Review by Chad on January 8, 2020.

That's not liquid fire on the album cover, in fact it is blood and jizz wedged between two sheets of plexiglass. Yes, I know, gross. Grossed out is what a large part of Metallica's fanbase felt after their first time listening to 1996's Load. Allow me to put this into perspective for you. Half a decade Metallica fans had to wait anxiously for the next album after their self-titled black album in 1991, which already saw Metallica going through a transition from the progressive melodic thrash metal of Master of Puppets to a more stripped down and simple heavy metal sound. This is the longest amount of time fans had to wait between releases up until this point. Their first four albums were regarded as classics in their genre that every metal head should listen to, and the consensus for their fifth album was considered mediocre yet passable material by many. Load is by all means not even a passable offering.

The first song I'd ever heard from Load was the single, "King Nothing". It's comparable to "Enter Sandman" off the black album prior to this, but Metallica isn't just more of the same on Load. They've changed their tune, and the aforementioned single along with the album opener "Ain't My Bitch" are probably the heaviest tracks the album has to offer. Metallica have traded their thrash metal sound for plodding riffs, guitars drop tuned a whole step down to standard D tuning, and copious amounts of wah. The songwriting has become much more predictable and commercial. There are two songs in particular, "Bleeding Me" and "The Outlaw Torn" which stretch over 8 and 9 minutes respectively, and within all that time at the band's disposable these tracks manage to go absolutely nowhere. Worse still, "Mama Said" finds Hetfield singing over an acoustic country tune and it is here where Hetfield's vocal style change is put out on full display. One thing I can say about hard rock and heavy metal is that you don't necessarily have to be Luciano Pavarotti, but if Hetfield seriously thinks I'm going to subject myself to his voice over acoustic guitar, he's got another thing coming. The worst song on the album has got to be "Hero of the Day" though. If none of the other songs on the album were evidence enough, this song comes on and I feel like I'm listening to "Tiptoe through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim. Did Metallica forget the name of their own band?

Kirk Hammet's overuse of the wah pedal isn't the only obnoxious component to Load's delivery, but James Hetfield sounds nothing like he did in years past. There used to be a ferocity in his vocals that haven't been present since this album's release. Sure, one can't expect a vocalist to sound good forever, I can forgive someone for aging, but Hetfield's vocals have become downright cartoonish. He sounds like he's trying too hard to be macho, and often adds an extra 5 syllables to every word he utters. To make matters worse, Load often utilizes multiple vocal tracks. which tells you what you need to know about this era of Metallica. They have shifted their attention from writing thoughtful music to writing sing-a-longs. Then you have songs on this album like "2x4" which I'm 99.9% sure is no one's favorite Metallica song. Hetfield sings like he's literally about to fall asleep. What about Lars Ulrich and Jason Newsted? Unfortunately, they do absolutely nothing of interest on the album, they might as well be phone-in studio musicians because they don't make much of an impression, they're just there to fulfill their roles.

Overall, Load is an amalgamation of commercial southern rock and the zeitgeist of the 90's heavy metal music scene. Metallica were listening to bands like Alice in Chains and Corrosion of Conformity around this time and it shows through in their songs, but those bands were able to pull off this style of bluesy southern rock. Metallica on the other hand have nothing to really showcase on Load that hasn't already been done before and done better. They were once one of the biggest names in heavy metal, but here they've produced some washed up redneck rock that sounds more suitable for a WWE wrestler's theme song as they walk out to the ring. Let me stress that I can handle change, but this is simply not a change I am willing to embrace or endure. There is no saving grace for this album other than the fact that it isn't St. Anger.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Review by Tobias on January 25, 2001.

Umm... This is a different band. I grew up with Ride the Lightning, Kill 'em All and the classic great Master of Puppets; those were albums that molded metal into what it is today. This album seems to be coming from a band that would make a great touring partner to The Black Crowes. Don't get me wrong, as a piece by itself, it's decent rock n' roll with some pretty slick guitar riffs, but as the band's 6th full length album, it is definitely a harbinger of doom to the Metallica sound we all grew up with.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Michael on November 1, 2021.

Swedish melo-deathers (though I don't like the term for the band) are back after eight long years without releasing any new stuff. I have to say that I was pretty surprised when I read the announcement of releasing a new album and pretty curious what there would come towards us. After a quite okay 2013 album (The End Of Disclosure) and two quite average albums before that (A Taste Of Extreme Divinity and Virus) I have to confess that I didn't expect too much.
So here we go now with Worship.

First of all, I have to say that I like the cover very much. An Aztec pyramid where a crowd and an alien are gathered to await the coming of (probably) aliens which travel in the typical Hypocrisy crosses is a really cool idea. To focus on the music, the album starts with a calm guitar intro which develops into a typical Hypocrisy track with a very rhythmic part, catchy melodies and I would say that 'Worship' could have found its way on a Hypocrisy album back in the early 00s. 'Chemical Whore' is a gloomy and also very melodic track that lives from its slow, creeping and threatening atmosphere. Peters voice underlines this dark atmosphere and for me it is one of the highlights of the album. 'We're The walking Dead' comes up with another typical Hypocrisy melody arc and the riffing from 1:00 on (don't laugh) reminds me a little bit of Dire Straits. It is a very epic track with great keyboard arrangements that raises a slight oppressive atmosphere. Another track that keeps you in mind is 'Children Of The Gray' which sounds very similar to a lot of the songs Hypocrisy once wrote for their 1996 album Abducted. Riffing, vocals and the melodies I'm quite used to and because Abducted is (besides Penetralia) my all-time favorite by Hypocrisy this is awesome to my ears. I originally thought that it would be a continuation of Roswell 47 but Peter told me that this a regular track without any connection to other songs. 'Another Day' is a very fast and brutal track which however stays quite melodic though and which has a very catchy middle part. I guess it is one of the fastest tracks the band has written in about 20 years or so. I don't want to tell you about each track because you should explore the tracks on your own. What I can state is that Worship has no really weak tracks and shouldn't be a disappointment to all of you who are into older Hypocrisy stuff.

The production is very strong and balanced, like the last productions that Peter did for the band, too so that here are no surprises at all. Lyrically you can think about Peters conspiracy theories what you want, maybe it is entertaining you or not; I guess you all know about his topics.

Finally I would say that the trio did a very good job with the album (though we don't find any new ideas here, but like Peter said to me, he didn't need to reinvent the Hypocrisy wheel) and I am pretty happy with that. Beam me up, Scotty (or whoever is flying the Cross UFO ehmmm UAP).

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 aliens