Album Review
Metallica - Load
Reviewer: Nazza
Article Date: 30 April '04
Album Date: June 4, 1996
Recently I bought the Metallica album Load. The main reason I got this and not a Friday the 13th DVD instead (apart from the obvious, there were no Jason DVDs at Sanity) was because the previous weekend I went to Metallica's website and listened to those 1 minute Real Player samples. One by one, I listened to them all (except the ones not on their albums). I didn't listen to the Garage Inc ones either.
Anyway, throughout the week I had Hero of the Day stuck in my head. I'd already heard Until it Sleeps and King Nothing, which are two other Load releases. But I didn't have them stuck in my head, just Hero of the Day and Mama Said. And probably some other songs as well but I can't mention them because they're not singles. :P So when we went to the CD store I had to get Load.
Lyrically, the word "finger" is used a bit often, and there were many references to wheels. Riff-ically, a lot of the songs have similar riffs (Ronnie and Poor Twisted Me, Outlaw Torn and Thorn Within).
Load starts off with "Ain't My Bitch". This song's pretty cool coz it has two swear words in the chorus. It's the "Battery" of new-age Metallica. After that is 2x4, which sounds almost the same as "Ain't My Bitch", just a different riff and different words. And a different solo.
Then is the first longer-than-five-minutes song, "House that Jack Built". This song is about a drug addict, and was one of my first "I love this song" tracks. It also has a cool Talking Guitar solo, which is where Hetfield sings the solo like in the Foo Fighters song "Generator". After that is "Until it Sleeps" and "King Nothing", which were my favourites before I got the album. King Nothing's very similar to Enter Sandman.
Hero of the Day is one of those slow songs that is also really cool. Not the slowest on the album, but slow compared to Ain't My Bitch. The way they structured this song is a lot like Until it Sleeps (one or two lines in non-heaviness before going heavy), but it's still cool.
Bleeding Me is a long, long song, but also cool because it gets to the chorus (which is a bit like the climax of the song) within the first 2 minutes and manages to stay good for the next 6. Cure is one of my favourites, and it's also about addiction.
Poor Twisted Me sums up most depressive's thoughts: "It's too good to be, that all this misery, just for oh poor twisted me!" The shortest song on the album (and probably in Metallica history), only just clocking in at 4 minutes.
Wasting my Hate is one of the heavier songs on the album, its main riff is similar to Thorn Within, but it's still "kickass".
Mama Said is the slowest song on the album, and probably the slowest in Metallica history, but it was one of my first "I love this song" tracks and I still like it. It's a bit country though...
The last three tracks are all great. Thorn Within is about being guilty, Ronnie's about a kid who shoots up his school, and Outlaw Torn had to be shortened so they could fit it on the CD. One of the best songs Metallica have ever made.
If you like new-age Metallica, get this album. Especially if you're planning on getting ReLoad as well. Don't get it if you're into "Good Old Metallica", the two slow tracks will make this CD boring for you.
Click here to listen to 1-minute samples of the tracks discussed in this review.
©2004 Nazza