The Second Life of Jason Newsted
diary
- artists
- Jason Newsted
Jason Newsted, ex-bassist with Metallica, found a pretty successful second life after leaving the band in January 2001. His album Heavy Metal Music came onto my radar right when I needed something fresh.
In the fall of 2013, I needed something new, metal-wise. It felt like there was just nothing new from the bands I loved. Iron Maiden had done The Final Frontier in the fall of 2010, but at the time, it didn’t resonate. Metallica had nothing since 2008. Judas Priest wouldn’t release anything until the summer of 2014.
It felt…blah.
I’m not sure when exactly I discovered it, but somewhere in the fall the aptly named Heavy Metal Music by Jason Newsted came into view.
It instantly resonated.
It wasn’t that different or earth shattering, to be honest, but for some reason it was just different enough that it felt brand new. I listened to it quite a lot. Soldierhead, Long Time Dead and King of the Underdogs were particularly standout tracks.
I did my usual thing with any new music that I liked, put it on heavy rotation. I think the thing that attracted me was every song was open to building your own story around. I also found the lyrics in many of the songs quite poetic:
Black storm clouds groan and then they start to cry They start to cry Live while you’re living ’cause you’re a long time dead
Nocturnus could be a movie. It’s written about a being who lives underground and has evolved into something that looks down on humans “above” with disdain.
Overall, it’s a terrific album and I wish Jason had gone on to make a few more things like it, but sadly it turned out to be a bit of a one and done. He’s a talented artist, and was clearly full of other ideas, the stifling of which was part of his departure from Metallica.
I highly suggest giving this album a listen, even if metal is not your thing. I’ll bet you find something you like.