Reload (Metallica album) Puns

I'm not typically a fan of country music, but I really dig the country/southern rock-influenced sound of these albums. It's like Metallica took country music and made it darker, harder, heavier, and more depressing. I particularly like these tracks:

• The Outlaw Torn

• The House Jack Built

• Ronnie

• Hero of the Day

• Bleeding Me

• The Unforgiven II

• Low Man's Lyric

• Fixxxer

I'm torn about putting "Mama Said" on this list because it goes a little too far into country territory, but I kinda like it anyway.

I'll also mention that I'm a fan of Alice in Chains, who have a lot of material in similar territory; particularly their acoustic stuff, and I also like NOLA sludge bands like Eyehategod and Acid Bath.

I still have a lot to explore when it comes to NOLA sludge, but I've listened to both of Acid Bath's studio albums countless times. Their acoustic songs like "Scream of the Butterfly" and "Dead Girl" seem particularly fitting.

Feel free to post your rankings below :)

13. Low Man’s Lyric - so this was not what I was expecting having heard the songs prior to it. I don’t really know what to call this style of song, it feels unlike anything they’ve done before. It just does nothing for me personally, the background instruments are ok but not very good, and the vocals which are clearly meant to drive the song just don’t hold up for me. And once again, it is way longer than it needs to be. It was a massive slog getting through this song, and while it’s probably a better song than Slither and Carpe Diem Baby, in my personal opinion it just has to go last, especially since it comes straight after one of the strongest songs in the album.

14. Slither - so right out of the gate, James’ vocals get on my nerves the whole fucking song, particularly on the line “See you crawling.” He’s so nasally and so out of character, and it’s SO irritating. The music is very generic and quite boring, but maybe if the vocal melody was decent I would quite enjoy the song. But no, we get whatever this was. This song is the first from Load and Reload where I have been actively repulsed, why did they include this on the album?

15. Carpe Diem Baby - so along with Slither and Low Man’s Lyric, this is up there with the worst Metallica songs. It’s ahead of Slither by quite a way tho. The music still feels quite boring, but I feel like it’s a touch stronger, and I appreciate the harmony in the chorus. James’ vocals are infinitely better in this song, at least he’s singing with his normal voice this time. It’s not a very good song, but not completely awful. It still shouldn’t have made the final cut of the album tho imo.

16. Bad Seed - it’s a kinda cool intro and main riff I think, and the verses are ok. The chorus doesn’t work for me imo tho. The bridge section with the lead guitar harmonies is pretty cool, and the outro is pretty cool with the more intense drumming. The song just comes off as pretty average tho imo.

17. Where the Wild Things Are - so as Jason Newsted’s third and final songwriting credit, that intro riff is brilliantly dark and evil. The verse riff is pretty cool imo too, however, I think the vocals throughout the song just never really work for me. James seems to be really trying something different with his voice here, and I just don’t think it quite works. That bridge with James’ slurred vocals and the muffled voices in the background really fails at what it says trying to do imo as well. I

Don't get me wrong- old school Metallica is and always will be iconic, however I feel like Load and Reload are highly underrated and unappreciated. Some of James' best vocals are within these albums. The melodies in the songs are mesmerizing. And there are some real heavy hitters that go ignored- Devil's Dance anyone?

Curious to hear who else thinks these albums are kickass and not trash like all of the "real" fans think...

These two albums are often criticized for not being metal or not being as good as Metallica’s past albums, but I honestly find the two albums to be very enjoyable, especially Load. While there are certainly songs that I don’t care for (Poor Twisted Me, Slither, Attitude), I do like the majority of the tracks. I think that some of the band’s best work can be found on these albums, with songs like Bleeding Me, The Outlaw Torn, Fixxxer, Low Man’s Lyric, and the highly underrated Where The Wild Things Are. Overall, I find myself coming back to these albums just as often as Metallica’s earlier work.

There. I fucking said it. Yes, you read that right. Load and Reload are the best Metallica albums. I’m gonna tell you why too.

The songs range from very good, to absolutely incredible, even the so called “filler” are songs are still better than a lot of other bands entire discography. Even if you were to remove all the very good songs from the album and leave the supposed “filler” you’d still have a very good album.

