Review Summary: A semi-successful attempt at ending a career on a polished note
Part V - Affected By What You Have Lost
It’s easy to understand exactly why
Helmet originally broke up by the late 1990’s. For one, the band was nearly a decade old by this point, so it’s understandable as to why the band’s members would of liked to spread their wings a bit by breaking up and going on to form other groups. To an extent, you can also tell they wanted to do other projects by listening to
Aftertaste, which at that point in time, was their final album.
My major gripe with this record is that, in all honesty, it sounds pretty tired and bored, especially when compared to literally everything else than band has released up to this point. The oddball, jazzy experimentation from
Betty is no where to be seen on this album, and the pent-up rage and violence of
Meantime and
Strap It On are missing here as well, rather being imitated in a mediocre manner. With tracks like “Diet Aftertaste”, you can distinctly hear the band’s attempts at a furious musical endeavor, but the paper-thin distortion and semi-catchy riffs used in this track doesn't quite fit with the angry tone that is trying to be created, thus resulting in an awkward and, quite frankly, inoffensive listen.
However, I certainly won’t claim this to be all bad. The lyricism on this record in particular is perhaps the best within Helmet’s discography, they feel much more thought out and snappy when compared to their other records. At times, that can be downright
hurtful to hear, which is exemplified perfectly with “Crisis King”. Being the closer for the album and, at the time, their career, “Crisis King” is arguably one of the meanest tracks the band has ever recorded. The riff is an assault to the ears; razor-sharp and precise, and the self-destructive chorus, featuring Page Hamilton’s rude shouting of
“You never go down fighting / You just go down”, is nothing short of devastating.
Essentially, Helmet’s
Aftertaste feels more like an attempt at polishing their sound, while still maintaining some sort of level of intensity. While the lyricism on this record is pretty impressive, the execution feels a little weak, and for Helmet standards, that’s a
very bad thing. Still, their are some memorable moments to be found on this recording, so it’s not something to completely skip altogether.
