Sometimes, when I’m short of ideas for reviews, I walk down the
\naisles of the now-legendary Pierce Memorial Archives (make a left
\nturn at Main Street) and allow myself to be drawn to certain
\ntitles. Sometimes I discover something I don’t even remember
\nbuying, other times I realize why the item was hidden in the
\nbasement in the first place.<\/p>\n
And then there are the times when I wonder why I hadn’t been
\nincessantly listening to an item and allowed it to collect dust
\nwith the rats (and Ratt, for that matter). Today’s subject,
\nHelmet’s
\nMeantime<\/i>, falls under that category.- since its unearthing,
\nI haven’t taken it out of the tape deck of my car.<\/p>\n
The magic on this one is everywhere. Fronting the whole show is
\nlead vocalist\/guitarist Page Hamilton. One minute he’s screaming
\nhis lungs out, the next minute he’s singing in an almost
\nintrospective style. The dual guitar work of Hamilton and Peter
\nMengede takes your head and repeatedly slams it against the wall –
\npain never felt or sounded so good. John Stanier’s drum work is
\nsimply unbelievable – I’m very impressed with his bass drum work –
\nand Henry Bogdan’s bass work provides the solid backbeat for the
\nrest of the band.<\/p>\n
From the opening notes of “In The Meantime,” Hamilton and crew
\nincite an aural attack that doesn’t relent for the short –
\nway<\/i> too short – time that
\nMeantime<\/i> plays. The band’s production work – with some
\nrecording work by Chicago’s own Steve Albini – shows that no one
\nknows the band’s sound better than the members themselves. From the
\nsharpness of the guitar chords to the incredible snare drum shots,
\nthis is one of the best-produced albums I think I’ve ever
\nheard.<\/p>\n
You need proof? Check out “Ironhead,” where Hamilton works up a
\ngood head of lather and builds from a growl to an ear-piercing
\nscream that sounds like he’s shredded what’s left of his vocal
\ncords. In a word, incredible. The two singles, “Give It” and
\n“Unsung,” are more than adequate proof why Helmet gained a solid
\nfan base in both the college alternative and the metal worlds.<\/p>\n
I could go on and on and just fill this review with ass-kissing
\nremarks about
\nMeantime<\/i>‘s power and the fact that there is not a weak spot
\non this album, but I’d rather let the music do the talking. At
\nunder 40 minutes in length, Helmet has probably created one of the
\nbest metal\/alternative crossover albums ever recorded.<\/p>\n
Helmet has gone through some personnel changes and a loss of
\ncritical acclaim since this album came out in 1992. But even if
\nMeantime<\/i> is their swansong, it’s one hell of a treasure to
\nleave behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5737],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-35616","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-helmet","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35616"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35616"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}