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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: KevShmev on October 13, 2019, 07:53:30 PM
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This question is obviously for those who experienced its release in real time, not ones who got it years later.
The background on me as a fan is that I was never a fan of Metallica until right before this album came out. I thought Wherever I May Roam was bad ass when the Black Album was the rave, but didn't care for much else (I was not a fan of metal really until I got into Dream Theater), but then I heard Enter Sandman playing a lot at Blues games in 1995 and 1996 and was like, "Okay, that song is pretty damn good," and then my younger brother let me listen to his copy of the Black Album and I became a fan. I then got both Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning shortly thereafter, and it was right around the same time that Load came out.
I have to admit that I thought Load was pretty damn great when it was first out. The fact that I was still in my honeymoon phase as a fan was likely a big factor. Sure, I thought a few of the songs in the back half weren't needed, but I still loved probably 2/3 of it. And it sure did dominate my CD player for quite in a while in 1996.
Fast forward 23 years later, and I still like it quite a bit, although as someone who is not a huge Metallica fan (I like them a lot, but simply do not listen to them a lot), if I reach for Metallica, it is almost always gonna be Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets or the Black Album, but Load is still what I would call a good record, one that probably doesn't get its due from the fan base in general.
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Kev, I've experienced every Metallica album in real time, including Kill 'Em All.
Before I talk about Load, let me back up to The Black Album.
The Black Album was a huge disappointment at the time. I did not like the new direction at all. Sonically, it was amazing, but I just wasn't a fan. There were a handful of songs I really liked, but it was just so different.
When Load came out, my two thoughts were:
1. They are continuing on with the change that started with The Black Album, and ,
2. Gee, the Black Album doesn't seem so bad now
I remember 2X4 being released before the album came out. It realty didn't do anything for me.
When I bought the album, the band photos jumped off the page. Sort of like seeing Queensryche on the RFO sleeve for the first time.
Ain't My Bitch starts off in rousing fashion. This is a great Metallica song.
The only other two songs I really liked, which weren't the usual Metallica style were Bleeding Me, and The Outlaw Torn, which I thought had a huge Sabbath influence. These are still the three standout tracks still today. The only other song that makes my Load/Reload Compilation EP is Wasting My Hate. I love the aggressiveness on this.
Until It Sleeps and Hero Of the Day have aged fairly well, but all in all, except for the songs I listed, it's pretty forgettable.
I respected what they were trying to do, because I feel it's a high quality album, even though it's not what I'm looking for from Metallica.
Ultimately, The Black Album has aged extremely well, and I love it now. Load...not so much.
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I was in line in Tower Records in Schaumburg at Midnight for the on-sale. Walked out with the vinyl and CD.
I have never had a problem with Load. The Outlaw Torn is one of my all-time faves from them. Bleeding Me and Mama Said are standouts as well. Never cared for Hero of the Day.
All in all, it's a solid album for what it is.
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I was in line in Tower Records in Schaumburg
Is that Shaumberg Illinois?
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I don't remember hearing 2x4 as a pre-release tune; I am pretty sure Until It Sleeps was the first single, and I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
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Love it. But I discovered Metallica around that time. Bitch, Sleeps, Bleeding, Thorn, Outlaw all good stuff.
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I don't remember hearing 2x4 as a pre-release tune; I am pretty sure Until It Sleeps was the first single, and I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
I heard 2x4 being mentioned also but first I remember is Until it Sleeps also.
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I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
That fit me and my co-workers to a "T". I still hate that song, although I'm sure part of the reason is not only is it (IMO) a lame song, but the radio station played it. Every. Freaking. Hour.
Then add how they all cut their hair, Lars and Kirk were acting gay in those photos and the lame cover art, and they lost me as a fan. Since that time, I've never regained the interest I had in them prior to that album, altho I still enjoy everything they put out before that, including the black album (though I now loathe Nothing Else Matters in the same way that I do The Spirit Carries On).
