After the debacle that was Lulu I was wondering about the Metallica catalogue. Since these two albums were recorded together and are essentially a double album, if cuts were made could a solid album of material be released? What would the track list be? and what rate would you give it on Metal Storm?

I think a good album could've been released and be a solid 8 - 8.5, If the tracks were

Off load:
Until It Sleeps
King Nothing
Hero of the Day
Bleeding Me
Mama Said
Outlaw Torn

Off Reload:
Fuel
The Memory Remains
Unforgiven 2
Carpe Diem Baby
Low Mans Lyric

From Load:
The House That Jack Built
Until It Sleeps
King Nothing
Hero Of The Day
Bleeding Me

From ReLoad:
Fuel
The Memory Remains
Devil's Dance
Better Than You
Slither

Rating: Probably around a 7. It won't get too much more love, because people would still hate the change, even if a lot of the filler was taken out.

In interesting thought, my biggest criticism of each album is that both of them have far too many 'fillers'. A list such as those presented might push it up to an 8 at best for me, because there are good songs on each album. Such a concept would have likely produced one decent album as opposed to two very average ones.

PS i've not bought Lulu, i have no intention of buying it, based on what ive heard of it so far, im not at all impressed by it.

If they were trimmed down and released as one album like a compilation taking the "best" songs from each album and scrapping the garbage, there wouldn't be an album. There were no good songs.

I was thinking the same for a long time, Load should be released as a double album containing the best tracks from both albums, It would be a blues rock classic.

Tracklist:
CD 1
Ain't My Bitch
King Nothing
The House Jack Built
Until It Sleeps
Hero of the Day
Bleeding Me
Mama Said
Thorn Within
The Outlaw Torn

CD2
Fuel
The Memory Remains
Devil's Dance
The Unforgiven II
Where the Wild Things Are
Prince Charming
Low Man's Lyric
Attitude
Fixxxer

I actually think that "Load" was by far the stronger of the two albums. It was way more consistent, and only had one song on it I didn't like. Whereas "Reload" had a quite a bit of filler on it.

Love both albums anyway. they both get an 8

I get what you're getting at here, and I've definitely thought the same thing about Guns N Roses' Use Your Illusion parts 1 & 2. If they cut out the filler on each of those albums, they could have had one dynamite album, rather than two ok albums.

However, with Load and Reload it's hard for me to say, I haven't given them a serious enough listen to say whether or not they've got enough decent tracks between the two to build a halfway decent EP. Everything I remember listening to either bored me or gave me vibes of second-hand embarrassment. Maybe I should try re-listening to those albums one of these days, just so I can pretend I like them and play Devils Advocate against Troy.

Written by Angelic Storm on 09.11.2011 at 23:58

I actually think that "Load" was by far the stronger of the two albums. It was way more consistent, and only had one song on it I didn't like. Whereas "Reload" had a quite a bit of filler on it.

You are quite correct, Load was definately the better of the two by some margin. Reload for me only really has a couple of decent songs.

For me a combined album of the two might look something this...

Load -
King Nothing
Hero of the Day
Bleeding Me
Wasting My Hate
Thorn Within
The Outlaw Torn

Reload -
Devil's Dance
The Unforgiven II
Carpe Diem Baby

An album that looked like this might convince me to give it an 8/10.

Written by ToMegaTherion on 11.11.2011 at 15:55
You are quite correct, Load was definately the better of the two by some margin. Reload for me only really has a couple of decent songs.

For me a combined album of the two might look something this...

For me, Load is a mostly great album, whereas Reload is about half killer, half filler. I like so much of Load, that it would be hard for me to compact the two albums into just one. But if I was just picking the absolute best songs from Load, this would be my album combining songs from both:

Ain't My Bitch
Where The Wild Things Are
Hero Of The Day
Better Than You
Thorn Within
Mama Said
Fuel
Bleeding Me
The House Jack Built
Wasting My Hate
The Unforgiven 2
Prince Charming
Until It Sleeps
Devil's Dance

I like Load a lot so although i listen to the whole album, there are 3 songs that are weaker IMO - 2x4. Poor Twisted Me and Ronnie; as for Reload, here are the good songs for me:

Fuel
Unforgiven II
Better than You
Bad Seed
Where the Wild Things Are
Fixxxer

Written by Doc G. on 11.11.2011 at 13:19
Maybe I should try re-listening to those albums one of these days, just so I can pretend I like them and play Devils Advocate against Troy.

It's your funeral Doc.

If Load and Reload were released as one album... I'd still think it's a piece of shit.

My mind would OverLoad from shittiness.

(it took a week of careful thought and planning to make that joke)

Written by vezzy on 14.11.2011 at 21:02
My mind would OverLoad from shittiness.
(it took a week of careful thought and planning to make that joke)

I was wondering where you were. Good jokes like that take time.

