Review Summary: While it's certainly the weakest Helmet album to date, there's still good attempts at experimentation to be found within
Part VIII - Another Worthless Malcontent
Helmet’s revised career is often criticized for, as most critics would put it, its lack of fresh ideas. I would disagree with that, for
Size Matters and
Monochrome both had their fair share of great tracks. Their third post-reunion studio album, and seventh overall,
Seeing Eye Dog, however, does show the unfortunate demise of the band’s raw energy.
The overall vibe of the record feels much more sluggish and tired than usual, and the songwriting as a whole is just dull or uninspired. For example, “So Long” feels like an attempt at mixing the band’s poppier leanings with their slick, nasty sound, only to result in a boring song that doesn’t really go anywhere.
There’s still an experimental approach to many of the tracks here, but a lot of the time they usually end up being uninteresting. Let’s take their cover of
The Beatles’s “And Your Bird Can Sing”, for example: It’s a cool idea on paper, but the overall execution is incredibly awkward. The guitar leads sound odd and out of place, and the droning rhythm section doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the song.
Now, I won’t completely dismiss this album because there are some good ideas to be found in this. “LA Waters”, for example, has this really great call-and-response rhythm to it that makes the track instantly memorable and catchy, and the guitar tone throughout the track is absolutely perfect, containing enough noise and fuzz to satisfy any fans of Helmet’s work. “She’s Lost” is also a song that warrants a listen, the slow churning growl that the guitar forms adds a real bite to the song that instantly makes it stand out from the rest, and the soloing that comes in during the halfway mark is absolutely killer, harking back to the band’s earlier, feedback-ridden days.
So how well does
Seeing Eye Dog hold up? Well, it’s nowhere near as good as their other material, but it’s not necessarily an awful recording itself. It’s in the middle of the road when it comes to quality, and it makes the band’s future a little unpredictable: Will they improve their sound, or will they only get worse? There’s no real clear way to answer that question, but I can tell you for a fact that Helmet, in general, is a great band, even if this album isn’t particularly great.