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I was in line in Tower Records in Schaumburg
Is that Shaumberg Illinois?
That would be correct. I was at the Midnight on-sales for both Load and Reload. I've lived in the Chicago 'burbs my whole life.
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I don't remember hearing 2x4 as a pre-release tune; I am pretty sure Until It Sleeps was the first single, and I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
I heard 2x4 being mentioned also but first I remember is Until it Sleeps also.
I remember Chicago radio playing a live version of 2x4 well before the album came out. I remember the early live version being much better than the studio version. I do like the studio version, but I have vivid memories of being disappointed when I heard it.
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I was a teenager and I was in my formative years. Load came out in 1996, two years before I was still listening to italian and radio-friendly music before discovering foreign music with Bon Jovi, thanks to Always, and then in 1995 I discovered Iron Maiden and became a metalhead, with Metallica following quickly after.
Keep in mind that it was the time of cassettes back then, so my metal discovery was through compilations made by a classmate; I can't answer the question "what was your first Iron Maiden / Metallica album" 'cause I experienced them through the mix tapes of my classmate.
All of this to say that, with just barely a year in the world of metal music, finding out Load was a bit weird to say the least. I was neither prepared, nor I had the more comprehensive musical knowledge I have today, to fully understand what Metallica was trying to do, so the "weird" style of the album and the change of looks were a big WTF for me.
I didn't outright dislike it, Until it Sleeps was good and I loved Ain't My Bitch and The House Jack Built among other things, but I wasn't really impressed. I had to "live with it" in a sense, it was the first new Metallica album when I became a fan, so take it or leave it in a sense. But I was lukewarm to it at best.
Now I recognize it as a valid and solid album (maybe drop Twisted and Cure and make it tighter), but at the time I was just "meh" about it and kept hearing the old mix tape with Master, Creeping Death and the likes.
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I was in line in Tower Records in Schaumburg
Is that Shaumberg Illinois?
That would be correct. I was at the Midnight on-sales for both Load and Reload. I've lived in the Chicago 'burbs my whole life.
Cool. The TACs stayed in Schaumburg in 2010. We took the kids to the Lego Discovery Zone out there. Spent a day in Chicago as well.
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Load was the album that got me into Metallica, so I loved it at the start. Still think it's very good.
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I guess Kev stated in the OP this is mostly towards people who experienced it in real time, I was only 5 at the time but when I was a teenager and got into Metallica I did so going through the albums in order of their release and so I'll just add my 5 cents. Similar to other metalheads I didn't like it and thought for the longest time that they "sold out" but as I matured and grew up, and later revisited the album it has grown on me. I would actually say it's my 4th favorite Metallica album after MoP-AJFA-RtL and I think it has some of their best songs on it - Outlaw Torn and Bleeding Me would probably both make my top10/top15 Metallica songs. :p
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Yeah, I think The Outlaw Torn being a Top 15 song is fair.
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I can't remember if I bought in on release, but I got into metal at the time and I believe "Load" was my first Metallica album, although I had heard their older stuff from friends.
I liked it then and I still do. The raw sound on their earlier albums was a bit too much for me at the time, I was mainly into eurotrance (2 Unlimited! :lol) and radio stuff. But Load had some cool melodies on it.
I went to see them on the "Load" tour. Can't remember much though. I was just a kid.. Should have had those tickets now instead!
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I loved it.
I got into Metallica with The Black Album in 92, so this was the first time I got to experience a new Metallica album coming out. I was in high school, my favorite band was putting out a new record. At the time, I was very loyal to the band and they meant a lot to me. So I defended them and this album. I still do, though now I can see why die-hard thrash and metal fans wouldn't like it. To me, it's has always sounded like Metallica, even though it's not thrash. Some great songs, incredible lyrics, and great memories of being so into them and excited about a new album coming out.
