HELMET – UNSUNG
(INTERSCOPE)
This was most people’s
introduction to Helmet. The song came
with a bright, appealing video and a dense guitar sound while also housing an
almost harmonic vocal in contrast. Here
was the alternative nation as done New York style.
As with all good
Helmet songs “Unsung” opens with an explosion of activity as Stanier drops in a
solid beat as a playful baseline shakes proceedings before Page Hamilton’s
guitar erupts in the style of an incoming train crossed with a screaming elephant. Then nature takes its course and the song
taps into pure velocity.
“Unsung” was a song
perfect for the era. The track is heavy
but the band is normal looking, like people an exec could work with. Of course there was always more integrity to
the act than that but generally Helmet was an act that appeared undemanding and
happy to allow the music do the talking.
And talk it did, to a generation that was feeling low and unappreciated,
in other words unsung.
Backing things up here
is “Better” which was also taken from Meantime and displayed/expressed equally
passive aggressive traits and gestures coupled with chunky blocks of
guitar. It’s a song with frothing fizz
too masculine to be more than an album track or b-side.
With that the final
two song of the single were live tracks taken from Chicago in July 1992 in the
form of the sibling “FBLA” and “FBLA II”.
It actually makes for interesting sport to contrast the two tracks side
by side considering they came from different albums and different eras of the
band. Even performed live the former is
much more abrasive than the latter not that the second be soft. Here they are wickedly served, a granite
exploration of how things had evolved.
“Unsung” will always
be the song Helmet are known for.
Thesaurus moment:
glide.
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