After Further Review  Putting the season's major releases to the
test.   To put it as plainly as possible, the last Metallica
album, 1996's Load, made me angry: To see a band that I had
always valued for its integrity change its music for what
appeared to be commercial reasons was deeply frustrating. But
after catching the quartet in concert earlier this year, I was
able to listen to Reload with fresh ears--and after doing so, I
appreciated the decent band Metallica is rather than pining for
the really good band it used to be. Make no mistake--the speed-
metal days are a thing of the past for these guys, replaced by
boogie tempos, cleaner riffs, and vocals from James Hetfield
that only occasionally growl. Hetfield's new style of singing
can be disconcerting at times: He actually croons the opening
section of "The Unforgiven II," which sounds for all the world
like Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)";
executes an unexpectedly accurate Robin Zander impression in the
Beatles-by-way-of-Cheap-T