Metallica spent about two years writing and recording both 1996's Load and 1997's Reload. The two albums were written at the same time, with the Reload songs being ones Metallica didn't feel were quite ready at the time Load was recorded.
In an interview with The Metallica Report, Metallica frontman James Hetfield explained that writing lyrics in particular was difficult because there was just so much material. He notes that it's a little easier these days with drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Greg Fidelman vetting the lyrics, but the Load and Reload days were a little more difficult.
"I think so. Yeah. I was discouraged when we did Load and Reload with the amount of songs. There were 45 songs I had to write lyrics for and I felt like, 'Wait a minute. I've gotta write 45 songs' worth of lyrics. It's insane.' All that 45 songs would not be as potent as one really well-written lyric — to me. And being more comfortable with stuff that I think brings the point across.
"Yeah, we have — Lars and I co-producers, Greg Fidelman, co-producer. I come in with the lyrics. They'll read through 'em. And they'll just, 'Oh, yeah, that word. I'm not sure.' It's, like, 'Well, just let me sing it. Let me get it out there.' Even something like 'Inamorata' [with the lyrics] 'Resentment like a cancer grows.' He's, like, 'Ah, the word 'cancer'. Nah, you can't sing that. It's too…' Like, dude, come on. I mean, I'm not trying to win any P.C. awards for anything. Cancer is a fucking powerful word. It's hated, and to apply it to something gives it that power.
Hetfield continued: "I'm gonna write what I need to write. I will listen to you and your opinion on it. If it doesn't sing well, I get it, but I'm not gonna put in some fluff word just so it rhymes or whatever. And sometimes that is needed. Rhyming can be more important than the context in certain places, but I want the words to just be as powerful as possible."
Metallica seems to have found a new love for both Load and Reload, as they revisited some of those tracks for the first time in a while at their Helping Hands Concert & Auction on December 13. Metallica ripped through Load's "Until It Sleeps" alongside Reload's "Fuel", "Low Man's Lyric" for the first time since 1998, and "The Unforgiven II" for the first time since 2015. You can check out the full show below.
And who knows – maybe all this Load and Reload talk and play means those reissues Metallica talked about in 2022 are finally coming?