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AJFA was the first album they released when i was already a fan. The Black Album I was a little conflicted over but enjoyed most of it at the time. When Load came out i really liked it, except for our being slightly too long. My mate at the time despised it but i didn't feel the outrage that many did. I always loved Slayer AND Bon Jovi, add it were, so wasn't tribal about the heaviness or otherwise.
Looking back now, it's my go-to Metallica and the their last good one, imo. I never listen to the black album except for Sad But True and Nothing Else Matters.
So my opinion hasn't changed, oddly
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I don't remember hearing 2x4 as a pre-release tune; I am pretty sure Until It Sleeps was the first single, and I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
You are correct. Until It Sleeps was the first single. 2x4 wasn't a single at all, so I have no idea where TAC is getting that from.
As far as fan reception, you are right. I remember it being hyped on our local Bay Area rock station that they were going to do the world debut of the new Metallica single, and a couple of friends and I eagerly gathering around the radio for it. When it was done, both of them were pissed and going on about how bad it was. I actually liked it. It was soft, but still dark and sounded like Metallica to me. But when the entire album dropped shortly after, I was pretty disappointed as a whole. I liked a couple of songs, but felt like the entire album was a huge droppoff from where they were. And, for what it's worth, this from a fan who LOVED the Black album.
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I don't remember hearing 2x4 as a pre-release tune; I am pretty sure Until It Sleeps was the first single, and I imagine the old school Metallica fans were raging hard when they heard that one. :lol :lol
You are correct. Until It Sleeps was the first single. 2x4 wasn't a single at all, so I have no idea where TAC is getting that from.
2x4 was played live in the summer of 1995, a year before the album's release. I wouldn't doubt that some radio stations played bootlegged live recordings of it to "debut" a new Metallica song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JsWyR6tPTo
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Ah, okay. That makes sense.
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I was never a die-hard Metallica fan, I had all their records but they were half killer/half filler for me. I simply thought that Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth did the heavy thrash thing better. And I didn't really like Lars' drumming. The Black Album was better, the songs more concise and the drumming more to the point, although that dry drum sound did nothing for me.
Then came Load and I loved it, for the first time I could actually enjoy Lars' playing. And a lot of the guitar solos were actually listenable, sometimes even soulful. The riffs were precise and the songs not too bloated, and even the long tracks worked. In fact, Bleeding Me and Outlaw Torn are my favorites. And did I mention Hetfield's vocals? Imo he has never sung better. So all in all it was and still is my favorite Metallica record. Maybe a tad too long but still the record with the least amount of skippable songs.
Sadly, for me, it was a one off, because Reload, although in the same vein, mostly blows.
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Ah, okay. That makes sense.
Yeah, maybe "release" in my post made it sound more official than it was, but 2x4 was definitely out there before the album's release.
Bosk, I may not be up to date, but I am definitely up to "past" date. ;D :P
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Load (aka Blood-Cum) is garbage. I bought it, brought it home, listened to it once (maybe twice) and actually returned it to the store for a refund.
The Black Album was disappointing, but they still retained some of their "Metallicaness," but Load was just...I don't know.
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I got into Metallica with Justice and went back and listened to their first four albums intensely during 7th grade, and while I liked the Black Album, I wasn't a huge fan. When I saw the video for Until It Sleeps, I checked out of my Metallica fandom almost instantly. I didn't begrudge them for experimenting, they simply went in a direction I did not like, and I didn't like other Metallica fans telling me how I should fan. My interest in them never really recovered from that, outside of the Some Kind of Monster documentary, which, oddly enough, made me respect Lars and Jason a bit more than I had for a while.
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It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway. It's easy to look at it as a dumb move, or selling out, or what have you. But although I mostly agree with those sentiments, I also get how after Metallica had been doing heavy, angry, intense music for so many years, through so many albums and so many shows, that it didn't feel genuine at that moment in time, and that they felt the need to change things up and go a different direction. I don't agree with it, but it makes total sense.
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It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway.
I wasn't aware of that.
