Review Summary: Helmet continues their revised career with a dirty and mean-spirited record
Part VII - Fit Yet Unequipped
Size Matters appeared to show the direction
Helmet were going to go with their music: Heavy, with poppy overtones. However their sixth consecutive full-length,
Monochrome, seems more like an attempt to revive the grimey, dirty nature of their earlier recordings. The overall tone is a bit more rough, and the production is no where as near as polished as the previous record.
One thing that I felt that they’ve improved on since
Size Matters is that the songwriting is much more varied and interesting here. This album has a good amount of riff-heavy jams, as well as a few mid-tempo tracks to even things out. “Bury Me” starts out loud, mean, and nasty, but the chorus has a much different vibe to it, being much more dreary and bleak. The title track in particular is a downer, Hamilton’s (unfortunately) thin vocals have this very fitting grey, monotone sound to it, perfectly fitting with the negative, “doom-y” instrumentation.
My main complaint with this record might just be the production. While it’s good for the most part, I do feel like the vocals are a bit too loud in the mix on some tracks. For example, on “Bury Me”, you can clearly hear a difference in volume between the music and the vocals. Plus, I felt that the bass could of been a bit louder on this record, for it simply gets washed out by the guitars most of the time.
To put it short,
Monochrome is a bit of a step up from their previous album, showing that the band still have some good ideas left to use. The tone is pretty mean and grimey, and the songwriting feels a it varied and fresh. While the production could've been improved, It’s still pretty hard for me to truly write this album off.
