Metallica have announced a reissue of 1997’s “Reload,” set to drop June 26 on their own label, Blackened Recordings.
This updated edition of the seventh studio album from the California metal giants, which went four-times platinum, was remastered by Reuben Cohen and Greg Fidelman at Lurssen Mastering and will come in a range of formats. The biggest package is the Reload Remastered Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set, stuffed with exclusive goodies, including previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, live performances, radio and TV appearances, and more…
The box contains the remastered Reload album on double vinyl, plus a seven-inch vinyl single of The Memory Remains and a triple-vinyl live album, Live At Ministry Of Sound ’97. It also packs in 15 CDs – including the remastered Reload album and collections of demos, live recordings, rough mixes and other rarities – plus four DVDs of behind-the-scenes footage, live performances and studio rehearsal clips.
Other options offer the remastered album on 2LP, CD, cassette and 3CD. All of these editions can already be pre-ordered on the Metallica website .
Along with the news, Metallica dropped a remastered version of “The Memory Remains” and a live clip of the single, recorded during their 1997 show in the CoreStates Center parking lot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You can check out both below.
The Reload reissue lands almost exactly a year after Metallica gave the 1996 album Load the same treatment. Both albums were recorded at the same time between May 1995 and April 1996 at The Plant studio in Sausalito, California, with Bob Rock producing.
The “Load” and “Reload” era is considered a controversial stretch for the band. On these albums they moved away from their signature thrash metal sound and started leaning on blues and country influences, which royally pissed off a big chunk of their fanbase. The band also ditched their metal image in this period, cut their hair, and teamed up with Anton Corbijn, known for working with Depeche Mode and U2, for promo photos.
