Metallica - Load (Gatefold Sleeve) (2 LP)

Double vinyl LP repressing of this 1996 album from the Metal maestros. Metallica is easily one of the best, most influential Heavy Metal bands of the '80s. Responsible for bringing the genre back to Earth, the bandmates looked and talked like they were from the street, shunning the usual rockstar games of Metal musicians during the early '80s. They expanded the limits of Thrash, using speed and volume not for their own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions.

The kings of speed metal have never been keen on being labeled, and LOAD, which follows up the 1991 mega-hit METALLICA, is a surprising pastiche of sonic fury. Metallica still rocks hard. James Hetfield's lyrics are still full of venom and anger, and the music still could scare small children. But the band is ready to show off other sides of its craft. "Hero Of The Day" sounds like an R.E.M. song, albeit a heavy one, with its tender beginning and ending confluence of harmonized vocals and catchy guitar riffs. A dose of the blues can be heard in the slow-burning "Bleeding Me," and a downright country twang pervades "Mama Said."Still, this is a metal album, and there are headbanging riffs o'plenty. LOAD may seem like a departure from the Metallica "norm," but it's actually what the band has been doing all along: writing well-crafted songs without a regard for what others think. The only difference is that the one-time denizens of the underground now have the world's rapt attention.

Metallica: James Hetfield (vocals, guitar); Kirk Hammett (guitar); Jason Newsted (bass); Lars Ulrich (drums).
Producers: Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich.
Recorded at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California between May 1995 and February 1996.

• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 08/25/2014
• Genre: Rock, Metal
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