Does anyone legitimately hate this album, or does everyone just

>>73922612
Nice thread op.

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Load [Elektra, 1996]

The good thing about being old is that I'm neither wired to like metal nor tempted to fake it. Just as I suspected, these Johnny-come-latelies-meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss-es can no more do grunge than they can double ledger bookkeeping. Grunge simply isn't their meter. So regardless of what riff neatniks think, this is just a metal album with the song lengths shortened and the tempos slowed, which is good because it concentrates their chops and strengthens their songwriting, and bad because it also means more singing, which they can't. C+

>>73922612
The cover art has gross sperm on it so I hate it.

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>>73922612
I think it is a bad album. But then again I think anything Metallica did after And Justice for All was trash. Plus their cover of Loverman makes me want to slit my wrists.

pretty ok to listen to every two years. not a metallica album though.

>>73922612
It's pretty good. Like a 6/10 for me. Same for ReLoad, but Load is a little better. Just not as good as any of the albums that came before it

>>73922612
I've never listened to it, but I met the guy that did the artwork used on the album cover so I guess I pretend to like it

>>73922612
well, it's amongst the worst. Still better than the black album, but definitely worse than Lulu

>>73922895
Christgau makes clear how much of a hack he is whenever he writes a straightforward review like this. I can at least understand why people thought he was brilliant and original back in the 70s with his short and confusing pretentious reviews but when he writes shit like this it's amazing he was allowed to keep his fucking job.

>>73922612
Load is great and Re-Load is pretty good too. Load is better overall but as with most double albums you could make a really great single album with the best from both. Though to be fair they were recorded a year apart despite having more or less the same sound on both.

Either way, I get why people dislike the albums but IMO they're better than anything that has come since. St. Anger is truly shit and an embarrassment and Death Magnetic was just a mediocre attempt at going back to their Thrash sound. These albums showed them trying something different that they were clearly genuinely interested so it comes off very natural. Plus finally having James and Kirk both playing separate rhythm and lead tracks side by side is great, gives the songs a very loose feeling which is interesting to hear from them. IMO it's even better than The Black Album because they were going all out. The Black Album in comparison just feels like they were testing the waters. Also James could still sing.

>>73923212
nice try.

>>73924034
what ? i know my tastes are particular, considering I've been mostly raised on creedence clearwater revival and concrete music

>>73924034
lulu is underrated

Load has about 4 or 5 standout tracks, the rest is mediocre. It's a 6/10 album that was released after 5 amazing albums (4 if you hate the black album). Re-load was even worse at 5/10 at best.

I do hate it, can't remember a single track from it. Reload is better and still bad

>>73922612
Production is great, probably their best produced record after Black Album.

But overall, a third of it is great (Bleeding Me, Wasting My Hate, Thorn Within), another third is pure shit (Poor Twisted Me, Cure) and the rest is just there.

>>73923212
Frantic and St. Anger are better songs than anything off of Load. Prove me wrong.


>better than the black album

Is this b8?

>>73923700
Christgau has this need to demonstrate how intelligent he is to the reader, so he always words everything to be as obtuse and hard to understand as possible, but at the end of the day he just likes basic, stripped-down punk rock and funk grooves that are made by (secretly) smart people--if the artist is an intellectual playing dumb, he gets a high score.

>>73924485
Frantic is a mess, as if it was their first experiment with a drop tunning.

St. Anger's main riff is probably one of the best things Hetfield has done, tho.

I would take Bleeding Me over anything on St. Anger, tho Bleeding Me is one of my favorite Metallica songs.

GIMME FOO GIMMA FAH GIMME JEEBAHJEBAHJAH OOH

>>73922956
I heard in high school that it was blood and semen pressed between two plates of glass. I have no idea if that's true or not though.