Album Review: Newsted - Heavy Metal Music

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted says his 2001 departure from the metal juggernaut is something he's not once looked back on, despite remaining on close terms with James Hetfield and co. On Heavy Metal Music, this admission is sonically reinforced. Newsted appears to have found pipes of his own to complement those prolific bass noodles, even if they do echo the urgency of Hetfield's early scratched-up growl on Heroic Dose. There are epic guitar solos and thumping kitwork galore, but hearing those familiar ball-busting bass lines is nostalgia at its best.