Music: Metallica's Load 20 years later

[Lost Horizons]

The album came out June 4,1996. Anyone's opinion change on it since then?

Click to read more...

 

[Whiplash27]

Load is a solid album. People hate on it because "Metallica Sold Out," but if you look at it on its own it's definitely an above average hard rock album.

 

[BonMorrison]

Casual Metallica listener here - always though Load and Reload were pretty great. Bands change their sound as time goes on, whatever.

 

[Xelebes]

Pretty much my first exposure to Metallica. Did not enjoy it then and still do not enjoy it now. To think that Nickelback copied that sound. . . *shudder*

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Load is a solid album. People hate on it because "Metallica Sold Out," but if you look at it on its own it's definitely an above average hard rock album.

Metallica "sold out" by bringing in Bob Rock to produced the Black Album IMO

 

[Hivemind]

(poop emoji)

 

[themightyquinn]

It's okay. It just confirmed the move away from metal that started with the Black Album. If you listen to Master of Puppets and then ...And Justice For All and then skip the Black Album and put this on after Justice, it does feel like a let down.

That being said, I think Bleeding Me is one of the best songs they ever wrote from any album in any era.

 

[TNT87]

King Nothing is absolutely my favorite song off the album and one of my ten favorite from the band. Other songs I like on the album are Hero of the Day, Until it Sleeps, and Poor Twisted Me. I don't mind it.

 

[johnjm22]

I'd rather listen to Load or Reload than The Black Album.

 

[Buckets and Gloves]

It's funny, when I was younger I didn't like Metallica because I thought them as "too mainstream"... I found though just before Death Magnetic came out... I started to embrace and love Metallica.

It's just solid **** ya rock... one of my fav bands now.

Have no issue with load, it was an evolution of sound... again, talking about someone who didn't fully embrace Metallica so I didn't see the change organically or was infuriated by it.

Bands change and evolve, staying the same is boring.

 

[Mrb1p]

It's a good album and would be heralded as one of the best album of any other band if it wasn't metallica. People like to hate on succesful people.

None of their albums are bad. Bad songs like I disappear, sure.

The drums on St anger are horrible, but the album is good. Sue me.

I like St. anger more than Reload, and i love load.

 

[Takeo]

Fantastic album. Then and now. Bleeding Me is a classic.

 

[kook10]

Metallica "sold out" by bringing in Bob Rock to produced the Black Album IMO

exactly this.

[just like he ruined the Cult and Motley Crue]

 

[Captain Bowie]

King Nothing and Until It Sleeps are great tracks, forgettable album otherwise.

EDIT: Forgot about Hero of the Day, good song too.

 

[Philly85*]

definitely one of their weakest albums and a signal it really was all downhill from there for them. Sure the Black Album was their official mainstream pivot to the public, but even it is still much better than Load. I like a couple songs, mostly just King Nothing, but it is pretty average if not downright poor by their standards.

Nothing to celebrate or commemorate at all. Odd thread.

 

[Afino]

Load gets a lot of the bad pub but it was neither Metallica's worst record nor did it start their downhill slide.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

I'm one of those people who preferred 80's (and the black album) Metallica over anything else they've done, so I'm still not a fan of it. Don't hate it, but don't love it either. And I get bands change (I usually applaud bands that do), but this is one band I wish would've stayed relatively the same.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Still crap.

 

[Zodiac]

the Black album was their last good album, imo ...although the change to a more mainstream sound was very evident. everything else after that was pretty 'meh' ...with the odd okay tune sprinkled here and there.

a tremendous fall from grace and so disappointing as i feel their first 4 albums are some of the best metal ever written. damn that was a long time ago.

 

[SniperHF]

Probably my 3rd favorite Metallica album and their best writing.

Don't like Poor Twisted Me, Mama Said, and Thorn Within very much but the rest are good - great.

 

[PBandJ]

I love Load. Great, gritty hard rock album, with Mama Said as more of a country ballad. Love that song too.

If you took the best of Load and the best of ReLoad, you'd have one brilliant album.

 

[Eisen]

It still stinks. Until it sleeps is the only song I liked somewhat. Still a far cry compared to the first four albums.

 

[Eisen]

Metallica "sold out" by bringing in Bob Rock to produced the Black Album IMO

Which, incidentally, wasn't very good, too.

 

[beowulf]

Been listening to Metallica since the mid 80's with my first album being Master of Puppets. I really like most of the songs on Load though it is not my favorite album. I commended them back in the day and again today for trying something different. It didn't work out perfectly but still gave us some good songs.

 

[hototogisu]

I feel like Load and Reload look better now only because Metallica have released things since then that have been so, so much more awful (St. Anger, Lulu).