Originally Posted by: SuperhumanAs far as I can see when Metallica dumbed down musically everyone else did too... something happened between AJFA and just after the Black album that saw a shift away from virtuosity and musical structure toward very basic drop tuned groove riffs and big budget production.

Well after the Black Album is when they took their long break isn't it? Then they came back with load 5 years later. When they were on their "break", they all experienced different things, so I think that when they got together to make load, there was a lot of different ideas trying to be thrown together.