So Jason Newsted is back. To be honest I haven't really been following him since he left Metallica and he has been abroad in various bands since then. He played with Ozzy and Voivod for example and he also recorded a single with Tony Iommi and Ian Gillan in WhoCares. I am actually not that surprised that Jason formed his own band where he would be leading the massacre. Even way back in the day with Metallica he definitely had the energy to front a band and his vocal duties live was not that bad either!
There is so many influences on this EP. Motörhead for once. Then some Black Sabbath. It is all blended in together over the course of the four tracks. Of course there is more to it than those two bands just mentioned. It just sounds old school, and I really mean old school. There is definitely also some 70's stuff in there besides Sabbath and though this might scare some people of, groove. But that is in there too, it doesn't shine through to much though which could be why it becomes so interesting. To kind of sum it up simple, it contains what probably has inspired Jason for all of his career and also what he played himself. What bothers me the most is the annoying filter which is applied to the vocals from time to time. Hopefully that idea will be scrapped for a future album where it is just more raw and non-filtered... The tone is very different as well sometimes. When the groovy parts hit in you are assured that it is heavy as fuck, but if you take the main riff of 'Soldierhead', it sounds more rock oriented so to say, with the "right" tone it could had a killer thrash tune. But it is not that bad and reflects the already mentioned mixed bag principle of this EP.
Some people might...well no, some people ARE going to say this EP is better than anything Metallica has released since Newsted left them is just... well it depends on your taste, and many people hate the new Metallica. I used to do that too, but this EP is not even close having its claws into St. Anger (yes I said it) or Death Magnetic. Lulu however... Yea, the EP is better than Lulu.
Metal... When I first saw the title I almost facepalmed. It is so unimaginative that it hurts. It's not like we expected this release to be a Jazz album. But to be straight forward with it all I think it was just something that was put together to really announce that Jason is back for good and here to stay. That goes for the cover for this release as well, not really that much to it, more or less just a "I'm back bitches" statement. Maybe the band don't want to be labelled as thrash, speed, groove, heavy and whatnot. Just metal, and that actually makes sense since this is release is such a mixed bag of goodies.
Though I stand with some mixed feelings towards this EP, I am actually looking forward to the debut whenever it comes out. The band have a really solid base to build upon and I am really looking forward to see what they come up with, and hopefully they will drop the vocal filter. If you like Jason from the Metallica times or some other times then check it out. If you would like some solid metal with a bunch of different influences hidden in each track then get your filthy hands on this album.
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