2026 Anniversary Series 072: Metallica – Load

Scribed by Sandre the Giant What do you do when you released the biggest rock album since ‘Back in Black’? Well, if you’re Metallica, you follow that up with delving deeply into your mental and personal struggles, as well as your grunge and Skynyrd records, and release an album loaded (pardon the pun) with some of the most swaggering, righteous groove you’ve ever heard. 1996 saw the release of ‘Load’, an album that killed any hope of Metallica returning to their thrash roots (for at least another 12 years) and saw them fully embrace their love of classic and southern rock, blues and more than a cursory eye on the grunge and alternative scene that had swept thrash away in the early 90s. ‘Metallica’ was almost as responsible for that as Nirvana was by the way, but ‘Load’ would confirm Metallica’s status as the biggest rock band on planet earth. Thirty years on, it still fucking rocks too. Growing up as a burgeoning rock fan in the late 90s, this was the Metallica I was most accustomed…