Load (album)

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Professional reviews
Load

Studio album by Metallica
Released	June 4, 1996
Recorded	May 1995 - February 1996 at The Plant Studios, in Sausalito, California
Genre	Heavy metal, Hard Rock
Length	1:18:44
Label	Elektra Records
Producer(s)	Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Metallica chronology
Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993)	Load (1996)	ReLoad (1997)

Load is the sixth album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released in June 1996.

The album marked the band's return to the musical landscape, approximately five years after the release of their international smash success Metallica (commonly referred to as The Black Album). Load saw the band embrace a collective sound and identity far removed from their thrash metal roots. As with previous releases, the fourteen songs that would eventually comprise the album began as rough demos created by principle songwriters James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich in Ulrich's basement recording studio, "The Dungeon." The band took over 30 demos into The Plant studios in the spring of 1995 where they would work for approximately the next year. Once again, Metallica teamed up with famed producer Bob Rock, who had been at the helm during the recording process for Metallica.

The songwriting dispenses almost entirely with the thrash metal style that characterized the band's sound in the 1980's. In place of staccato riffs, Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammet experimented with more blues based tones and styles. Additionally, Ulrich adopted a minimalist approach to his drum recording, abandoning the speed and complex double bass patterns of previous albums. Hetfield displayed a lyrical evolution as well, writing what many feel to be his most personal and introspective lyrics. "Until it Sleeps", the album's lead single, addressed his mother's losing battle with cancer, while "Mama Said" explored their relationship even further. All of this marked a departure from the political and social overtones of albums like ...And Justice for All and Master of Puppets.

The album also marked the first appearance of a new Metallica logo, rounding off the stabbing edges of the first and last letters of the band's earlier 1980's logo. The M from the original logo was used to make a shuriken-like symbol which was used as an alternate logo on this and future albums as well as other related artwork. The album featured an expansive booklet which contained many photos of the band. The booklet only contained select lyrics from each song in contrast to Metallica's previous studio albums which included complete song lyrics. Additionally, the interior artwork revolved around images of inkblots, a theme which would carry over to ReLoad and the covers for the singles released from the two albums.

The cover of the album is original artwork entitled "Semen and Blood III". It is one of three photographic studies by Andres Serrano created in 1990 by mingling the artist's own semen and bovine blood between two sheets of Plexiglas.

1 Track listing
2 Credits
3 Production
4 Charts

[edit] Track listing

"Ain't My Bitch" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:04
"2 X 4" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 5:28
"The House Jack Built" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 6:39
"Until It Sleeps" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:30
"King Nothing" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 5:28
"Hero of the Day" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 4:22
"Bleeding Me" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 8:18
"Cure" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 4:54
"Poor Twisted Me" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:00
"Wasting My Hate" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 3:57
"Mama Said" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:20
"Thorn Within" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 5:52
"Ronnie" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:17
"The Outlaw Torn" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 9:49

[edit] Credits

[edit] Production

Producers: Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
Engineers: Brian Dobbs, Randy Staub
Assistant engineers: Brian Dobbs, Jason Goldstein, Kent Matcke
Mixing: Mike Rew, Randy Staub
Mixing assistant: Curry
Mastering: George Marino
Digital editing: Paul DeCarli
Digital editing assistants: Mike Gillies, Chris Vrenna
Programming: Chris Vrenna
Design: Andie Airfix
Cover Design: Andres Serrano
Photography: Anton Corbijn

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1996	The Billboard 200	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1996	"Ain't My Bitch"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	15
1996	"Hero of the Day"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1996	"Hero of the Day"	The Billboard Hot 100	60
1996	"Until It Sleeps"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1996	"Until It Sleeps"	Modern Rock Tracks	27
1996	"Until It Sleeps"	The Billboard Hot 100	10
1997	"Ain't My Bitch"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	40
1997	"Bleeding Me"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	6
1997	"Hero of the Day"	Canadian Singles Chart	17
1997	"King Nothing"	Canadian Singles Chart	14
1997	"King Nothing"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	6
1997	"King Nothing"	The Billboard Hot 100	90