METALLICA's seventh studio album, "ReLoad," has returned to multiple Billboard charts following its remastered reissue on June 26 via the band's own Blackened Recordings, according to Billboard. The quadruple-platinum album debuted at No. 1 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, No. 3 on Top Rock Albums and No. 4 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, while re-entering the Billboard 200 at No. 16 and the Vinyl Albums chart at No. 7.
"ReLoad (Remastered)" is available across formats including standard 180g double vinyl, CD, a 3CD expanded edition, cassette and a Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio digital mix, remastered by Reuben Cohen at Lürssen Mastering with producer Greg Fidelman overseeing. A limited-edition deluxe box set expands the release further, packaging 15 CDs of previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, B-sides and live material with 4 DVDs of behind-the-scenes and on-air footage, alongside memorabilia including a Pushead print and a 128-page book.
The reissue also relaunched METALLICA's fan cover competition under the banner #GetTheReLoadOut, inviting musicians and visual artists to submit interpretations of "ReLoad" tracks, with two grand-prize winners receiving an autographed deluxe box set.
Originally released November 18, 1997, "ReLoad" was METALLICA's third consecutive album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ultimately spending nearly 80 weeks on the chart. It emerged from the same 1995-1997 sessions at The Plant in Sausalito, California that produced 1996's "Load," with the James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Jason Newsted lineup pushing into bluesier, more experimental territory that included a hurdy-gurdy and violin on "Low Man's Lyric" and a guest vocal from Marianne Faithfull on "The Memory Remains."
Both "Load" and "ReLoad" were well-received on release but have since become divisive entries in METALLICA's catalog, associated with the band's mid-'90s image overhaul. Ulrich has defended the records as "creatively on par with every other record we've made," while Hetfield has been more openly critical of the era's aesthetic choices, though he has said he holds no regrets about going along with his bandmates' vision at the time. The "Load"/"ReLoad" period was followed by a turbulent stretch for METALLICA that included Newsted's eventual departure and Hetfield's stint in rehab.