Newsted-Metal EP

Chophouse Records
2013

If you don't know already Newsted is Jason Newsted's new band/project. Of course if you don't know who Jason Newsted is then I'm not quite sure why your reading this review or if you should be aloud to call yourself a metal fan! Either way, while the band's title (or the EP's title itself) might lack originality, it's nice to see Jason playing old-fashioned heavy metal again. This 4-track EP isn't anything brilliant, but with it's early/raw Metallica meets Motörhead sound it's still rather cool. It's also better then the bulk of Metallica material being released these days (which honestly doesn't take much). Anyway, Jason handles bass and vocal duties here, but for the life of me I couldn't find any backing band info. Oh well. For now this EP is a digital-release (iTunes), but there was some talk awhile back that it could be released on vinyl and/or CD. Of the four tracks on "Metal" it was probably the cut "Godsnake" that stood out the most for me followed by "Soldierhead". While he was never truly appreciated in Metallica (big surprise with all those egos right?) I always loved Jason's familiar bass sound (and bass breakdowns!!!!!!) and, while he is no doubt a nice guy and all, Robert Trujillo just couldn't replace Jason Newsted just as Newsted couldn't replace Cliff Burton. Thankfully though Jason seems happier these days doing his own thing and "Metal" is Newsted playing music for himself and for those that love real metal. For that reason alone this is a worthwhile EP to get.