Review Summary: Helmet's booming debut is a slap to the face and a kick in the teeth
Part I - The Angry and Young
New York is known for it’s thriving underground noise rock scene. Not only is it the birthplace of the infamous No Wave “anti-scene”, but it is also the home of many noisy, musically antisocial acts such as Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, and Swans. Among the sea of f
ucked up, feedback-ridden rock ‘n’ roll was a little band called Helmet. Their debut LP,
Strap It On, was released in 1990 through the legendary noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile and was a surprising success within punk and metal circles in the city. Did Helmet deserved this success?
Yes, they did.
Strap It On is an absolute
beast of a record, it attacks the listener with precision and ease. The guitars are rough-edged and fuzzy, and the bass simply bashes through the album with enough heaviness to give you a headache. The drumming, while not as comparable to later releases, absolutely floods the album with shattering cymbals, metallic snare, and blistering bass drums and, in an odd way, glues together the mess that is the instrumentation. As soon as the disc begins spinning and the first song begins to play, you know exactly what you’re getting into.
Most of the record consists of eardrum splitting drop-d bar chord riffs, however, what makes up for the simple instrumentation is the sheer amount of raw energy. In “Rude”, Page Hamilton absolutely roars with pure hatred in his voice. Peter Mengede and Page Hamilton’s guitars gang up on you, creating an absolutely nasty riff-fest that is iced with John Stainer’s mechanical drum work, while Henry Bogdan adds extra weight to the track with his massive, heavy bass work. Speaking of heavy bass lines, “Sinatra” includes this incredibly bleak, moody bassline that builds up to this overwhelming barrage of distorted guitars, hurtful yells, and damaging drum work.
I guess my biggest complaint, however, might just be that many songs here are just plain forgettable. “Distracted” starts out nice and rough, only to quickly become boring and dull, making you wish to skip to the next song. Luckily, though, there’s still enough great tracks to keep the record from being a monotonous listen, such as “Blacktop”. This track starts out with the classic, big bad riff that only becomes filthier by the second. Hamilton’s voice is absolutely perfect here, being completely rude sounding. The chorus is incredibly destructive, as we hear what appears to be the instrumentation completely collapse under itself, only to get back on track by the time the verse comes back in. The instrumentation gets particularly rough during the bridge, which is hands down the greatest moment on the entire record.
The guitars speed up, performing at a pace faster than a police chase, and Hamilton’s guitar solo that follows is incredible. Imagine taking an already nice solo, drenching it in noisy guitar feedback, and having it squeal to the high heavens above. The rhythm section slows down a bit, creating a strong and, dare I say it,
uplifting back bone to the track, only for everything to quickly rush back to the chorus, only to become even more destructive and violent than ever. By the time the song is near it’s end point, all hell breaks loose as gang vocals come into play and squealing, tuneless guitar shrieks jump out from the background.
Helmet came into the world of music with a harsh, loud
bang. While there’s still many useless filler tracks to be found here,
Strap It On acts like a perfectly laid-out blueprint for what’s to come with Helmet’s music. It’s rough and unapologetically nasty, making for an outrageous listen. It’s a great album, but if you think this is insane, then let me remind you that this is nothing when compared to it’s follow up...
