*** 1/2 METALLICA, “Re-Load,” Elektra

The title of Metallica’s new album does the band a disservice. This is less a sequel to last year’s “Load” than a virtual repudiation of it. Gone, hopefully for good, are “Load’s” Simonized production gloss, pretty harmonizing and pithy song structures.

Granted, “Re-Load” is not exactly a return to the band’s thrash-metal roots: There are no sprawling, suite-like compositions or precision-tooled playing cranked up to warp speed. Rather, it’s more a continuation of the style Metallica mined on its multi-platinum “black” album, which stressed processional tempos and thickly textured, radio-ready riffs.

“Fuel” kick-starts the album with a thunderclap of galloping guitars and drums, and when James Hetfield spews forth in his best baleful growl, you know that the real Metallica has reared its ugly head once again. Need more evidence? Check out “The Memory Remains,” a cautionary tale of sinful excess featuring flat-out creepy vocals from Marianne Faithfull, or “Slither” and “Carpe Diem Baby,” both classic Metallica sludge-fests.

Not everything clicks here--”Bad Seed” is silly, and “The Unforgiven 2” is pointless--but “Re-Load” is strong enough to make you forgive the band its past concessions to mass tastes.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good), four stars (excellent).

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