IN REVIEW: Helmet - "Dead to the World"

Back from a six year gap (almost as much time as had passed between the group's original disbandment in 1997 and frontman Page Hamilton's return with new supporting players in 2004), Helmet's eighth album aims to recapture the hearts and minds of an increasingly indifferent and dwindling fan base. That said, the journey to obscurity isn't wholly unearned; with a revolving door of band members (to date, the tally is Page Hamilton as the only original member alongside six bassists, five rhythm guitarists and four drummers) and a pair of forgettable records (2006's Monochrome and 2010's Seeing Eye Dog), it's getting harder and harder to remember Helmet as the vital, visceral vanguards they were during their original '90s run. It pains me to report that Dead to the World is more or less aptly titled, as it offers very little of value. It's not even that it rarely sounds like the records of their heyday, it's that when it attempts to it's a pale imitation, a stale and misjudged appropriation of the spirit that made them such a revered and influential band in the first place. It's borderline painful listening to Die Alone, a ham fisted and lowest common denominator Helmet song that sees Hamilton overcompensating with snarling vocals and a sloppy guitar solo. Ditto the misguided I ♥ My Guru, a watered down riffer that props itself up with F-bombs and some horribly out of place "oh-oh"s. Plus, it doesn't help that the album concludes with three slow and brooding songs in a row (including a needlessly slowed down version of lead track Life or Death). All told, even with lowered expectations after a couple of mediocre records, Dead to the World somehow still manages to disappoint. The rose-coloured glasses I was wearing in 2004 when I praised Size Matters aren't just off my face for good, I've ground them into pieces with my heel.

October 28, 2016 • earMUSIC
Highlights Bad News • Red Scare • Dead to the World