Metallica has announced the definitive re-release of the band’s 5x platinum sixth studio album Load, out June 13 via the band’s own Blackened Recordings.
Load (Remastered) will be released in formats including standard 180g 2LP, CD, cassette and digital (including a Spatial Audio mix using Atmos).
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.
Originally released June 4, 1996, Load was the second Metallica album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, where it would remain for four straight weeks. The 1995 sessions at The Plant in Sausalito CA that resulted in Load (as well as 1997’s ReLoad) would find James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted creating yet another landmark of the Metallica catalog. Currently, two of Load’s four singles—“Until It Sleeps” and “King Nothing”—have been lighting up crowds the world over in regular rotation on the setlists of the band’s M72 World Tour.