"We're not out for shock, we're not out for disgust either, we're just out to do what we do. There's no way you can set it up," says James Hetfield. "You put out a record every five years, then there's bound to be some drastic changes. Whose life doesn't change in five years? And people have to take that with a block of salt. People have to understand what's been happening in our lives--what we've been doing, where we've been, where our fucking minds are. And you would likely hope that people would've change themselves, y'know? Change has to happen no matter how much people don't want to see their stable things change. As humans we have to change. It's almost come full circle. We've never been out to please anyone but ourselves, and the fans totally dig and respect that. But when we change it's probably a little harder for them to accept that because they haven't been through it with us."

Load is characterized by the increased input of guitarist Kirk and bassist Jason, and the shaking up of Metallica previously extremely anal recording processes--a shake up that came after the band spent a year off.

The Talk

James: "Getting away from each other helped us grow not apart, but in our own ways, and when we got back together we learned new ways of growing together. I think this happened in the studio as well. Lars was always, I have to record my drums this way; I was always, I have to record my vocals this way. We were all stuck in our own way. Now we've seen from each other how each person records their own way, and we've loosened up a lot."

I went on this hunting trip for a couple of weeks, and as soon as I came back, there's this tape, and it was like, Okay, we've been doing a few things... Kirk played rhythm guitar...WHAT!? ["I was afraid he was going to hit me," says Kirk.] But I listened to the stuff, and it was pretty fucking cool. We've got two guitar players, so why not use two guitar players?"

Lars: "I think Jason is the most grounded and stable among us, and musically he's always open to trying out different shit. He has much more interaction with other musicians than James, Kirk, or I. It brings a quality to the party, just that knowledge, and I value it a lot."

"After we started writing, we got to 25 songs and said, This is crazy...we could keep on writing songs until 2007. We had to curb ourselves and put a lid on it because we could still be in there writing now. That's how many ideas kept surfacing. There's a song on the new record which was written when we hit on a jam while recording. We've recorded 80 or 90 songs over the last 15 years and there's never been anything that's come from a jam. So, yes, things are evolving. The ways the plan sits is this: 14 songs will be on this record, and a lot of the other songs are done already. Instead of making a record every five years, we're going to put out a record now and put out another record in a year or year-and-a-half from now."

James: "There's huge new strength in all of this. You share feelings with each other, you feel more of a family vibe, more of a camaraderie. People will back you up even more instead of battle you. And that's even more forward momentum for us as in dividuals and as a band."

Lars: "We're standing at a massive potential point of rebirth."

Kirk: "We're at our fullest potential now more than ever before. The sky is the fucking limit."

The Point

All of which still gives little idea about the sheer size of the soundscape that Metallica now straddles (as if to demonstrate confidence, Load has as much music as can possibly fit onto one CD--79 minutes) or the depth of their new-found self expression. Load sees Metallica once again giving the finger to those who thought they had the band sussed.

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