Review Summary: A follow up that show cases a band's raw fury and tight musicianship in perhaps the best way possible
Part II - World of One
As cliched as it might sound, I always found the cover to
Helmet’s 1992 magnum opus
Meantime to be very fitting to the music. To describe it, it’s essentially a massive, blurry ball of red, with a good chunk of blue neatly tucked in. To say that
Meantime is an angry record simply won’t do it justice, for the sheer rage to be found here is nothing short of
scary. Imagine taking the violent, beastly quality of
Strap It On and cranking it to maximum overdrive. It’s that nasty.
Something I’d like to get out of the way first is how much each member of the band contribute to the album. John Stainer’s drum work is impressive, to say at the least. He adds backbone to the tracks by adding these strangely structured, yet impressively technical drum fills that add extra punch to the tracks. Henry Bogdan’s bass is incredibly thick and creamy, and it’s tone is absolutely blissful. The guitar work of Peter Mengedes and Page Hamilton is absolutely righteous, the riffs are like the musical equivalent to having you head caved in with a rock. Hamilton’s soloing is also worthy of mention, perfectly combining amplifier feedback with improvised soloing, as exemplified on tracks such as “Better” and “Role Model”.
Another thing I like to mention would be Hamilton’s vocals. While he mostly just shouts and grunts on
Strap It On, this album is where he truly found his vocal sound, one that is actually very enjoyable. It’s funny, because on tracks such as “In The Meantime”, he shouts in an unpleasurable, inhumane way, sounding like a caged animal on steroids. On songs like “Unsung”, however, you wouldn’t be able to tell that they’re the same person. Here, he sings surprisingly well, bringing a sense of melody to the music. One of my personal favorite moments of the album would be the bridge section of “Better”. Here, we see the two vocal styles combined, layered with soaring guitars in the background. Page’s clean vocals takes the spot mostly, gliding across the track like nothing, while his growls and yells are muffled in the background, adding this overall
badass texture to the track. However, as cool as that one little moment of epicness is, nothing comes close to “Turned Out”.
Holy
shit, if “Turned Out” isn’t enough to convince you that this album is great, then nothing will because it is single-handedly the best four minutes of the entire record. It starts out with a riff with a strange, jazz-influenced time structure that is nothing short of insane. Stainer’s drum work is impressive, to say at the least, because he some how follows along with the odd riffage with just as strangely-structured drum work. Midway through the track, however, everything becomes quiet, with the track turning into a crescendo of guitars. The unrelentless drums layer the foundation for the muddy bass that’s topped by subtle, scratchy palm-muted guitar, all of which is then iced with a screeching guitar, which all then stop. For a few seconds, you’re tricked into believing the track is over, but just when your guard is down, the track blows up into a loud, violent, and overall
beautiful conclusion, with squealing guitars and ear shattering drum work. To put it short, “Turned Out” uses subtlety and the band’s tight musicianship to create perhaps one of the best songs they’ve ever recorded.
While most of this might not seem “amazing” or “groundbreaking” by today’s standards, back in 1992 this album was actually pretty odd for the casual listener. The riffs were overtly simplistic, the vocals were all over the place, and the overall sound was just different. Helmet basically created their own little world with this album, which in turn influenced most of the modern rock music that we have today.
Meantime is an album that is just as fresh and enjoyable to listen to as it was when it first came out over 20 years ago. The musicianship is tight, yet rough, and there are more than enough memorable moments on this album that keeps you coming back to it.
Meantime is by far the band’s most solid work, and it should always be remembered as perhaps their greatest achievement.
