Looking Back in Anger at Metallica's 'Load"

This was the first album by the band that I did not buy. I was working at a Record store when it was released, so I heard some of it and was appalled by all the singles, so I never sat down and gave it an objective listen. With the remastered re-release this week, the time for that listen is now. The opening track is stompy rock n roll and certainly not what I was considering metal 96. James sounds pretty good, and this is a blatant sound of selling out to ensure their footing on the radio. I don't hate the vocals, song is too middle of the road overall, but not the worst thing I have ever heard.

Bob Rock was certainly not helping things, though it feels like there is a rawer production quality than the Black Album. " 2x4" is a pretty terrible song, so perhaps my first impressions were not that off. There is a more metal feel going into "The House that Jack Built". It is moodier and more melodic, so it works better than the first two songs, which were more aligned with the commercial rock radio was heading at the time. I never hated "Until It Sleeps"; is a well-written song that works for me. No more metal than Alice In Chains. 

"King Nothing" feels like they were trying to work off the formula they wrote "Enter Sandman" with, but it's less bombastic. The country flavored 'Hero of the Day' wants to be Thin Lizzy, before I got into Thin Lizzy, I can appreciate it, but it still does not rock my socks off, but more passable than it was."Bleeding Me" finds them in a sticky situation as it's a good song, but not a good Metallica. Though I am not sure they were sure what a good Metallica song was at this point and Bob Rock was likely getting kick backs from the record label to blow smoke up their ass, as they wanted another "Black Album" not a "Ride the Lightning". Lars even sounds good on this one. 

"Cure" finds them wanting to be both AC/DC and Danzig, but not really wanting to be Metallica. It's boring. "Poor Twisted Me" finds them trying harder at the Blues. This one is also boring; it feels like they were just jamming around as they had to write some more songs. They originally were going to release a double album, but I am beginning to think between this and 'Re-load" there might be one solid album out of both put together, and the fat like this trimmed. 

"Wasting My Hate" is an improvement over the previous two songs. But that is a low bar. Though much better than the even more country "Mama Said", I am not sure why the label did not say Wait, this is a far cry from 'The Unforgiven'". "Thorn Within " starts off more like a Dokken song. It goes into a more grunge-laden chug. James makes some good choices when it comes to the harmonies, but is trying to hard most of the time, and overthinking things.  This is one of the album's better songs. This one also has a jammy section in the middle, but it works better. The Southern rock of "Ronnie" is another misstep. 'The Outlaw Torn' closes the album. It's the longest song at almost ten minutes. There is almost a "Stranglehold" feeling to how they jam it out. I'll round this down to an 8, as some strong songs are not great Metallica songs, then there are also a couple of songs hard to sit through, so the fact that they are who they are and very talented means that they can pull off great things even when lost for inspiration. But compared to "Master of Puppets" it is hard to believe it's the same band. 

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