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It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway. It's easy to look at it as a dumb move, or selling out, or what have you. But although I mostly agree with those sentiments, I also get how after Metallica had been doing heavy, angry, intense music for so many years, through so many albums and so many shows, that it didn't feel genuine at that moment in time, and that they felt the need to change things up and go a different direction. I don't agree with it, but it makes total sense.
The only thing I’d question is the music. James wrote almost all of that. I can’t believe he would begrudgingly write Until It Sleeps or The Outlaw Torn. Maybe Lars and Kirk had a louder voice than usual but James wrote the bulk of that music.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JsWyR6tPTo
Funny seeing James rock the mullet in that video. Yeesh.
It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway.
I wasn't aware of that.
Read the Wikipedia article about Load - especially about the artwork.
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Load (aka Blood-Cum) is garbage. I bought it, brought it home, listened to it once (maybe twice) and actually returned it to the store for a refund.
The Black Album was disappointing, but they still retained some of their "Metallicaness," but Load was just...I don't know.
Regarding their "Metallicaness," we hear that a lot. "This album doesn't sound like the band!" Which, of course, makes no sense because if the band made it, then that is what they sounded like at that period in time. ...And Justice for All sounded a lot different than Master of Puppets. And then the Black Album sounded a lot different than ...And Justice for All. And then Load sounded a lot different than the Black Album. It's all Metallica.
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Wrong. It's Alternica.
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It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway.
I wasn't aware of that.
Read the Wikipedia article about Load - especially about the artwork.
Done. Cool.
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It's interesting to read about how Lars and Kirk drove a lot of what was going on with that record, from the sound, to the cover art, to the band image, etc., and how it pissed James off, but he went along with it anyway. It's easy to look at it as a dumb move, or selling out, or what have you. But although I mostly agree with those sentiments, I also get how after Metallica had been doing heavy, angry, intense music for so many years, through so many albums and so many shows, that it didn't feel genuine at that moment in time, and that they felt the need to change things up and go a different direction. I don't agree with it, but it makes total sense.
The only thing I’d question is the music. James wrote almost all of that. I can’t believe he would begrudgingly write Until It Sleeps or The Outlaw Torn. Maybe Lars and Kirk had a louder voice than usual but James wrote the bulk of that music.
I'd question that too, seeing as a lot of the songs seem to be a lot more personally emotional to James than most of their previous work—in particular, Until It Sleeps, Hero of the Day, Bleeding Me, Mama Said, The Outlaw Torn (plus Fixxxer on Reload). That's actually one of the things that elevates the best material from this era into much of my favorite stuff of their whole discography.
But I was a very small child when the albums came out, so I'm not really of the demographic this thread is seeking to hear from.
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Read the wiki on load. Seemed James hated the artwork and the photoshoots. But that’s it.
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When it came out, I thought it was...OK.
Which was a severe dropoff from the preceding several albums.
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I loved it.
I got into Metallica with The Black Album in 92, so this was the first time I got to experience a new Metallica album coming out. I was in high school, my favorite band was putting out a new record. At the time, I was very loyal to the band and they meant a lot to me. So I defended them and this album. I still do, though now I can see why die-hard thrash and metal fans wouldn't like it. To me, it's has always sounded like Metallica, even though it's not thrash. Some great songs, incredible lyrics, and great memories of being so into them and excited about a new album coming out.
Pretty much sums up what I would have wrote. Now in hindsight, I wish they would have just took the best songs from Load and ReLoad and made one album out of it. I too now think there is plenty of filler across those 2 albums. But yea at the time, I was excited as hell and appreciated and respected the direction they went with Load.
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I don't know; for me, not being a thrash fan, the Black - Load - ReLoad - S&M run showed me that they were better than that. That they had a depth that a lot of other bands either didn't have or didn't bother to show. Personally, I love James when he sings, as opposed to that sound on MoP and RtL where he sounds like he's singing from the other end of a corrugated drainage pipe.
