For the part two, Reload released in 1997 as a follow up to Load. I’ve heard it said in comments online that if you combined the good two thirds of Load and the good one third of Reload you would have a more well received album than what they had. While I don’t have 100% love every song on the album, I think there’s more than just one third of good music on Reload. While songs like Fuel, the albums heavy opener and The Memory Remains remain in high regard the rest of the album has its highlights. Devil’s Dance has a slow, almost Black Sabbath like sound to it with a heavy main riff. Better Than You quickens the pace and Where the Wild Things Are has a rather odd harmony in the chorus but the band makes it fit the song well. Overall, Reload is just more Load with a slightly slower pace. While it’s not traditional Metallica, it’s still a great album to listen to.

This album continues the musical experimentation further than Load. A handful of songs, The Unforgiven II and Low Man’s Lyric feel more like country songs than metal with string skipping and using base acoustic chords. Reload on guitar regains some focus on power chords and heavy palm muting. The drumming maintains Ulrich’s familiar style, but some changes in songs like Bad Seed help to break his monotony. Hetfield maintains his mid range voice throughout the album, similar to Load. Some songs to begin with include Better Than You for guitar as a good intro to palm muting, Devils Dance on bass will give a good lesson in rhythm and The Unforgiven II for drummers due to its slow pace. For more experienced players, Fuel on guitar and drums requires good coordination between hands, for bass players, Carpe Diem is a good challenge due to multiple string changes in the intro and verse.