And how did Better Than You win a Grammy!!!!! Could, and have, done better ![]() And Fixxer is a great underrated track (perhaps their most underrated track?). I like Unforgiven II and Low Man’s Lyric. Fuel and Memory Remains are a killer 1-2. And that’s what let these two albums down. But ultimately it’s always the quality of the songs that makes the difference. Half the tracks are half-decent while the other half are half-hearted. Would combining the good half of Load with the good half of Reload result in a good Metallica album? Not half! Score out of 10? 5 seems appropriate.Īndrew Cumming: I know this has been well rehearsed bu t Load and Reload should have been 1 (great) album. Trimming the flab & cutting the running time in approximately half would have been a good start. Gary Claydon: Not half as bad as it's made out to be but only half as good as it could have been. On both counts, they are a solid, if unspectacular 7/10. Take the weakest 6 however and at least 4 are also on Load. Choosing between them is an interesting proposition take the best 6 tracks of the 27 and at least 4 are on Load. Such are the standards Metallica set on their first five albums however, they are instead relegated to a curious footnote in their illustrious history. It is significant that Corrosion of Conformity were their support band on the Load tour, for an argument could surely be made that, had COC released those albums, they would almost certainly have been better appreciated. If cut down to 9 tracks and circa 50-55 minutes each, as opposed to 14 and 13 tracks and almost 80 minutes respectively, Load and Reload would have made for a much more compelling, taut experience. Like Guns N' Roses and their Use Your Illusion double set half a decade earlier, Load and Reload also suffer from the modern curse of 'CD bloat', where albums took advantage of the format's increased capacity over vinyl, but simultaneously proved less is most certainly not always more. Unfortunately however, they were also the start of a common trend which has permeated every Metallica album since an infuriating inability to self-edit, whether it be decent songs that overstay their welcome ( Carpe Diem Baby), or should have remained on the cutting room floor ( Low Man's Lyric). While 1996's Load and the following year's Reload are not in the same class as the aforementioned greats, it is notable they are not as big a departure from the Black Album as that was from its predecessor. The fact they milked it and took 5 years to release a follow-up suggests they knew this. How many outside of diehard Led Zeppelin fans speak of the otherwise brilliant Houses Of The Holy? Was AC/DC's For Those About To Rock better than given credit for? What if Don't Look Back was Boston's debut and the self-titled masterpiece its follow-up? In short, Metallica were on a hiding to nothing after the eponymous mainstream smash of 1991 and, it could be argued, would have faced backlash regardless of their next move. ( Punk News)Ĭhris Downie: There are but a handful of bands who produce an album so gargantuan in worldwide impact it cements their place in rock and metal immortality, but also becomes an albatross around their neck, in that nothing they subsequently produce could ever live up to it. At times, it’s actually painful to listen to. The two good songs were followed by more than 65 minutes of filler. Like a lot of albums made for the CD era, Reload ran way too long. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. ![]() The crusty Marianne Faithfull vocal line at the end made it work. ![]() Second track was the ballad The Memory Remains. While it certainly didn’t contain Metallica’s greatest lyrics, it was a catchy, sturdy opener. " Reload actually started out well enough with the rock radio hit Fuel. Still, the towering closer, Fixxxer, along with handful of cuts that successfully push the outer edges of Metallica's sound, make the record worthwhile." ( AllMusic) "There are a couple of ballads and country-rockers that don't work quite so well (it's never a good idea to have an explicit sequel, as on The Unforgiven II), and that, along with a few plodding Metallica-by-numbers, is what keeps Reload from being a full success. Like the transitional albums that moved the band from the pure aggression of Kill ‘Em All to the flawless “black album,” Load and Re-Load are just steppingstones in the ongoing Metallica legacy." ( Rolling Stone) "If the foursome is not capable of making a truly bad record anymore, Re-Load is not one of their greats.
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