SOUND BITES

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 pa...

Helmet's story is really rather unfortunate; criminally undervalued during their initial run, praised time and time again as major influences after they went away and largely ignored upon their return, they never really achieved their due in regards of critical acclaim or mainstream acceptance. Betty is as close as they got, thanks mostly to the attention grabbing effort that was 1992's Meantime . That album's MTV-supported highlight, the driving and riff-happy Unsung , put them on the radar for many (including this guy); many of those who checked out Meantime were beaten down by its relentlessness and charmed by its at the time unfathomable marriage of metallic riffage and off-kilter jazz rhythms. More than anything, though, it was about the brutal, primal nature of the music. It didn't veer off tangent or operate on multiple levels; it was all tactical aggression, a blunt force rock album that left an impression whether you were looking for it or not. The negative ...

A welcome, if somewhat disturbing, return.