Helmet - 90's Body Of Work (90's Era)

Helmet - 90's Body of Work 


Helmet is a band I have a love/hate relationship with. A lot of what drives me bonkers about this band is they seem pompous, arrogant, and aloof. Yet, they also annoyed me because of the rather obtuse interviews of frontman Page Hamilton.

Yes I get he is a jazz purist (first and foremost), but underneath that exterior, I feel he enjoys pissing off anyone who is expecting something similar, but doesn't get the underlying artistic merit he is breathing out. I feel Helmet likes to be pick at these specific scabs. To get underneath the skin just enough to irritate. There are a few records that do this (mostly their later), as their early material gelled with me.

Strap It On(1990) starts Helmet off right. Though I was late in getting a solid copy, this record really has piss and bite throughout. Taking last remnants of the initial first wave of 1980's Alternative style and turning it on its literal ear. 


Strap It On pushes everything outside of the compact, giving a grindish, and meatier intensity. This record definitely sets them apart from a lot of the sameness that started piling up in the early 90s. 

I wouldn't necessarily agree that this came out of nowhere, it fits in the next evolution of a gruff, and despotic aggression that was more or less refined by Prong, Biohazard, and Pro-Pain. Those are in very good company to be around.

Whereas (1992)Meantime takes this and re-arranges a slight expectation as to shrunt a unprepared and from my vantage point unaware audience. I picked this up when it was released. I still love and frequent this record quite a bit.

I like this record because it harnesses structure, texture, but gives me as the intended listener something to wrap my busy mind around. Meantime feels busy in a most basic sense, but don't let that be the deciding factor here.

Its absurd in a more compressed fashion. There are intended layers (of course), but also picks up a refined manner from their Strap It On release which employed a rawness.

A lot of bands during this time were going full on studio trickery. Though it is straight ahead, some of the performance itself falters about midway through, and that is my honest take with the record.

Betty (1994) flips the switch and goes into more palatable and friendlier territory. There are capable, and catchier songs here, but many of the songs are in short duration.  


Betty elicits a more Led Zepplin vibe, pushing catchier groove front and center. I'd look at this as an evolution from both Meantime and Strap It On. 

This record forces the listener into mellower territories. While understanding nuances going forth, as a way to acknowledge a sort of graduation of what was to where they were about to go.

Once Aftertaste(1997) was released, what was as recognizable for polished, and produced Betty, Aftertaste returns them into a ravenous animal. Essentially doing a total 180 from accessible songwriting back to an obscureness.

This record scraped my mind, and rubbed my perception in the wrong way. I wasn't prepared for its opposite spatial expression. I also began to believe the audience wallowed around a kind of apathetic who cares conscription.

I think part of the reason was that the industry had moved away from the brutal, and gnarly tones. The biggest problem for Helmet (I felt) was they were a 90's niche band, not really getting support from their (then) label Interscope records.

Part of the problem also was the label really didn't know how to market said acts. The era that I was part of was already in the waning recesses of its popularity. Hence this was why Page and company took a step back from the grind, and worked on other avenues, a sort of hiatus was in store.

Once Helmet took sometime off after the Aftertaste tour, the band from my vantage point stepped away letting a kind of gestation occur, and percolate for a while.

Page and co regrouped, and came back in 2004 with Size Matters. It was a record to return with. Helmet is and will always be known for: Goliath monster power riffs, tons of wavelength feedback, groove, nice and tight rhythm, and very strange oddball lyrics.

Though the band would release Monochrome, and Seeing Eye Dog to close out the last decade, this band often has been kind of hit or miss with its newer material for me. I've kept interested to see what I will hear next. I suspect that what was won't happen again. I am extremely proud to continue to support his work even though I feel he is enigmatic. I marvel that Page has taken this route of infrequent releases, punctuating where his thought processes are. It is also nice to have a different perspective every so many years. Thanks for reading.

B.