Metallica – Reload (2xLP)

Reload is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on November 18, 1997 by Elektra Records. The album is a follow-up to Load, released the previous year. This was Metallica's last studio album to feature longtime bassist Jason Newsted.

Reload debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 436,000 copies in its first week. Having sold more than 4 million copies in the United States, Reload is certified 4× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The album was recorded at The Plant, a wood-paneled studio based in Sausalito, California. The ringmaster for the session was Bob Rock, who also added his crisp production to the last two Metallica studio albums. The artwork for Reload features a photo by Andres Serrano.

The original idea was to make Metallica's sixth album a double album. However, with problems recording so many songs at one time, the band decided that half of the songs were to be released and the band would continue to work on the remaining songs and release them the following year. Speaking about the recording sessions in an interview for Guitar World, guitarist Kirk Hammett stated that "We were gonna do them both as a double album, but we didn't want to spend that long in the studio. Also, if we did a double album, it would have been a lot more material for people to digest, and some of it might have gotten lost in the shuffle."

"...the boys are back in frown, gnarling their way through bristly thrashers and slithery ballads recorded during and after the Load sessions. Reload continues their journey into stripped-down maturity while toying with fresh melodic textures." - Entertainment Weekly, November 21, 1997, pg. 136

"... the towering closer, "Fixxxer," along with handful of cuts that successfully push the outer edges of Metallica's sound, make the record worthwhile." — AllMusic

• 150-gram vinyl 2 LP reissue on Metallica's own Blackened Recordings label!
• Double LP mastered by Bernie Grundman from original analog master tapes!
• Stoughton Printing gatefold jacket with two inserts