LOAD

"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.