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Last Active 12-15-20 6:14 pm
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| | Helmet Albums, Ranked | | 8 |  | Helmet
Monochrome
The Helmet 2.0 albums were difficult to rank, and putting Monochrome at the bottom of the bunch feels a little dishonest. This is because Monochrome, unlike its predecessor, does a great job of capturing the guitar sound of the first couple records. However, despite the albums strong opening batch of tracks, the songs just aren’t strong enough throughout the second half to routinely keep my interest, with a couple of them even being downright bad. Page’s voice is also at its weakest and most unconvincing. Put most simply, it feels like either more time at the drawing board was necessary, or that an EP would have been more appropriate. Favorite Tracks: Swallowing Everything, Brand New, Monochrome | | 7 |  | Helmet
Size Matters
Size Matters offers an uneven batch of songs - some of them are the type you never want to hear again, while others feel like they could be staples of Helmet’s discography - and a song-oriented approach that can feel a bit grating over the course of an entire album. You have to wonder if Page is the type of frontman who can pull off songs like these. Perhaps he aged too much- or maybe he never was meant to sing like this in the first place? That being said, a few of the hooks are not just catchy, but genuinely memorable. Favorite Tracks: Smart, Speak and Spell, Throwing Punches | | 6 |  | Helmet
Seeing Eye Dog
If Monochrome paid homage to Meantime, then Seeing Eye Dog pays homage to Betty. This is Helmet 2.0’s most varied and adventurous outing, and despite a misstep or two, it has more than its fair share of highlights from Helmet’s second run. Ambient passages and Beatles covers are not things you expect to find on a Helmet record, but Seeing Eye Dog has both. When the risks pay off, Page looks like a genius; when they fall on their face, you wonder why the band is still going. Regardless, tracks like Welcome to Algiers are an absolute breath of fresh air in contemporary rock and metal. Favorite Tracks: Welcome to Algiers, White City, She’s Gone | | 5 |  | Helmet
Dead To The World
The band’s most recent album is also the best of its second incarnation. While Helmet 2.0 won’t ever truly capture the spirit or magic of Page Hamilton’s first run, Dead to the World is certainly an enjoyable effort. The more melodic side of the band, which has been privileged since Aftertaste, feels natural here rather than forced, as it had on some previous outings. More than anything, the album conveys the brooding disposition of its auteur: an aged rockstar, as perplexed as many of us, on just what the hell to make of the world. The snide lyrical stylings Helmet usually trades in do, in fact, give way to some more genuine sentiments choose to soar rather than pummel. Favorite Tracks: I Love my Guru, Red Scare, Look Alive | | 4 |  | Helmet
Strap It On
Helmet’s debut is, perhaps unsurprisingly, also the band’s noisiest, rawest, and messiest album. Cluttered with filth and squalor, Strap it On invokes the danger of grimy alleyways and threats of brute force. While most of Strap it On’s best attributes would be honed into a finer product on its follow up album, these attributes could be preferable in a more unpolished context. Strap it On is a standout track or two short of being one of Helmet’s best accomplishments (plus, the drums have never sounded quite right to me...), but the band’s aggression was never more visceral. Favorite Tracks: Sinatra, FBLA, Make Room | | 3 |  | Helmet
Aftertaste
Helmet’s early albums were primarily interesting for their sonic explorations and indulgences; Aftertaste refocuses in favor of more standard songcraft. Luckily, the band gets it right far more often than not. None of these songs are as truly stunning or radio-ready as Unsung or Milquetoast, but most of them are impressive in their own right. Aftertaste is at its best when it’s not trying to split the difference between its interests; the album shines when it’s bristling with an unbridled, punky energy or swaying in the groove of one of its more lackadaisical cuts. One is left wondering, however, what would have happened if the experimentation of Betty continued in this outing. Favorite Tracks: Pure, It’s Easy to Get Bored, Crisis King | | 2 |  | Helmet
Meantime
Although it’s not their best album, Meantime is Helmet’s landmark achievement. A lean, constricted distillation of everything that defines Helmet’s core sound, Meantime sees all of the band’s most influential elements in full effect: Stop-start staccato riffing, Page Hamilton’s militant bark, John Stanier’s undeniable presence behind the kit, off kilter, but strangely hypnotizing, grooves, and the occasional reminder that these things can cohere into not just brilliant, blissful noise, but one hell of a song or two. Meantime has an irreplicable swagger and aggression: this is masculine music with a smart attention to detail, a pummeling, blunted edge, and above all, verve. Favorite Tracks: Iron Head, You Borrowed, Role Model | | 1 |  | Helmet
Betty
Everyone seems to refer to this album as the "experimental" one, and relative to the rest of Helmet's discography, they'd be right. Betty flows more freely and contains more variety than any other Helmet LP, and even with a handful of truly oddball cuts (Sam Hell, Silver Hawaiian, etc.) these songs work better "as an album" than anything else the band has released. But Betty's often-cited experimentation belies the fact that the album showcases some of the bands best, most straightforward and radio-ready songwriting. It was great to see Helmet play this record in full during a 20th anniversary tour; it’s now easy to reflect on Betty not as a hidden gem, but as the bonafide classic of the Helmet discography. Favorite Tracks: Biscuits for Smut, Milquetoast, Speechless. | |
grannypantys
01.30.18 | 4 is 1 for me but
1-4 are all great albums. | SandwichBubble
01.30.18 | Switch 3 and 4, 5-8 are interchangeable. It's been a few years since I've heard anything besides Betty though, so Strap it on or meantime could be my top | sizeofanocean
01.30.18 | Great list and write up. However, i don't really get why many People prefer Betty over Meantime and Aftertaste - i mean sure it's more out there, but to me it really feels incohesive and there aren't that many memorable hooks or riffs. Addtionally, it doesn't have quite the rawness and aggression of Strap it on or Meantime, therefore i guess it's just not my record. | Davil667
01.30.18 | Betty is best agreed, but I never understood the bad rep Monochrome and Size Matters are getting. Prefer both to 5 and 6 by far. | Davil667
01.30.18 | "However, despite the albums strong opening batch of tracks, the songs just aren’t strong enough throughout the second half to routinely keep my interest, with a couple of them even being downright bad."
Yeah have to agree on that one though, but the first five tracks alone make Monochrome a better album than 5 and 6 for me. Some classic Helmet tunes. |
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