Metallica: Load (2LP, remastered) [BLACKENED]

Why you'll love it

This Blackened reissue spreads the remastered album across two 180g discs. Load spent four straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, went 5x platinum, and "Until It Sleeps" became Metallica's first US Top 10 single.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• 180g vinyl

About the album

After the Black Album turned Metallica into one of the biggest bands on earth, they took a break from each other, and they came back with nearly 30 songs. Bob Rock returned to produce, the sessions at The Plant in Sausalito were looser than ever, and the band split the haul in two. Half became Load; the rest became Reload a year later.

The sound is broader, too, with James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett reaching for Southern rock, blues and country alongside the riffs, and Hammett playing rhythm parts for the first time. "Until It Sleeps" is brooding and huge, "Hero Of The Day" builds from a whisper, "Mama Said" is a tender, twangy confession, and "King Nothing" stomps. "The Outlaw Torn" closes the record as a long, slow-burning epic.

It topped the charts in more than 15 countries, which suggests a fair few people were happy to hear the band try something new. Including, we assume, the barber who gave them the new haircuts.

Also at Kops: more Metallica on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Blackened (cat# BLCKND011R-1), a reissue of the 1996 album.