Newsted is the first sign of life of former Flotsam and Jetsam, Metallica and Voivod (among many other bands) bassist Jason Newsted in way too long.
The Ep, aptly titled METAL, came out today (January 8) via the stupid medium of iTunes and contains 4 songs that sound like Metallica crossbred with some old school Motörhead. I listened to the whole thing 5 times so far and it is still growing on me but I decided to go ahead and review it anyways because I know I was not the only one waiting for this.
Quite honestly, there is nothing groundbreaking to be mentioned. I mean, what did you expect from the band name and title? It is basic metal which keeps you pumped up without making the mistake of being too long or too repetitive. 4 nice songs. Soldierhead being the fastest one starts off the Ep with a Kill ‘Em All type of riff. The other 3 songs are groovier in nature but also more demanding. At first they might seem boring or too long but after a second or third listen they keep growing on you. As of now, Godsnake seems to be the strongest song on the Ep.
The 4 songs remind me a lot of the Death Angel reunion album The Art of Dying which also was a cross between early speed metal and Motörhead.
Anyways, give it a chance and lets hope that it will be released on a REAL format. Fuck MP3s!
PS: Newsted redoing the Master of Puppets outro on King of the Underdogs creeps me out.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAqdCUkxHJ4]