The album is mixed wonderfully, the bass is nice and loud and each instrument can be easily heard without being too loud.

The soloing on the album, while not the best by Kirk, is still quite good at its worst and very good at its best, James’ multiple solos on the record also are very tastefully played.

The album is very, very good all around, but the album reaches such insane high points on some songs that it’s a fucking travesty this album is often swept under the rug.

The ballads are some of the best I’ve heard from a metal band. From the incredibly insightful and musically amazing “Bleeding me” to the nifty country-inspired jam “Mama said” Metallic definitely shows off their musical diversity.

The heavy songs are heavy as you could want. From the ballsy “Ain’t my Bitch” to the heavy as fuck “Bad seed”, among others, the album doesn’t lack the heaviness many metal fans desire.

Now that I’ve hopefully made a point here, I’d like to close out by discussing the two closing tracks, “Fixxxer”, and “Outlaw”. Both lengthy mid tempo monsters of songs, they both close out their respective albums beautifully, with “Outlaw”‘s incredible vocal performance and solo by James at the end, that sadly was cut for the final release, and “Fixxxer”’s incredibly harrowing themes and lyrics and great guitar work. Needless to say, both albums end on a soaring high note.

I honestly could go on forever, but I gotta go listen to Load and Reload again. Thanks if you suffered through my 6th level grade writing and I hope now you understand my reasoning.

When S&M2 came out, and jamming along to it, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed "The Outlaw Torn." I'll be honest, when I first got into Metallica, I didn't give Load or Reload a fair shake. I enjoy a few songs from each album, but when I wanted to listen to Metallica, I would go for one of the earlier albums or Death Magnetic or Hardwired…To Self Destruct after they had come out. So after listening to S&M2, I listened to Load and Reload, and thought that there is a good album in there if you combine songs from both albums into one album. So I did that, and here it is. In an effort to get into Metallica’s head during the mid-90s, I named the album The Outlaw Torn, where side one is “Load,” and side two is “Reload.” Don’t act like I’m not the coolest person ever. Here’s the track listing:

Side 1 – “Load”

1. Fuel
2. Ain’t My Bitch
3. The House Jack Built
4. Until It Sleeps
5. The Unforgiven II

Side 2 – “Reload”

1. King Nothing
2. Hero of the Day
3. The Memory Remains
4. Bleeding Me
5. Fixxxer
6. The Outlaw Torn

And the playlist: https://spoti.fi/309y5DQ

I think this is a pretty kick ass album and have been listening to it a lot since putting it together. Would like to hear your thoughts on it. I actually discussed it with my co-host on the Passion Fruits Podcast – check out our full discussion here: https://fanlink.to/pfpod. What do you think?

Many people love Metallicas early albums, and up until the black album, all of their work has been highly praised, but many fans of Metallica dont like the two albums, Load, and Reload. Many people claim these albums dont have the same energy, and umph that made them great before. While yes this may be true to a degree, I still enjoy these albums just as much as some of their most well respected work. They just feels like nice, high quality, and somewhat relaxing rock albums, with some really great guitar and bass work, that feels very unique compared to their previous work, and probably my favorite James hetfield vocal performances.I still prefer master of puppets and ride the lightning, but I consider them on par with And justice for all, and better than Kill em all and the black album. His is just my opinion, and music is subjective so I dont expect you to have the same, I just thought his was unpopular so I might as well post it here.

People often trash these albums, but with 27 songs between them there are plenty of tracks to make a single great album. A lot of the other material is either okay or crap, but these are definitely plenty good.

1. Hero of the Day

2. King Nothing

3. Mama Said

4. Bleeding Me

5. Until it Sleeps

6. Ain’t my Bitch

7. The Memory Remains

8. Fuel

9. The Unforgiven II

La, da, da, da, la, da, da, da, la, da, da, da... The follow up to Load, episode 20 covers the 1997 album "Reload" by the Bay Area trash/heavy metal band Metallica. Mark, Kevin, Alex, and Chris take you on a historical journey surrounding the album as well as share our favorites and not-so favorites from the album. We go on a deep dive track-by-track listen of this monumental album as well as share personal stories of discovering Metallica's "Reload." La, da, da, da, la, da, da, da, la, da, da, da...

