Newsted - Heavy Metal Music
Some people are great musicians but poor composers. They can be taught how to play anything you throw at them, but when it comes to writing their own music, they just suck. Jason Newsted falls into this category. He’s a good bassist. He’s played with some of the biggest Metal bands out there. Still, his post-Metallica solo output hasn’t exactly been stellar. I remember hearing IR8 when their early recordings hit the internet and I was pretty disappointed. That being said, I was still perfectly willing to give Jason another shot. Sadly, Newsted is following in the footsteps of his previous solo efforts. Heavy Metal Music is flat-out boring and directionless. The twenty minute feedback solo I had to endure when watching Burning Witch play was far more engaging and exciting than anything on this entire LP. Every song has a structure that is basically the same and it involves repeating these boring riffs over and over again. Hell, I thought the first five songs on this LP were one long track because the differences between them weren’t distinct enough for me to notice. Not one song on Heavy Metal Music legitimately kicks ass, and for me that’s what kills this more than anything else. I literally don’t feel any passion in this music. On top of that, none of the material here is the least bit appealing to any of the many sub-genres of Metal. It isn’t heavy enough or atmospheric enough to be Doom. The production is bass-heavy and the guitars are primarily in the background, so fans of Power Metal won’t find this appealing in the least. It isn’t angry enough to be Metalcore or Hardcore. It isn’t aggressive enough to be Thrash or brutal enough to be Death Metal. It isn’t even angst-ridden enough to be played on college radio. I honestly can’t tell who is supposed to like this. As much as I want Jason Newsted to succeed (especially after all the shit that the Metallica guys put him through early on), I doubt he’s going to have any success with this release. Hopefully, his next LP will be better, but this is one to avoid as far as I’m concerned.
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