Driven Music Group

Flotsam and Jetsam – The Cold Review

Flotsam and Jetsam – The Cold Review

OK, I’m gonna be brutally honest here. Flotsam and Jetsam hasn’t been good for a long long time. Although they get huge points for durability, perseverance and stick- to- it- ness, their last truly good record was Cuatro which came out way back in 1992. Few bands demonstrate the Angry Metal Guy’s Law of Diminishing Recordings in such a stark fashion. Their debut, graced with the presence of the soon to be long gone Jason Newsted, was great and considered a classic in some circles. The follow up was angry, thrashy and showed a young, hungry band with scads of potential and a limitless future. Sadly, after that the Flots hit the fan and album three was a directionless, amorphous (not in the good way) blob. Although Cuatro righted the ship, it was also their qualitative high water mark. Since then these Arizona based gluttons for punishment have soldiered on, releasing five albums worth of sub-par metal to ever dwindling patronage. With that tale of metallic tragedy behind us, welcome to album number ten, The Cold. Long ago I learned to approach new Flotsam records with low and/or no expectations so as not to be pummeled by disappointment most cruel. Usually, there were a few respectable tracks per album with the rest being throw aways. Naturally I approached The Cold armed with my standard Flots protocol and to my surprise, the thing ain’t half bad (or 2/3rds bad as they’ve generally been). Do we call it a comeback for the Flotsmeisters? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet huh.