I'm not sure about the "I wish they combined them into one" theory; I would have sought out the other songs anyways, so it's kind of moot. I don't listen to all of both albums; I sort of prefer the more diverse songs (either Hero Of The Day or Bleeding Me is my favorite song from the two records) but I think they are what they are, a musical statement.
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I got it the day it came out. I was in college. I didn't like it because I was looking for something else from them musically. When you don't get what you expect, the first impulse is to dislike it.
For what it is musically, it's a very good hard rock album with some very good songs. Today in 2019, I like it.
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I don't know; for me, not being a thrash fan, the Black - Load - ReLoad - S&M run showed me that they were better than that. That they had a depth that a lot of other bands either didn't have or didn't bother to show. Personally, I love James when he sings, as opposed to that sound on MoP and RtL where he sounds like he's singing from the other end of a corrugated drainage pipe.
I'm not sure about the "I wish they combined them into one" theory; I would have sought out the other songs anyways, so it's kind of moot. I don't listen to all of both albums; I sort of prefer the more diverse songs (either Hero Of The Day or Bleeding Me is my favorite song from the two records) but I think they are what they are, a musical statement.
I agree very strongly with this post. Especially the part about James's vocals, which I think sound very poor on RTL, MOP (and AJFA) in no small part due to whatever weird things they did during production to create that drainage pipe sound.
I also strongly relate to preferring the more diverse songs. My favorite would be one of Hero of the Day, The Outlaw Torn or Fixxxer. Probably Hero.
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It's the best Metallica album imo.
I got into them around 1994 after seeing their Woodstock performance so Load was actually the first new album I heard after becoming a fan. I didn't care about genres back then (I was 11), I just knew it was Metallica and I loved it. Until It Sleeps is one of my favorite music videos of all time (along with 1979 by the Pumpkins) and The Outlaw Torn, House That Jack Built, Bleeding Me, and Until It Sleeps are amazing songs. Ain't My Bitch and 2x4 are awesome hard-rock songs too.
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Load was the first Metallica album I got. My uncle gave it to me in 97 and I guess he didn't like it. So I had zero frame of reference to not like it, but I do remember thinking "this is the mighty Metallica?", "This is the band that people always talk about?".
I enjoyed load, but it wasn't until I finally got their first 4 albums that I became a huge Metallica fan.
That being said, Load does have some dark and moody pieces that I really dig.
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I can certainly see why Until It Sleeps would have been a shock to the system for many - even coming off The Black Album, it is fairly mellow - but damn it if it isn't a really good song. It's not one of my favorites, but it's got a killer vibe, one you really don't find on any other song they've done. I will take stuff like that over most of the "we are trying to be metal again even though it's not really what we want to do anymore" material from the last few albums.
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I absolutely love Until It Sleeps. I came to Load at a sort of pivotal time in my life, and I wound up making a pretty strong personal connection to a few of the songs, including that one (even though it wasn't based on the same sort of situation that James wrote the song about). I think there's a lot of raw emotion on it, which to me puts the lie to the notion that it was all about selling out for commercial success.
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I was a little too young when the album was released, when I discovered it in the early 2000's while checking out Metallica's back catalog, I loved it. It's aged really well for me too. I probably benefited from experiencing these records after the fact, so I had no expectations for the Loads to sound like previous work or not, I didn't have a good enough grasp of the catalog at that point.
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I can certainly see why Until It Sleeps would have been a shock to the system for many - even coming off The Black Album, it is fairly mellow - but damn it if it isn't a really good song. It's not one of my favorites, but it's got a killer vibe, one you really don't find on any other song they've done.
Ditto. Until it Sleeps is great. And the video was wickedly cool, the teenager in me found totally badass them starting to play their instruments towards the end of the song, when the last chorus kicks in. Of course back then all you could think of watching the video was "geez, they all have short hair now".
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I remember them debuting 2x4 at a live gig that was broadcast somewhere, I'm assuming on the radio but memory fails me, and Hetfield ending the song with a proud "You like that!?" shout.