Hmm...

The House That Jack Built
Until It Sleeps
King Nothing
Bleeding Me
The Outlaw Torn
Fuel
The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven 2
Carpe Diem Baby
Where The Wild Things Are
Prince Charming
Fixxxer

There's some other songs on those albums that I like, such as Devils Dance and Attitude, but these twelve songs would make an enjoyable album of reasonable length. Still wouldn't hold a candle compared to their 80's work, but not much does.

I used to like both albums back in the day, when they were released. I distinctly remember running to a distro on the day of release to buy those albums in 1996 and 1997. Now I'm not so enthusiastic about them, but I still think they contain a few very decent songs:

Ain't My Bitch
Bleeding Me
Wasting My Hate
The Outlaw Torn
The Memory Remains (this one is brilliant)
Carpe Diem Baby
Prince Charming
Fixxxer

I guess that'd be enough for one full length. Too bad that Metallica's incredible hubris made them release two 80-minute behemoths instead of one tight strong album.

Going by everyone's lists and answers so far, it seems that "Bleeding Me" is a standout track on both albums, as it's the only song so far that has made it onto everyone's Load/Reload mix album.

It would be an awsome album:
Ronnie
Bleeding Me
The Unforgiven II
King Nothing
The Outlaw Torn
Fixxxer
Until It Sleeps
Hero Of The Day
The House That Jack Built
Mama Said
Low Man's Lyric
Maybe also The Memory remains or Where The Wild Things Are if there's room.

Or just put Low Man's Lyric, Fixxer and The Unforgiven II into Load in place of Cure, Wasting My Hate and Ain't My Bitch.

I used to be obsessed with piecing together the perfect Use Your Illusion - however the Illusion albums are much better than Load/ReLoad. Whereas most of the filler on UYI make the albums enjoyable and give them character the filler on the Loads (especially ReLoad) are boring generic hard rock boogie. There are some songs I really like though...

From Load:
Ain't My Bitch
Until It Sleeps
King Nothing
Bleeding Me
Wasting My Hate
Mama Said
The Outlaw Torn

From ReLoad:
Fuel
The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven II
Carpe Diem Baby
Where the Wild Things Are
Fixxxer

Some songs should maybe be trimmed a bit and if there's still room I might throw The House Jack Built, Hero of the Day or Low Man's Lyric in the mix. That album would get around a 7.

Written by Angelic Storm on 15.11.2011 at 14:32

Going by everyone's lists and answers so far, it seems that "Bleeding Me" is a standout track on both albums, as it's the only song so far that has made it onto everyone's Load/Reload mix album.

It's my favorite from that era along with The House that Jack Built and Outlaw Torn. I consider them to be the "experimental" departures from Load and they seem to resonate the most with me.

My list would just remove some Load songs like Ronnie, Thorn Within, Cure and Poor Twisted me and throw in Fuel and Memory Remains.

Something like this:

01. Fuel
02. Ain't My Bitch
03. The House Jack Built
04. Until It Sleeps
05. King Nothing
06. Hero Of The Day
07. 2 X 4
08. Bleeding Me
09. The Memory Remains
10. Wasting My Hate
11. Mama Said
12. The Outlaw Torn

As the stupid fanboy of Metallica I always say I am, I had never fully listened to these albums (I was convinced they were pure shit) until I bought them last month.

They are pretty good actually... but It's obvious they have lots of fillers and I didn't like the production too much also.
And since Re-Load is made from the "leftovers" of Load as Tallica says... yeah, I think I'm going to create my own Load record with the best songs as you said.

I'll be surely leaving "Better Than You" out

If Load and Reload were released as one album...it was a double disc.

I thought they were released a year apart. I could be wrong it was i was 5 when reload came out so i'm going going off what the internet says.

With the track list that u make i will give it 6/10

cause im already given these 2 albums 2.5/10

don try to push me to give u a raise no way )

Written by Fade To Black on 09.12.2011 at 01:22

I thought they were released a year apart. I could be wrong it was i was 5 when reload came out so i'm going going off what the internet says.

you are right, they were released a year apart (Load - 1996 and ReLoad - 1997). The previous post said "if..." so the guy was trying to make a joke.

It'd be OverLoad

Written by Troy Killjoy on 06.11.2011 at 20:11

If they were trimmed down and released as one album like a compilation taking the "best" songs from each album and scrapping the garbage, there wouldn't be an album. There were no good songs.

Exactly what I think as I used to love Metallica until the "average" Black album and I even came to totally dislike the band from the day they released LOAD

Load + ReLoad = ShitLoad

Written by arwestromen on 23.04.2012 at 13:31

Load + ReLoad = ShitLoad

Significant improvement on mine