Metallica – Reload – 1997

Reload is the seventh studio Album from Metallica. It was originally meant to be the second disc on the intended double album Load. But for various reasons Load wasn’t made a double album and Reload was released about a year later. 

I was not a fan of Load when it was released. In fact, I hated it. When I got back to it a while back I found that I have somewhat changes opinions over time. It’s still nothing to the early albums but it was at least decent. With that said, when Reload came out I liked it even less. It was the ultimate betrayal towards the old fans.

Today I understand the musical change the band went through, and I understand why. It might be partly because of commercial success, but also because they wanted to evolve to something else than just an angry Thrash Metal band. There wasn’t much more they could do after Master of Puppets and the ultimate progressive Thrash Metal album and Justice for all. If I were a musician I would probably be fed up by doing the same thing all over again too.

But, that doesn’t mean that I like Reload these days. I think it’s way better than I did when it was released. No masterpiece though. It’s mediocre but I can listen to it without throwing up. The opening half is a little bit better than the closing half I think. I get bored after about half of it as I don’t find much originality in it. One song sounds very much the next in the long run.