Metallica's Load & Reload Album Art EXPLAINED

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Have you ever looked at the album art for Metallica's Load or Reload albums and wondered what the heck it was supposed to be? Perhaps you were like me and assumed it was an abstract painting of a flame or maybe a lava lamp. Well, I'm afraid that the answer is something far more disgusting. In fact, the artwork isn't a painting at all.

The image was created by artist Andres Serrano who was creating a series of artistic photographs with bodily fluids. The image used for the cover of Metallica's Load was made by mixing bovine blood with... well... let's just say he mixed it with his own happy creamy feelings before he smashed the mixture between two sheets of glass and took a picture of it. And suddenly the title Load makes me feel much more uncomfortable. The image for Reload was created using the same bovine blood mixed with a yellow liquid, I'll let you guess what the yellow liquid is and where it came from.

Artist Andres Serrano spoke with Metal Hammer in 2022:

“It was Kirk and Lars who asked for the picture for Load. I met with them at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, and we arranged for them to use the image for the album, merchandise and all promotional purposes. I was flattered and honoured they wanted it...

Because it spoke to them. They were drawn to it and I’m glad they were, because the image and album was a match made in Heaven...

It was part of a series called ‘Bodily Fluids’. They were photographs intended to look like paintings...

I bought it (bovine blood) at the butcher. It would be labelled ‘edible beef blood’ and I would buy a gallon of it whenever I needed it. The blood would darken after ..