Newsted
Heavy Metal Music
Chophouse Records
2013
After several unsuccessful attempts it was time for Jason Newsted to get back to this beloved music. Newsted is a bassist that became known and was loved by the fans throughout his Metallica years, but never became as favorite as the late bassist Cliff (R.I.P.). After his departure from Metallica he never really made something significant and all his projects were somewhat away from metal music or not as metal as Metallica used to be.
Some months ago he made an entrance to the metal world with the “Metal” EP. We got the first taste there of what we should expect from Jason and his debut full-length album couldn’t be any different at all. “Heavy Metal Music” is the album’s title and I feel that Jason tries hard to convince us that he’s into metal music again…it is like having a “small obsession”, as “metal”, “heavy” etc words are so common and overused in metal music.
Anyhow, is Newsted as “metal” as he declares and tries to prove? Well, he is but not as much as he thinks he is. You see the album has various “Metallica elements” of their mid-90s & 00s era. Not so great for the Metallica followers but I do not think that Jason could have escaped his past so easily. After all, the Metallica devotees are the ones that are gonna support Jason mostly. Or this is just my guess.
This album is heavy metal music with various heavy rock, doom, “modern”, hard rock & roll passages here and there. There’s nothing wrong with that and I would have been more positive towards “Heavy Metal Music” if the songwriting was better. Jason is a metalhead, no doubt about it, but the album lacks on the songwriting part very badly, just like the last 4-5 Metallica releases do! Jason has a few nice ideas here that Metallica could have used if he was still in the band and the dominant duo were kind enough to let him speak his mind!
In truth to be told, we wouldn’t have dealt with this album and this band so much if it weren’t for Jason Newsted, nor the ezines or magazines would have written so many words about it. It’s not that it is bad or not well-produced but it’s an average release which does not offer anything to metal music of today. Jason sings better than James (I’m so gonna be hated about this hehe!) while the track “Above All” (Alice Cooper’s references are obvious) is the best tune of the album. Wish there were more nicely written tracks with personality like this one here. Let’s hope that Newsted (as a band and as a musician) will continue playing and making metal music. I’m waiting either more and better things by Jason… or his return to Metallica for they need an extra metalhead to kick them in the ass in order to get their shit together soon…
Some months ago he made an entrance to the metal world with the “Metal” EP. We got the first taste there of what we should expect from Jason and his debut full-length album couldn’t be any different at all. “Heavy Metal Music” is the album’s title and I feel that Jason tries hard to convince us that he’s into metal music again…it is like having a “small obsession”, as “metal”, “heavy” etc words are so common and overused in metal music.
Anyhow, is Newsted as “metal” as he declares and tries to prove? Well, he is but not as much as he thinks he is. You see the album has various “Metallica elements” of their mid-90s & 00s era. Not so great for the Metallica followers but I do not think that Jason could have escaped his past so easily. After all, the Metallica devotees are the ones that are gonna support Jason mostly. Or this is just my guess.
This album is heavy metal music with various heavy rock, doom, “modern”, hard rock & roll passages here and there. There’s nothing wrong with that and I would have been more positive towards “Heavy Metal Music” if the songwriting was better. Jason is a metalhead, no doubt about it, but the album lacks on the songwriting part very badly, just like the last 4-5 Metallica releases do! Jason has a few nice ideas here that Metallica could have used if he was still in the band and the dominant duo were kind enough to let him speak his mind!
In truth to be told, we wouldn’t have dealt with this album and this band so much if it weren’t for Jason Newsted, nor the ezines or magazines would have written so many words about it. It’s not that it is bad or not well-produced but it’s an average release which does not offer anything to metal music of today. Jason sings better than James (I’m so gonna be hated about this hehe!) while the track “Above All” (Alice Cooper’s references are obvious) is the best tune of the album. Wish there were more nicely written tracks with personality like this one here. Let’s hope that Newsted (as a band and as a musician) will continue playing and making metal music. I’m waiting either more and better things by Jason… or his return to Metallica for they need an extra metalhead to kick them in the ass in order to get their shit together soon…