What Critics Said About Metallica’s ‘Reload’ When It Came Out

1996 was a big, complicated year for Metallica.

The release of their sixth studio album, Load, came with much criticism from fans and critics alike. Their headlining slot on the massive traveling Lollapalooza tour was met with chagrin as many Lolla supporters thought Metallica were too mainstream for the festival. And the bandmembers' hairstyles suddenly became a talking point in the rock community.

"The part I like most is we’re hated again," James Hetfield told David Fricke in Metallica's cover story in the June 27, 1996, issue of Rolling Stone. "I kind of miss that. People like us too much now."

Hearing his bandmate make the comment about being hated, Lars Ulrich didn't seem phased in the continued conversation about Load.

"This record and what we're doing with it—that, to me, is what Metallica are all about: exploring different things. The minute you stop exploring, then just sit down and fucking die."

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In Metallica: The $24.95 Book, Ben Apatoff succinctly recognized, "Metallica is famous for not compromising or taking any shit," and because of that, the band continued its explorations in 1997 as they released their seventh full-length record, Reload.

While many fans expected this to be a disappointing compilation of songs that weren't good enough for Load, the band was adamant that it would stand on its own.

"People will instantly hear that all of these songs were written and developed at the same time as the stuff you heard on Load last year," Ulrich admitted in a 1997 interview on the television show, Channel [V]'s Speakeasy. "[But the songs haven't] been lying around and we're coming back to it. It's stuff we knew we wanted to develop … It's a double album spread out over two separate records, spread out over a year and a half."

Hetfield added in the same interview, "I think these songs are more extreme…when we started recording Load, we went initially for the easier-to-record songs…then we ran out of time. These songs are kind of more wild, slower, heavier, faster."

By the time Reload came out, Metallica had been making music together for 16 years. Now, 25 years after the release of the album—and more than four decades into their career—we take a look back at what critics and journalists had to say when Reload hit the streets.

Original Article