Elektra Records - 1997
5.5/10
By now, I think it’s safe to say that Metallica has three album duos where one is a clear continuation of the previous. In the case of Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets, it didn’t matter since the latter was able to self-identify with different clarity and enough innovation to make it just as good. We saw this more recently with 72 Seasons coming off the Hardwired…. To Self Destruct train but without having much of anything to offer. I compare this phenomena to the Load and ReLoad duo, with the latter being a ‘90s version of this same situation. Perhaps it’s more comparable to Guns ‘N Roses doing two Use Your Illusion albums. In both cases, you have two albums that are too long for their own good, with a visible step down in the second rendition.
To touch on ReLoad in a vacuum, we first have to acknowledge that it’s quite literally no different in construction than its 1996 counterpart, unfortunately dumping way more into the “overly repetitive with no substance” bucket. A thick serving of fatty riffs with a dryer soundscape makes up much of the effort, channeling the variance aspect in the form of fast, accessible rock tunes and slower, trudging monsters. What hurts this is the fact that this time around there are far fewer songs that convey a lot of emotion that I hunger for on this type of disc. An obvious reach for this is realized in “The Unforgiven II,” yet the lyrics and vocal delivery fall flat in comparison to the likes of “Until It Sleeps” or its successor in the “Unforgiven” trilogy. There’s a similar attempt at an even drearier gradient in “Low Man’s Lyric,” one with a fine melody that gets old after thirty seconds (we’re oh so blessed to receive over seven minutes of it, however). If that’s not enough, the songs relying on hooks feel less thought-invoking, revealing more space with filler than space with killer. At the expense of sounding like a contrarian, “Fuel” is guiltier of this than anything on Load, and regardless of how catchy it is, the opener is rather weightless.
Much to my delight, I can at least say that there are several strong standouts to make the seventy-five minute effort seem a bit more digestible. “Devil’s Dance” is criminally overlooked, being a monstrous doom gem that rides on stellar progression and a stripped-down, choppy attitude. “Prince Charming” is a neat gallop of energy that revives much of the sought-after energy on the album’s earlier, weak attempts, and I’ll even throw “The Memory Remains” a bone for its sing-song foundation meeting heavy rock weights. Otherwise, it’s a game of finding parts of songs that are fine to some degree. “Slither” and “Better Than You,” are neat enough, though still feel like lesser copies of other songs the band already wrote. The rest is slogging through ones that are full of hot air, such as “Carpe Diem Baby” and the overblown “Fixxxer” (God, what a title).
This record reminds me of Spongebob’s anchor-arms, where the very idea and look of everything seems beefy, but actual examination will leave just about anyone underwhelmed. Worse things exist, especially now that we have the power of hindsight and knowing what’s yet to come. But I really think both Load and ReLoad could have been worked into one fantastic, grungy effort with emotion, doom, and energy balanced under a desert-like scope. Take 2/3 of the former, 1/3 of the latter, trim all the fat, and you have something that could have been damn near perfect.
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