Classic Album Review : Helmet - Meantime (1992)
There are two kinds of important records: those that are commercially successful and those that are influential. A record can be both, but it usually gains one of its two characteristics later. For example, Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill was first extremely successful and then became influential. Shania Twain’s Come On Over was equally successful, but never inspired anyone. Helmet’s seminal record Meantime never came any close to these two financially, but helped shape the sound of a decade.
Since it celebrated its 30th birthday a couple weeks ago (on June 23rd precisely), I thought it would be a fun one to revisit.
The sound of Helmet is very distinctive on Meantime, but also difficult to describe. It’s somewhere in between alternative metal, post-hardcore and noise rock. Three styles that don’t necessarily fit together, but that Page Hamilton created something new and exciting out of. Helmet is instantly and primarily recognizable via its heavy, syncopated guitar riffs and Hamilton’s dual clean/shrieked hardcore punk inspired vocal delivery that textures their songs. Meantime is the purest and most complete expression of it.
Meantime opens up with the de facto title song In the Meantime, which is perhaps the most aggressive and chaotic on the record. It starts with a series of harsh, dissonant chord before kicking into the main riff and introducing a very pissed off (and not quite coherent) Page Hamilton, who I believe is screeching about burying someone. He sings about "Earth tones" suiting someone and spreading ashes. That’s one great thing about Helmet’s lyrics. They don’t have to make sense. They’re another instrument of pissedoffittude.
My favourite song on Meantime is probably Give It, which has the weirdest, most unpredictable structure. It explodes out of the gate with lyrics about righteous killing and self-confidence, only to transition into a weird, jazz-like rhythmic bridge, which brings you almost to the end of the song. It exudes a powerful feeling of catharsis, like the narrator of the song broke through psychological barriers of his. It’s the kind of song you can really exteriorize yourself to. Audio self-help, like the lyrics claim.
Better is another great, more melodic cut on the record. It’s a very simple song that starts with a low, chugging riff before transitioning into one of the most layered guitar and vocal performances on Meantime. That’s one thing about this record that it both great and terrible. It’s so full of in-your-face riffs that they kind of blend into one another at some point. It’s really when Meantime explores dynamic and narrative contrast or goes balls out that it really shines and becomes immortal and it does in maybe half the tracks?
The biggest song on Meantime and arguably Helmet’s biggest song is Unsung, but it was never quite my jam. I mean it’s a great song, but I don’t believe it even comes close to exploring the range of what Page Hamilton can do sonically. Iron Head is another example. It’s great, but it almost sounds like it was written by another band. It’s unarguably the most punk song on Meantime. The influence of hardcore punk is everywhere over this record, but this straight up what Iron Head is: hardcore punk.
Page Hamilton is far from being the first artist to use hardcore punk’s aggression to the sound of heavy, down tuned guitars, but on Meantime he gave it a catchy, stripped down appeal that no one ever really quite pinned down before him. I wouldn’t say Helmet is exactly radio friendly, but it’s simple, primal and bouncy. Although Hamilton is having fun with odd time signatures on Meantime like any jazz guitar nerd would, the album is never unaccessible. It is quintessential rock n’ roll in its philosophy.
A song-by-song breakdown of Meantime isn’t required to appreciate the album for what it has to offer. Although some of the songs like He Feels Bad or You Borrowed (or to a certain extent Unsung) blend into the others, Meantime is really a wall of guitar riffs first and foremost. You can appreciate it like you appreciate a Jackson Pollock painting: by getting close and look at the different textures and nuances that exploded out of this raw, energetic endeavour. Meantime is a package deal. A musical concrete block.
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I’m sure a lot of you didn’t know or had forgotten about Meantime. It’s one of these records that left a blueprint on an entire era, but that was more appreciated by other musicians than it was by audiences. At least from a legacy standpoint. Others came after Helmet and performed more commercial variations on their sound, which eventually lead way to Korn and nu metal. But Meantime will live forever in the hearts of guitar music enthusiasts for its crushing riffs and explosive, never ending anger.