Uhm... no.
Still don't, it's bang average.
Between that reducing expectations and the various interviews and publicity efforts that went into the album letting us know roughly what was coming it turned out to be surprisingly good. Bloated with too much filler, but where it was good it was still really good and Hetfield's voice was the MVP of the album.
I wasn't overly chuffed about them letting Kirk play rhythm guitar on the album as it robbed us of the blueprint of a Metallica album up to that point - Hetfield's crushingly precise rhythm playing.
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The House Jack Built is an underrated song I never felt got enough love, some killer riffs in it and some really catchy hooks as well. Overall I think the first half of Load is really strong, second half is perhaps where you could point out the weaker tracks but you still have Mama Said which may not be very Metallica but still a good ballad IMO and ofc you're ending with one of their finest moments in The Outlaw Torn.
Reload definitely felt like it got the short straw out of the 2 albums for me. Fixxxer is indeed great and a very underrated tune in their discography but I always felt Fuel and The Memory Remains were a bit overhyped and I don't think either has anything against the "hits" from Load like Until it Sleeps or King Nothing. If i was to make a combined album of Load/Reload I think it would be 80% Load.
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I agree that The House Jack Built is awesome and underrated! I think they barely, if ever, played it live... it's worthy of the third, midtempo track slot of old.
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That it was a Load of course! I've since warmed to it a bit over the years. I can at least listen to it now.
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So now it's a warm Load? :neverusethis:
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So now it's a warm Load? :neverusethis:
Yes.
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I've always liked The House That Jack Built a lot as well.
I was pretty high on Thorn Within at first, but while the riffing is still pretty killer, the vocal melodies seem just kind of weird now, and the song is now one I never turn on anymore.
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I love Thorn Within. It’s unfortunate (for me) that most people dislike it
Has the band ever played it live?
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I love Thorn Within.
Has the band ever played it live?
No.
I've heard it once on radio and it's one of my favourites on Load. But I doubt they'd ever play it.
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Aren't there a lot of songs from Load that they never played? The only time I saw Metallica was in 1998 and IIRC we only got a few songs each from both Load and ReLoad. Granted, Bleeding Me was one of them, which kicked ass, but it seems like they sure didn't give a lot of love to those albums in the live sets.
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Eh, that solo in AMB threw me for a loop, Hero is weak, the rest of it's different but cool. King Nothing should have been the first single.
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I love Thorn Within. It’s unfortunate (for me) that most people dislike it
Here's one of the few that likes it!
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My initial reaction to the album was it was decent, some very good songs, some bad ones and several OK ones. I hadn't listened to it for years (decades...) and have just given it a listen now.
So it's still a frustrating album. A few bland songs, which while not outright bad don't really add much to the album aside from length. 'Wasting my Hate' is biggest example of that, totally forgettable. There are a couple of complete duds '2 x 4' and 'Thorn Inside' just crap. 'King Nothing' and 'Hero of the Day' weren't as enjoyable as I hoped, I remember these too as highlights back in the day.
On the positive 'Until it Sleeps' is still a classic and 'Bleeding Me' is one I'd mostly forgotten about and is great. 'The Outlaw Torn' is a great closer too. 'Mama' and 'Ronnie' are both enjoyable 'non' Metallica sounding songs and surprisingly 'Poor Twisted Me' was far better than I remembered. And for a song I couldn't remember anything about 'Cure' was a solid entry.
I remember at the time I preferred ReLoad so I'm doing a re-listen to that later too.
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The first thing I heard (on the radio) from the album was King Nothing, and I hated it. A week or so later I heard Until it Sleeps and loved it. So, of course I bought the album. :lol I really liked most of it but the aforementioned KN and Mama Said were auto skips.
Over the years, it hasn't aged well for me. When I listen to it now, I generally start the album at Bleeding Me... so that's about five tracks I skip at the start. Mama Said isn't so bad to me anymore, but I tend to zone out when it's on.