“The idea is Kirk was gonna play rhythms along with James. That changed everything, and some people don’t like it”: Bob Rock says Metallica’s divisive Load album redefined the Hetfield-Hammett guitar partnership

When Metallica released their fifth album, lovingly referred to as the Black Album, in 1991, they were rightly crowned the world’s biggest metal band. Decades later, no metal record has yet to surpass its staggering 30 million units sold, but with its controversial follow-up, 1996’s Load, the band offered a very different sound.

Pushing a lighter, more commercial aesthetic, and chopped locks to boot, many felt the band had eschewed the identity that garnered them such lofty success. Now Bob Rock, who produced both those albums, has said it was a record that reshaped James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett’s guitar-playing relationship.