Metallica: Ranking Every Album’s Last Song
5. Fixxxer - Reload
1997's Reload is the band's seventh studio album and their final to feature bassist Jason Newstead. It is best known for its opener, "Fuel", the sequel to The Black Album song "The Unforgiven", and the Marianne Faithful-featuring "The Memory Remains".
But the closing track remains a bit of an outcast. In fact, "Fixxxer" has only been played live once and that was in 2021, 24 years after it was first released.
The song starts off incredibly atmospherically. Siren-like noises can be heard in the background as the lead guitar slithers towards you, eventually rising to include drums and bass.
Its lyrics frame humanity as a set of voodoo dolls, completely at the whim of whether others jab their pins. It's a nice concept and represents a time period where the band were the most focussed on creating compelling narratives in their music.
It's a tad long, probably not earning its 8:15 runtime, but on the whole "Fixxxer" is a great example of the group's sound during this time period and, hopefully, concert goers will get to hear it a few more times before Metallica decide to pack it in.