Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Five years on from the internationally bestselling album Metallica, the thrash metal band returned with a different style than the fans were used to, and arguably the difference in sound, in attitude, and appearance had some scratching their heads, and some arguably utterly confused about the near 180-degree turnaround in terms of songwriting and heavy riff displacement, and yet as the band release their 2025 reissue of Load, what comes across is a resilience of Time, that the reminder of what we as fans perceive as ownership of sound and expectation is an unavoidable truth that we are wrong; that the artist is, and always will be the ones to have to have the last word on how they present themselves to the wider world.
Load was heavily criticised, the band even more so, for this departure of image and metal abandonment, but Metallica did something unique at the time, they arguably didn’t care, and why should they have, and as the expanded reissue, spread over three CDs in the more affordable range released from the band shows with added modesty and realism that there was more to understand from the band at this period than many at the time cared to feel, dared to accept.
Criticism is valid, but not without investigation, not without detail, and the point in the album’s reissue is one of genuine experimentation and seeking other realms of expression, and after five albums, after huge tours and a period in which they could pursue other avenues of fulfilment, Load is surely to be seen today as one of deep meaning, of psyches unearthed and a move away from the relentless, and yet richly enticing sound.
In the expanded album, one that covers outtakes, demos and mixes, as well as an entire cd dedicated to the live aspect of the band’s output, the sound and intensity of the music is to be congratulated, the sense of willingness to alter the perspective, even for a short while, to remove the shackles that must have become tightened after a lengthy era of touring with what became known as the ‘Black Album’ a relief, and if the crowd didn’t get it, then in the end did it matter.
As songs such as Until It Sleeps, Hero Of The Day, the excellent Wasting My Hate, and The Outlaw Torn push the depth of music and arguably the pulse of internal musical postures and stances away from the brash and exuberant to a more measured, more certain, delivery.
A well-versed reminder that what we may seek from an artist is not always what they believe they wish to impart at that time, and in this stunning reissue that goes with a whole array of differently released versions, Time is clearly a winner for the band; if anything it captures a group not only willing to be uniquely fierce in their approach, but dogmatic, almost wonderfully zealous in their rebuttal and stance to those to who expect the world to remain the same.
A reissue that some regrettably will miss, but for which deserves commitment to the listener’s willingness to grow and take stock of their own lives.
Ian D. Hall