynyrd, but this song is just not good at all. The other songs are just okay songs that do not affect my in any way .

I also have to say that is the absolute worst album cover to any Metallica release ever. Blood and semen. Haha. Load. They should have spent more time on the songs than trying to come up with a stupid cover and title that was a very horrible attempt at humor.

A underrated album (barely underrated) but underrated nonetheless.

UMUR "Load" is the 6th full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Metallica. The album was released in June 1996 by Vertigo Records. Five years had gone by since the release of the band´s multi million selling album "Metallica (1991)" and the fans expectations were very high at this point. Metallica again chose Bob Rock to produce the album (never change a winning formula). 27 songs were written during the sessions and the band had initially planned to make a double CD release but they opted to release the songs they had finished recording as a single CD release as they had been offered to play on the Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1996 and wanted a new album out before that. The 13 remaining songs that didn´t make it unto "Load" were released on the next studio album "Reload (1997)".

The music on "Load" is completely stripped anything that points toward Metallica´s thrash metal past. While those elements were already very sparse on "Metallica", at least they were there. The music on "Load" is more hard rock/ heavy rock blues based in style than ever before and while I´d still call the music metal, there´s generally a softer and more mainstream approach to songwriting on the album. There are a few harder edged riffs here and there that fully qualify as metal though. The album was the longest Metallica album up until then with it´s 78:59 minutes long playing time distributed over 14 tracks. That´s at least a couple of tracks too long if you ask me.

The sound production is professional but lacks the metallic power of the predecessor.

"Load" is just like it´s sister album "Reload" a pretty unremarkable and medicore affair. The album seriously lacks highlights/ standout tracks, the production lacks edge and the music lacks attitude. Compared to the "Black Album", "Load" is quite the disappointment but it´s still a somewhat consistent and decent affair deserving a 2.5 - 3 star rating.

poslednijat_colobar The end

I like when a band takes different direction to explore some other types and genres of music. Not now, of course, because it has to be made with elegance and quality. The situation here is totally different. Metallica takes the commercial development and it looks like they will never get back. The genre in Load is absolutely different - mixture between country, blues and alternative music combined in mediocre way. No sign of thrash!!! The worst in Load is the length of the album - it's too long and because of that some more dull, boring and shapeless. At that moment of their career, they've lost the sense of making heavier music. But there is other aspect in here. They partially kept their sense of making ballads. These ballads save the album. Namely these ballads are the only good songs here, with Mama Said being the best one. The other songs deserving attention are: Until It Sleeps, The House Jack Built and Bleeding Me. Because of them - 1,75 stars rounded down to 1,5 stars under my voting system!

Stooge When I was around 12 or 13, I got my first exposure to Metallica. At this point in my life, the band was in the midst of their “Load” era. Maybe this is why I react much more positively to Metallica’s transformation from metal maniacs to hard rockers than the average metal fan. Hell, they already dabbled in the rock realm with The Black Album, so why should we not be surprised that they took it a bit further?

When Metallica thrashed, they thrashed with the best of them. With Load, they proved they could rock with the best of them. And rock hard this album does! “Aint My Bitch”, “King Nothing”, and “Thorn Within” can get me pumped as much as “Blackened”, “The Four Horsemen”, and “Ride The Lightning” do. It’s just by slightly different means.

Compared to the album that preceded it, much of Load sets a darker atmosphere. Singles “Until It Sleeps” and “Hero of the Day”, along with “Bleeding Me” and “The Outlaw Torn”, are some of the gloomiest tracks in Metallica’s discography. Oddly enough, in the case of the two mentioned singles, they are rather uplifting at the same time.

It is commonly said that the Load albums would be better if they trimmed out the filler and created a double album as originally intended. If this were the case, I suppose I would nominate “Cure”, “Poor Twisted Me”, and “Ronnie” as songs that the album could possibly do without. They don’t do much that other catchier rockers on the album already do, and do so to a much lesser effect. “Bleeding Me” and “The Outlaw Torn” could afford to be a bit shorter in running time as well. Many may consider it wise for Metallica to have excluded the country-tinged “Mama Said” from the album, but I like it for the sake of variety and it’s grown on me a bit over the years.

Despite all the negatives associated with Load, I see the positive. There is no reason for a metal head to be ashamed to own this album. Great album by Metallica!!

The Angry Scotsman Different is not a bad thing!

However, this album is.

Despite what I used to think in my younger days, different is not bad. A band changing its sound is not automatically bad, and experimenting is good. Sadly, "selling out" has nothing to do with why this album is bad. The music takes all the responsibility for that.

I actually like this album a little better than the Black Album. While this album is generic, it is at least a bit faster paced and just more upbeat overall. The hour long ballad of a snore fest that was the Black Album has been replaced with a more hard rock, bluesy sounding album. Actually, that sounds very appealing to me. I would love that! The problem is, this album is overall, boring.

Ronnie, for example, is a pretty sweet sounding song. However, I can barely make it to the end as it just feels so dull by then, (jeez how many times have I written that now). Shame because that opening riff really makes me wanna groove.

Wasting my Hate I really like. Cool sounding, decent amount of heavy rockness, really awesome feel. Not to long.

This is counterbalanced by "Mama Said". This is just an insult to the fans. I guess unless you happen to like country as well...

King Nothing may be the best song on the album.

I will not continue on, because most of the songs fall into the same category: Kind of cool, got some nice feel/moments but boring. Despite some cool and even groovy moments, this is a dull hard rock album.

