Load - Metallica > Reviews > What a Load of old rubbish

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Dire
Quality and consistency of tracks	Consistently bad
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Weak
Value for Money

Advantages:	Hmmm .  .  . If you like grunge, country or pop punk, there may be one or two good songs on it .
Disadvantages:	Ermm .  .  . how long have you got? Turgid, MTV friendly pop rubbish .

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

This album was a big departure for Metallica to say the least - a departure from being as heavy as hell, one of the best metal bands in the world, to the turgid waters of commercial acceptance.

I expect this review to come in for a lot of flak, so I will start by answering some expected criticisms:

a) No, I don’t expect a band to constantly churn out the same album. You can develop musically without becoming a commercial pop rock act though.

b) No, I don’t think that this album is rubbish because Metallica cut their hair. I really couldn’t care less about the length of people’s hair. After all, look at Bruce Dickinson.

c) I am not some "old school" metalhead to expects every band to sound like every other eighties band - but I do expect heavy metal bands who were once so vocal about it to stick to their guns and make heavy metal music.

The very least Metallica could have done here was change their name (possibly taking the word "metal" out of it) and admit that they no longer wanted to play heavy metal. They then could have started again as a different band. But no. Instead they have to produce a horrific melange of all the different popular rock genres in the world - country rock (Mama Said), grunge (Ain’t my B**ch) & cetera ad infinitum, with a few god awful schmalzy ballads along the way (Hero of the Day). But one music genre remains utterly un-represented on this album: heavy metal. This is especially insulting coming from a band who once stood firm in the face of commercial pressure and championed heavy metal for years.

The fact is that this mess of uninspired rubbish is not some kind of musical evolution, it is a sell out, pure and simple. That phrase is overused, and I don’t use it lightly, but it’s the only way to describe Metallica’s metamorphosis into a Green-Day style pop-punk band. Not only do they abandon their fans and their musical background, but they can’t even decide whether they want to be a rock band or a country and western act. It’s time for Metallica to call it a day when the inspiration runs so dry that all they can produce is this kind of feeble anaemic rubbish.

Why don’t we just "load" it where it belongs - into a rocket and then blast it into the sun?