Metallica Reload Reissue Review: History Has Been Kind

Posted in: Music, Pop Culture | Tagged: Metallica, reload

Metallica Reload Reissue Review: History Has Been Kind

Metallica reissued Reload, the next album up in their massive remastered library, and it is an interesting album to revisit years later.

Published Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:47:09 -0500
by Jeremy Konrad
|
Comments

Article Summary

• Metallica Reload returns in a deluxe remaster, and history has been kinder to this divisive 1997 companion to Load.
• Fuel, The Memory Remains, The Unforgiven II, and deeper cuts show Metallica at a darker, more personal turning point.
• The remastered Reload sounds massive, while the album still raises questions about splitting Load and Reload in two.
• Metallica packs the Reload reissue with 220 tracks, live shows, demos, and rare material for diehard collectors.

Metallica has been reissuing their older albums as deluxe, remastered editions for some time now, and they have reached an interesting point in their history: they are unleashing a deluxe, remastered version of Reload today. The 1997 album, a brother to 1996's Load, born out of the same recording sessions, was one of the band's more divisive releases. I very clearly remember when this album came out. I was in seventh grade, and that November week, I went straight to Circuit City after school to buy the CD. That sentence makes my bones hurt. I remember liking the album then, but the world at large did not seem to share that opinion. Dare I say that Reload was their most divisive record before they gave us St. Anger? This one also feels like it closed out the second era of Metallica, one that started when Jason Newstead joined the band after the death of Cliff Burton, and ends here from a creative standpoint. After this, we only get Garage, Inc. and S&M, with a couple of originals thrown in, until the St. Anger ramp-up and Robert Trujillo rejuvenated the band creatively.

This era of Metallica is not the most loved. It is the most successful, that is for sure. …And Justice For All, The Black Album, Load, and Reload far outsold their legendary trio of Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master of Puppets. But musically, many would see their slide into a more commercial brand of rock as selling out. I always felt like they were a bit bored and still sad over their loss, and in desperate need of a creative jolt. They go that later on, but in 1996-1997, you can hear the final pings of a band that feels almost out of ideas. That is not to say Reload is without merit. Way darker in tone than Load, Reload features some live set classics like "Fuel", "The Memory Remains", "The Unforgiven II", and great album cuts like "Devil's Dance", "Fixxxer", and "Low Man's Lyric". But even revisiting it now, almost 30 years later, the decision not to release a single epic album of the best cuts from Load and Reload remains curious. Take the best six from each, combine them, and it could rival The Black Album. But as many have pointed out over the years, some of the cuts here feel not like filler but like less than.

Which brings us to this re-release. Sonically, the songs have never sounded better. These releases are painstakingly remastered for modern set-ups, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better-sounding record this year. The entire world is familiar with these songs- before you hit play or drop that needle, crank it up for the pounding Fuel is about to give you. The first four tracks are as good as it gets from that era of the band. Nice, tight riffs with a pounding bass and Lars driving the band from behind his kit. Lyrically, this is James Hetfield in some of his most personal moments, and he takes Metallica for a journey into his psyche here. My standout track will always be "The Memory Remains", the first single off the album and featuring the first guest vocals on one of the band's songs, from Marianne Faithfull. The outro to that song will forever be one of the band's most powerful. And a great music video.

Where these releases live and die is with the bonus material, and, like the others, this one is exhaustive and complete. In total, there are 220 tracks to hear, and the physical release is spread across 15 CDs, 5 records, and 4 DVDs. The big set also includes a huge, comprehensive book with material sourced by Metallica fans, posters, prints, and guitar pics. So, so much stuff is included that it will take you days to go through it all. Most of the additional audio comes from previously unreleased live shows and work-in-progress songs and riffs. This is the stuff hardcore fans care the most about. It is always fascinating to hear songs go from James or Kirk just playing around to full-fledged hits you have been hearing live for decades. The live sets are all stellar; as good as the band sounds in the studio, you wouldn't know it from the live tracks. The songs, as always, take on new life when played live. Some acoustic takes can still transform them, all these years later.

These Metallica releases are always exhaustive and offer a definitive snapshot of one of the biggest bands the world has ever seen. This closes out an era for Metallica and is an even more important album all these years later, as the next decade saw them release only one studio album, prompting many to question whether they would continue after Reload was released. It also means that we are close to the end of the journey with these re-releases. Starting with Death Magnetic, they have already had pretty big deluxe releases for all their albums afterward. They surely could do big releases for them again and include things like the fan's material, but I don;t know that they will. The last one really left to release this way is St. Anger, and as big fans as we are, are we really going to shell out the price tag these command for that album, arguably the most controversial of the 2000's? Time will tell, but for now, this is a worthy addition to your shelf in any version, and a fun time to revisit and reaccess your feelings on the album.

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!