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like the songs on this album better than load. 82 is my score.

This is the weaker of the two albums IMO. But I still like it. Fuel, Carpe Diem Baby (despite the horrible title), Bad Seed, Where The Wild Things Are and Prince Charming are awesome songs. And I actually like the three songs you maligned in this review (Better Than You, Attitude and Fixxxer - the third being one of my favorite songs on this disk, in fact). I mentioned in the Black Album board that I prefer Unforgiven 2 to the original, and Slither is actually a pretty underrated little tune with a cool bluesy guitar solo. But overall, the songs just aren't as memorable or well-written IMO as they were on the original Load (I also liked James's voice better on the original). Although, interestingly, ReLoad is probably the darker and more metallic of the two records. It doesn't have Load's glossy/shiny sound, the songs sound less "happy", and the album as a whole is just grittier and more Sabbath-like.

I agree with Doublewhat that an 82/100 would be an appropriate score. To me, at least. Load I'd give about an 88.

I like this better than load for some reason, but this is still pretty crappy imo.

This is Reload.

Very average album for me, some great songs - Fuel, The Memory Remains - and a whole bunch of average ones that might be ok if you listen a million times and know them by heart. Load's miles better.

whoops... my bad

I forgot about Where the Wild Things Are. I loved that song when I was growing up.

Reload is a bit more uneven than Load but I think Fuel saves it by being the best Load-era song by far. Fixxxer is one of the better ones as well. A score in the 60s is definitely a fair score. It's pretty good to listen to when in the mood for something a bit different.

78/100

I would rate it higher than Load.

Fuel and Ain't my Bitch is a Draw, Memory Remains is better than 2x4, Devils Dance beats House Jack Built, Unforgiven II beats Until it sleeps, Better than you beats King Nothing, Slither is IMO draw with Hero of the Day, Bleeding Me and Carpe Diem Baby are both AWFUL crap, Bad Seed beats the Cure, Poor twisted me and Where The Wild Things Are are both boring crap, Prince Charming and Wasting my Hate is a draw, Low Man's Lyric is better than Mama Said, Attitude is better than Thorn within and Ronnie and Fixxxer is better than Outlaw Torn.

So Reload wins IMO nearly every duell - or is draw. It feels just fresher and makes more fun - but sure it's still miles away from everything before Load.

Why would you compare song that don't?
Load is a better album as a whole. Reload just sounds like outtakes (or leftovers) of the same sessions.
Love Low Man's Lyrics though.

I think you can compare the songs, because Metallica have a style to arrange albums in the same forms. The fast songs are on the same position as the ballads and the Long songs are on equal positions too. It's not with Load and Reload only, but RTL, MOP, AJFA and DM are also very similar with the buildup.

But back to Reload. I think, that Reload is not so tense like Load. The songs are a little bit faster, have a little bit more drive and are just a little bit better. It has more power. Even the booklet looks better.

Yes I know the songs are indeed only the leftovers, but funnily enough, often are the outtakes or bonus tracks of regular albums better than the album itself.

I think its a fallacy to refer to Reload as "leftovers"

These songs were all written in the same sessions sure, but were intended as a double album. So load is more the songs that were finished first, rather than the best album they could make from all the songs they had.

So these are left overs in the same way that Use Your Illusion II are the left overs from Use Your Illusion I. Which is to say, they're not.

All in all I think its a more straight forward rockin' album than its predecessor and probably would've been more warmly received had it come out first for that reason. But thats also why its the weaker of the two IMO. Just less interesting.

Releasing the ReLoad sessions first, and using Fuel as the first post Black album single would have been much more warmly received than releasing the uber wierd(at first) Load and the boring Until it Sleeps. I just feel like ReLoad is more suited to Metallica's talents than Load was, and in retrospect, it's a perfectly suitable hard-rocker. Reload is them being different, but still doing the things they do well, as opposed to Loads experimenting in places with things Metallica just can't do.

65/100, 67 if you remove the awful Low Man's Lyric