ReLoad

by

Metallica

Edit

First off, anyone who bashes this album based on past Metallica releases is missing the point. We're not in 1983 anymore. At least in their albums, Metallica have made their stamp on thrash metal and have moved on. They still play all the old stuff live, and play it better than ever.

Anyway, let's get straight to the point here. If you are a hardcore metalhead, and accept nothing but fast and angry music, this album is obviously not for you. If you are just a fan of good hard rock of all kinds from blues to metal, chances are you'll enjoy this. As far as Lars' drumming here, it is simpler than before. Mainly because these Load records are more guitar driven (both Kirk and James play rhythum) than before, and Lars is simply becoming more vibe oriented, rather than being all flashy and show-off. Still, as seen on the songs "Fuel" and "Bad Seed", there are still some good drum fills throughout the album.

Even though its been done 100 times before, I feel its necessary to break this down song by song. I'm even going to listen to them as I write this.

1) Fuel: Fast song, as the title indicates. Almost reminicent of old Motorhead, particularly "Ace of Spades". The fast and simple main rhythum, the guitar fills in between, and Lars' churning double-bass drum during the chours. The best song on the album.

2) The Memory Remains: An old friend of the 'Stones, Marianne Faithful, contributes some vocals here. Again, simple guitar riffs, almost like a darker Iron Maiden. The subject matter deals with famous people fading out of the spotlight. You'll notice here that Kirk's leads are more blues than speed, something he learned from one of his guitar heros: UFO's Michael Schenker. Another great song.

3) Devil's Dance: Funny how the old Metallica never wrote anything about the devil. This is where the heavyness begins. The opening guitar effects are great (especially the crunchy one at about :16). Although it doesn't have the groove of the classic "Sad but True", it holds its own. Basically, this song is about the temptations of the devil. A real hidden gem.

4) The Unforgiven II: Indeed, it does resemble the original song in some ways. James was writing this song one day and realized that the chord progression was similar to "The Unforgiven". Rather than toss it, he tweaked it up enough so that it only became a sequel. The somewhat "country" sound in the clean guitar is just James using the B-bender in his Fender Telecaster. Its interesting how in the original, the verses had heavy music and the chorus had soft, while here its vice versa. Overall, despite the resemblance to the first Unforgiven, this song is good enough to stand on its own.

5) Better than You: A song that wins a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance can't be that bad. The subject matter deals with something we all can relate to: the desire to be better than your rivals. Hard, driving guitars are the heart of this song.

6) Sliter: Although not a terrible song, its not one of the most memorable. James seems to be telling us something when he says "There ain't no heros here". One thing about all of Metallica's songs is that they are open to a lot of interpretation. This one doesn't seem to have a meaning that's obvious.

7) Carpe Diem Baby: The title pretty much says what this song is all about. Great sense of movement here. If you don't like this, James has two words for you: "Suck it!"

8) Bad Seed: Tuning down to C# gives this song an added element of heavyness. Lars gets a little wild on the drums here, especially in the chours. Cool song.

9) Where the Wild Things Are: You may know a children's story book by the same name. Haunting opening guitars lead to pounding power chords. Indeed, the whole song is very dark and haunting, reminicent of Alice in Chains. Another cool song.

10) Prince Charming: A fun, loose, and dirty song, kinda like "So What". Not too much lyrical or musical depth here, just something to sit back and enjoy.

11) Low Man's Lyric: This song about the homeless seems out of place on a Metallica record. Even though a past song, Nothing else Matters, has the same slow and clean feel to it, it doesn't have the climactic ending of its predecessor. Many people would avoid this song simply because its a pure ballad, but again, that's missing the point. Nevertheless, a cool song.

12) Attitude: The theme of vibe oriented songs continues here. Aggressive in its music and lyrics, its another great song.

13) Fixxxer: Here's where it gets ugly (in a GOOD way). The opening wahs of the guitar are Hendrix-like in their sound. This is one twisted, heavy song, somewhat similar to "The Outlaw Torn". One of the best on the album, and one of the more popular songs among the fans.

This album, along with Load, is a lot more loose than the tightness and speed of '80s Metallica. Still, most modern bands (3 Doors Down, Papa Roach, Blink 182) would crumble under the weight of this album. It might be a weaker Metallica album than others, but its definately not a bad one.

After promising for months during pre-release interviews that "Reload" would not be simply leftover material from "Load" (although the songs were written during the same sessions), the album eventually dropped to a misinformed public. "Reload" sounds like absolutely nothing else EXCEPT material that wasn't good enough for inclusion on the already spotty "Load" album.

The opening track, "Fuel", was one of the album's biggest hits and current live faves, but both lyrically and musically it finds Metallica sinking further and further into dimwitted neanderthal rock. The James Hetfield that used to pen such masterpieces as "Fade to Black" and "Blackened" is now reduced to such tripe as "Gimme fuel/Gimme fire/Gimme that which I desire/Oooh!" (how could that possibly have passed the drawing board stage?) Even though the song does boast what's indisputably one of the catchier riffs on the album, it's bar band simplicity and the blockheaded lyrics mar it beyond favor.

Of the other singles released from "Reload", "The Memory Remains" sounds like Metallica merely going through the motions, despite the fact that they've only been playing in this style for one album now. The "la la la" vocals by Marianne Faithfull are a horrendous misstep; I defy fans of the song to deny that they wouldn't prefer a version without Faithfull's contributions. As for the other big "hit", "The Unforgiven II" is nothing more than a crass attempt to cash in on the success of a far superior song. Metallica are shrewd businessmen and realize that most people tend to prefer the first material they encounter by a band, which is why you see so many of the positive reviews for the latter albums obviously written by teenagers and other youth - the younger they are, the less likely they are to have heard the original "Unforgiven", and once they've decided the sequel is a good song they're unlikely to admit to a hasty judgment later and downgrade their opinion of the sequel. At best you tend to get a "they're both cool in their own way" response.

Finally, one of my main complaints with "Reload" (and a prime indication of why it seems like a rush job) is that the solos on the album sound like they were all recorded during one long, self indulgent jam session, then chopped up indiscriminately and inserted into the finished tracks at random. There's not a single solo that sounds like it was handwritten for a particular song, and by about 3 songs into the set you already develop a "been there done that" immunity to Kirk Hammett's remaining efforts. "Reload" is the only album to date that I would rank decidedly below even "St Anger", and should probably be the last stop on a neophyte's list of Metallica albums.