Metallica announces ‘Load’ reissue

Metallica has announced a reissue of their 1996 album, Load.

The set is due out June 13, and features remastered audio of the original record. It will be available in a variety of different formats, including the 10-pound deluxe box set, which boasts a total of 301 tracks, 245 of which are previously unreleased, spread across six vinyl LPs, 15 CDs and four DVDs.

Those tracks include live recordings, demos, alternate takes, early mixes, outtakes, B-sides, rarities and rehearsal audio. You’ll also hear the full unedited version of the song “The Outlaw Torn,” which was shortened for the original release due to CD constraints.

The box set also includes a poster, tour laminates and a 128-page hardcover photo book, among other memorabilia.

The original Load arrived five years after Metallica’s massive 1991 self-titled record, aka the Black Album, which brought the band and metal as a whole to mainstream audiences. It saw Metallica move further from their thrash origins into a more hard rock direction signified by each band member’s new, shorter haircut, all of which angered metal purists.

Still, Load would go on to be certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA, and spawned singles including “Until It Sleeps,” “Hero of the Day” and “King Nothing.”