Vinyl Record

Metallica - Load

Buy Metallica’s Load remastered 180g double-vinyl LP from Kilmorna in Listowel—a bold hard-rock turn featuring “Until It Sleeps” and “King Nothing.”.

2LP · Metal · 1996

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 1996 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection Metal shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel, ship within Ireland from EUR 5.95 per record or outside Ireland from EUR 12.00 per record.

Load is the sound of Metallica refusing to repeat the scale and certainty of their self-titled breakthrough. First released in 1996, it trades much of the band’s earlier thrash velocity for weightier hard-rock grooves, blues-stained textures and songs willing to brood, sway or unfold slowly. “Ain’t My Bitch” opens with a blunt, swinging charge, while “Until It Sleeps” and “King Nothing” compress the album’s darker instincts into imposing, memorable singles. The deeper cuts reveal the record’s real breadth. “Bleeding Me” builds patiently toward a huge emotional release; “Mama Said” strips the band back for a country-leaning confession; and “The Outlaw Torn” closes on an expansive, searching note. Rather than a conventional metal record, Load is a long-form portrait of a band testing new shapes without surrendering heaviness. Heard across four vinyl sides, its contrasts—from clipped riffs to atmospheric slow burns—have the space to register fully.

Load remains one of Metallica’s defining left turns: a commercially ambitious album that widened their vocabulary beyond thrash and arena metal. Its hard-rock swing, introspective writing and willingness to embrace blues, country and alternative textures make it essential to understanding the band’s evolution.

This European 2025 Blackened edition is a remastered reissue spread across two 180-gram LPs. Four sides suit the album’s lengthy programme, particularly the extended “Bleeding Me” and “The Outlaw Torn,” while retaining the complete 14-track sequence. A strong choice for listeners seeking a current heavyweight-vinyl edition.

Dense, warm and groove-led: thick guitars, dry percussion, dark low-end and weathered vocals, balanced by spacious ballads, bluesy accents and extended cinematic builds.

Is this the original 1996 pressing of Load? No. This is a European 2025 remastered reissue released by Blackened and pressed as a two-LP set on 180-gram vinyl. Does this edition contain the complete album? Yes. All 14 tracks are included, from “Ain’t My Bitch” and “Until It Sleeps” through to the ten-minute closing track “The Outlaw Torn.” What style of Metallica album is Load? Load favours heavy, mid-tempo hard rock and alternative-rock textures over sustained thrash speed, with blues, country and Southern-rock colours appearing across the record.