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Why Load Is (Lyrically) Metallica& #39;s Best Album: a thread by an english nerd with too much time on his hands
disclaimer: i am only going to be discussing my personal opinion on load and why i feel it is metallicas strongest album. like the title suggests, i am mainly going to be discussing lyrics. i dont know much about music, but i will dabble in some elements to highlight some points
as someone who is very interested in story writing and finding meanings in works, load was a fascinating subject of inspection. a lot of what sets load apart from its predecessors is the sudden shift from the explicit to the implicit 1/
the best example i can think of to demonstrate this is "the house jack built"; although straightforward at times, a lot of its narrative is made vague. it gives off the impression of being alone and fearful, which is a lot of what the song is about 2/
on a basic level, the house jack built is a song about fear, loneliness, and realization. the first two are heavy in its imagery: the demons, the fog, the want to hide. realization is reserved for the chorus, and its what interested me the most out of the entire listen 3/
the chorus is very depressing on its own, but it is joined by a tonal shift in the music that makes it sound more upbeat. i dont believe this was a throwaway experiment, given the context of the time the album was written and the origin of the songs title 4/
james wrote all the lyrics for load, and the 90s were when he was getting really introspective. the songs title is taken from the story of a house a man built that was the inadvertent cause of other problems, and this ties into the chorus of the song 5/
the chorus features the lines "my body, my temple", followed by "step into the house that jack built". at this point, the main character comes to the realization that he is the root cause of the other problems he is facing, and the music portrays it as something positive 6/
this is very effective storytelling, and i might not be a musical expert, but the shift in tone from forboding to uplifting really helps nail it in that this new perspective is a hugely positive impact on the story. now, this is only one song, but if i did em all id never stop 7/
the house jack built was the strongest example of the lyrical and musical shift i could think of, but generalized, the other songs on the album tell a very interesting story. load, to me, feels like a sudden descent into darkness that starts off with a happy façade 8/
aint my bitch and 2x4 are what id consider standard upbeat rock, but the album takes an immediate nosedive on the house jack built and continues to tell very dark and serious stories for the rest of its duration. there is a lot of sadness (untl it sleeps), anger (king nothing, 9/
thorn within), grief (mama said), and overall introspection on the majority of the tracks. ronnie isnt reflective but it still carries the dark themes of the rest of the album, and waste my hate isnt as brooding but its reflective like the other tracks 10/
the album forces the listener to follow it on a very dark and fearful journey full of internal struggle and grief, and on the final track, confronts its fear and anger, accepts its flaws and closes off on a haunting but hopeful note—self aware and looking for help 11/
thats all i really have to say on it, at least what i can say off the top of my head. the album was a unique lyrical experience and analyzing it was amazing, as well as finding all of these interesting details in the writing and musical elements. in conclusion: load good 12/12
