HELMET – STRAP IT ON
(AMPHETAMINE REPTILE)
The first Helmet album
is a distinctly light affair in comparison to what was about to come with
crossover and break out. In execution
it lacks the bulk and blunt ferocity of what was soon to follow but that’s not
to say it is without merit.
Produced by New York
veteran Wharton Tiers, Strap It On is a nine song affair that only just passes
the thirty minute mark. It is a compact
exhibition full of focused economy and frustrated blast. This was a great band making the most of its
resources and opportunity. Even if the
production is flawed the relentless power is not.
Helmet was an intense
band from the off. Their music has
always had city suffocation and New York written all over it (this album even
has a track called “Sinatra” amongst its numbers). They may never have gone full on blood, guts and gore like Unsane
but there is a distinct urban horror in what they do even if Hamilton holds an
attractive voice and the desire to be up-tempo.
It feels very appropriate
that the first track is entitled “Repetition” as this is a big part of what
Helmet have often been about. Their
motion is like that of a train, heavy and slow moving in the style of an
unstoppable object.
Also noticeable is how
aggressive Hamilton in his delivery. He
barks like a taskmaster but not necessarily one you would feel inclined to take
notice of.
The playing is a mixed
bag. The power is in the guitar and the
almost industrial sound he has always managed to derive. Even the solos sound pleasingly unique as
they cleanly cut through proceedings without deflating the power and
suffocating the motion. Unfortunately
the same cannot be said for Stanier’s drumming on this occasion. By Meantime his snare sound was quite
trademark but here is doesn’t quite pack the same punch. Happily this was eventually rectified.
To me this sounds like
a band experiencing something holding/pulling them back. Maybe this was a product of too much
discipline. Maybe it was born of
recording limitation. Regardless it all
lends a frustrating sense of resistance to proceedings.
Of note is the
aforementioned “Sinatra” that turned out to be the main song to carry through
to their major label career and was later covered by the Deftones. “Rude” is a very solid, exciting song
sounding like a WWF ring entrance song while tracks such as “Make Room” and
“Distracted” generally sound like demo versions of their next record.
The most incendiary is
left to last with the pure destruction of “Murder” which really does sound like
a step into Unsane territory and the cinematic devastation of the streets and
dismantling of buildings that band so successfully attains. Closure is high.
Blunt objects when
handled correct can be just as dangerous.
Thesaurus moment:
trenchant.
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