10 Hard Rock Albums Artists Want You To Forget About

The end of the '90s started to signal a dark time for Metallica. After going over like gangbusters at the very start of the decade with the Black Album, their next album Load felt like a sell out for most fans preferring their classic sound. So what's the antidote to cries of sell-out? Simple: do the same thing again and hope for the best.

Originally envisioned as a double record, a lot of ReLoad reads like a bunch of B-sides left over from the Load sessions, only reformatted into an entirely different album experience. As opposed to just table scraps, a lot of these songs have still held up over time, from the pure stomp of of Devil's Dance to the downright weird detour the album takes on Low Man's Lyric. Even Fuel and the Memory Remains have remained concert staples, but do you ever hear anything else about this album in the wild?

Though both songs have survived the past few years, you'd be hardpressed to find anything else from ReLoad in the setlist anymore, with Metallica basically washing their hands of it. As far back as the documentary Some Kind of Monster, James Hetfield was already badmouthing the record, attesting it to their ability at whipping any mediocre riff into shape. For as much as the title might imply reloading, these songs feel more like musical overload than anything else.