Kirk Hammett was interviewed earlier this year and was asked what he thought about the Load and Reload era of Metallica. He said this.
“It’s interesting, ’cause nowadays I run into fans and they love that era – they love Load and Reload. But when those albums first came out, it was like, ‘Fuck Load. Fuck Reload. Fuck Metallica.’ But nowadays we play Fuel and people go nuts.”
That may have been a bit of foreshadowing from the horror obsessed guitarist as Metallica announced earlier this week they are re-releasing Load remastered! They’ve already given us a remastered version of ‘Until It Sleeps’ which I saw them play in Chicago and was blown away by how awesome it was.
Friday the 13th of June will be the day the full package is released featuring a 180g double LP, CD, cassette, and digital formats and will include demos, rough mixes, live performances, on-air and tv appearances and for the first time ever the full extended version of ‘The Outlaw Torn’ which had a 9:48 run time but had to be trimmed in order to fit the cd format. That’s just one of the formats you can get. The Load Remastered Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set is an ambitious and comprehensive time capsule of 1995-97 era Metallica, jam-packed with exclusives including previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, live performances, on-air and television appearances, and much more. The one-time pressing will include the remastered Load album on 180g double vinyl, a “Mama Said” picture disc, and Loadapalooza ’96, a 140G triple album recorded live during Metallica’s Lollapalooza headlining run at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on August 4, 1996. The set’s 15 CDs range from the remastered Load album to never-before-released collected riffs, demos and rough mixes, B-Sides and rarities, and a wealth of live material, while its 4 DVDs offer a plethora of behind the scenes, in-studio and live footage, on-air and television appearances, the band’s Polar Beach Party visit to Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, and more. Rounding out the box’s content are memorabilia including a pack of 14 Rorschach Test cards, a Pushead patch, an 11×17 Lollapalooza poster, an Rolling Stone cover reproduction, a 5-pack of guitar/bass picks, lyric sheets, two laminated tour passes and a deluxe 128-page book.
All this will be available at Metallica’s webstore and will be unleashed on June 13th, 29 years and one week after the original release date.
[Metallica] [YouTube: Metallica] [Loudersound]