Two Stars

Pekka Metallica had changed big time at the turn of the decade, dropping the thrashy epic metal masterpieces for shorter songs with simpler structure and polished sound. Then why was it Load five years later that caused the fan backlash and not the Black Album? It traded some of the heaviness for some extra spit, dirt, blues and emotion, but to these ears the style isn't that much different to justify the slaughter.

Obviously when an album lasts for 14 songs and 79 minutes, there's bound to be stuff that's weaker than the rest. 2x4, Cure, Poor Twisted Me and Ronnie are the slightly sub-par pieces that prevent this from being a five star record, but as my rating shows they aren't an overbearing burden and actually mostly very good, just not as good as the others. At the other end of the spectrum this album contains some absolute gems, including my favourite Metallica track of all time.

The pounding opener Ain't My Bitch, The House Jack Built with its truly insane wah solo, the surprisingly sololess Wasting My Hate and Jason's personal favorite Thorn Within are all solidly crafted heavy metal, as is the heaviest single of the album, King Nothing. Other singles of the album are among the softest Metallica material ever, Until It Sleeps with its make up and whatnot video (probably the biggest reason for the reaction this album got), the partly pop-partly heavy Hero of the Day and the country ballad, yes, a country ballad called Mama Said. Metallica and country ballads must have been a pill tough to swallow for a lot of people, but if they actually listened to the song, they might have noticed that it's a fantastic piece of heartfelt music. One of the highlights of their entire career, James being very sincere about his life.

Both of the so-called album "sides" end with a brilliant song among their finest ever. I remember listening to Bleeding Me as a ten-eleven year old kid and thinking it's the most boring song on the album. Oh how tastes change. Absolutely captivating and emotional, James pouring his heart out. The second "side" and the whole album ends with The Outlaw Torn, which is the song I was talking about earlier. An atmosphere like nothing else on any Metallica album before, great simple riffs, great lyric and vocal work (as on most of the album) and the outro jam... all this makes it my favourite Metallica track.

A natural successor to the Black Album, and in my opinion the better of the two.

jampa17 Well, I wasn't fan of them at the end so, don't expect a better rate.

Yeah, I'm not fan of them, but I do appreciate their capability of making impressive thrash metal during the 80's. Now, when you take away the complex arrangements, what you have left is just an average hard rock band, but for me it's too evident the limitation of their creativity during the middle 90's.

Hetfield vocals fits better with the more limited music, but his voice is plain and the lyrics are really childish, and metal is way more than that. Hammett, Ulrich and Newsted are average musicians at best and only the riffing guitars of Hetfield stand tall in this album, but don't save this lame production.

Not a single song made it. This is maybe their worst album. If you like the 80's Metallica, maybe you won't like this particular album. Now, if you like 90's Metallica, this album can be for you. But is, certainly, not for me. 1 star, this album is really poor.

Valarius Short hair? Check. Make-up? Check. Cigars? Check. Metallica have sold out! Oh no!!!

These are just some of the things the metal community were complaining about when Metallica released 'Load' back in 1995, but anyone with an open mind will find that there are some pretty good songs on here. The riffs may have slowed down, but there's still enough crunch here to send a bear running for the hills.

Whilst this may not be Metallica's best release, there are some songs on here that definitely stand side-by-side with anything Metallica had done before. 'Ain't My Bitch', 'Until It Sleeps', 'King Nothing' and 'Bleeding Me' are all classic songs. Even the country influenced 'Mama Said' is a great song (unless you're an 80's Metallica fan who STILL can't get over the ‘Black Album’).

But for all its strengths, there is one major problem that bugs me about this album. Alone, any song on this album is a great track. (And I mean any song, including 'Mama Said' and 'Ronnie'), but when you listen to the album all in one go, it definitely feels like you've listened to the same song over and over for the last hour. It's not that the songs are bad, just a bit ‘same-y’. But if you isolate any song and listen to it on its own, it's a classic.

Maybe not Metallica's finest hour, but great none-the-less. Ignore the 'Metal' review of 'Load' and judge it for what it is, a great rock album.

metalmillennium What the hell is going on? Is this the same band that recorded Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets? After listening to this album...you would never guess it's the same band! The music at this point is pretty much a heavier Alternative-Rock sound, as Heavy Metal is out of the picture. The production is the highlight of Load, with the instruments being pretty audible. Jame$' vocals are average at best, Ja$on Newsted's bass work can actually be heard, and Lar$ seems like he's bored back there on drums.

Load has a few good tracks, although plenty of filler/unlistenables, as well. Of the better tracks include the lead single "Until it Sleeps," which has a fairly decent chorus and clean guitar passages that make it worth a listen, but it's OK at best. "Bleeding Me," "Thorn Within," and "King Nothing" make up the other decent at best tracks offered here. Unfortunately the rest of this album shouldn't even be included, as the cuts lack aggression, speed, emotion, or just plain suck.

By the look of Metallica on the back cover art, sitting together in designer wear suits, smoking cigars together on a candle lit-table, they appear to be established "rock stars" at this point. This album shows progression, sure, but not progressing in a direction that will please the long time fans. Metallica's days are over, and this album is either there to keep the Metallica name intact or to collect a heavy paycheck (in which they did).

Keep playing your 80s Metallica albums and stay far away and clear of Load like the Ebola virus. This band is capable of such better music..or at least was. Not recommended.