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	AIN'T MY BITCH (From left to right) Lars Ulrich, Jason Newsted, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett make up the metal band of 16 years, Metallica. The band plans a full U.S. tour in the summer of 1998.

The metal mavens and owners of hard rock's most distinct sound have again set out to set new standards of creative vision and longevity. Metallica's career reached its pinnacle with Load, the band's most musically adept accomplishment, a culmination of the band's maturation into more lyrically conscience musicians.

After a year of touring in support of the album, Metallica now releases its decidedly darker seventh studio LP, aptly-titled Re-Load, a companion piece to Load.

It is not, however, a regurgitation of old material or b-sides, but rather a 13-track album of all-new, all-original material.

If the two albums bear cognate sounds, that is, in part, by design. Much of the similarity comes from the story behind its making. Metallica originally scheduled a 27-song double album release last summer and due to headlining Lollapalooza and burnout factors, the band decided to split the albums into "equal strength siblings."

The result, as with most sequels, carries some equal weight but on the whole lacks the ingenuity of the original.

Opening with the up-tempo "Fuel," an embodiment of its title and the best true jam song on the album. With James Hetfield's voice ripping the lyrics "Gimme fuel / Gimme fire / Gimme that which I desire" and a subsequent mean guitar riff, Metallica seems well on its way to repeating the adrenaline level of Load.

Next comes the first single, "The Memory Remains." The near operatic elegy to decadent stardom contains the chorus "Ash to ash / dust to dust / fade to black / the memory remains." With stirring vocal contributions from Marianne Faithfull, "The Memory Remains" comes closest to repeating the epic metal songs that have defined albums of past.

The sequel album also contains a sequel song with "The Unforgiven II," a less successful attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Black album hit.

Unfortunately after the first four songs the tempo evens out, guitar riffs become eerily reminiscent of the previous song and monotony sets in. A few creative dissenters do exist, however, as "Where the Wild Things Roam" and the seven-and-a-half minute ballad "Low Man's Lyric" give a momentary break to the lucidity.

At 76 minutes, Re-Load once again goes a little too far with a drawn-out length, choosing repetitive rhythm sections to unnecessarily extend songs.

Fans of Load, however, will undoubtedly value Re-Load as another achievement in a stellar 16-year career, but will hold it in a lesser light by virtue of it coming second and ultimately sounding like much of the same.