Available at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1102865/episodes/5391034 and on all podcast streaming platforms (just search "Light the Sky Podcast.")

https://preview.redd.it/ou7q5doyglm51.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78eb7d7ca17d2ea562119c862889ff05dc97a85b

I'm pretty sure we all know how close-minded thrash purists get when it comes to this topic but I'd like to hear what the more open rock fans here think. Load and ReLoad don't fit the band's namesake I will admit that, but on it's own it's still heavy hard rock (some songs like "King Nothing" skimming on the surface of heavy metal) and James' vocals were so cool imo. Do I think it touches their older stuff? Maybe not, but it's still good stuff.

Master of puppets

Ride the lightning

And justice for all

Death magnetic

The black album

Kill em all

Hardwired

Reload

Load

St anger

Lulu

The classic thrash sound is not an option because when Metallica tries to emulate that now we get Death Magnetic and most of Hardwired, so technically it's already there.

Personally, I would pick 1 more Load/Reload album. 90s Metallica is by far my favorite era of the band and I would love to hear more music in that style. Bonus points if Jason rejoins.

I really wanna get into these albums, and im not the type of person to immediantly hate it since its not "80's thrash metallica" of course ive heard Fuel, Memory Remains, Outlaw torn, st. anger title track etc and loved them. Should i just give these albums a full listen one day or are there specific songs i should listen to? Maybe s&m too since i havent listened to that much either. Thanks!

I'll start, Orion. The one song on MOP I never listened to but once I did, I loved it. Truly a masterpiece. Also Load. Not a thrashy album but still great nonetheless.

I dunno audio engineering lingo so here goes nothing. I'm currently digging this big "roomy" stadium-arena rock type of sound. Imagine Metallica's Black- Reload albums. From an instrument-standpoint, songs from these albums aren't saturated with shitloads of notes which perfectly compliments the "big space-rock stadium arena" type of production. The guitars, bass, and drums, and vocals all have this huge sound yet they perfectly blend with one another and its not an earsore. Like if I were to listen to Black-Reload with good quality gear, its easy to imagine that I'm inside a rock arena.

Any other albums that have this same production?

Hey! I'm new, but I have been trying to get into more "metal" genres such as thrash, heavy, Death, etc. I started in the "-core" genres and now I'm here. I'm listening to all of their albums so far and I want to hear your rankings! I'm only 5 in though, so mine are:

1. Kill 'Em All
2. Ride the Lightning
3. And Justice for All
4. Black Album
5. Master of Puppets (couldn't really catch on)

What about you guys?

Here's how it works...first person posts a song from '91 or earlier. Follow up comments suggest which song on HWTSD they would play to impress the person who loves that song.

For instance..."Thing That Should Not Be" as top comment, "Dream No More" would be my reply. Explain your choice if desired...

That's alright because you're allowed you're own musical taste and shouldn't have to conform to the notion that these albums aren't great. You are no less of a metalhead than I am for enjoying these. It's important to realize as a community that Metallica wanted to explore their sound and do something different and this marked an important change in the band's musicianship.

1. And Justice For All
2. Master Of Puppets
3. Death Magnetic
4. Hardwired To Self Destruct
5. Ride The Lightning
6. Load
7. Black Album
8. St Anger
9. Reload
10. Kill em all

Looks like 1 song from KEA, 2 from RTL, 2 from MOP. Now we are on Justice! Hope they keep going through the albums! We might get those Load Reload deep cuts after all!!!!!!

I'm trying to get into them and I want to start off by listening to their darker stuff.

I don’t think the 2 albums deserve the hate they get. You guys are wasting your hate on them (see what I did there).

I always find it interesting to know in what order people heard the albums. For me it was:

Justice Puppets Lightning Black Kill Em All Load Reload St Anger Death Magnetic Hardwired

1. Master Of Puppets
2. And Justice For All
3. Death Magnetic
4. Reload
5. Ride The Lightning
6. St Anger
7. Black Album
8. Hardwired to Self Destruct
9. Kill em all
10. Load