Helmet
Born Annoying

THE REVIEW

"Born Annoying" was released in 1995 by Amphetamine Reptile, an independent label with which Helmet recorded until "Meantime" in 1992, before moving to Interscope.
Indeed, what enhances this collection is the "indie" feeling of the operation, consisting of various tracks from the band's demos and EPs plus two unreleased tracks from 1993 recorded specifically for Amphetamine Records and a couple of covers, one by Melvins ("Oven") and another by Killing Joke ("Primitive").
Thus, rightly so, there are no memorable singles, little melody, no perfect production, or the exquisite arrangements of "Aftertaste," nor the elaborated and the exaggerated experimental vein of "Betty"; instead, the furious rawness of the early days in all its glory.

Although in an embryonic phase, these are essentially Helmet in their most genuinely noise and industrial phase of their noise masterpiece "Strap It On," dated 1990. The dirty sounds and the approximate quality of the recording suit the musical proposal well; everything in the spirit of distortion and dissonance with a slightly "jazzy" flavor that Hamilton loves ("Rumble", "Geisha To Go"), supported by the usual metronomic, disciplined, and lethal rhythmic section (see the killer groove of their version of "Primitive").

Keeping in mind that those who want to fully know and appreciate the value of this seminal band would clearly be better off starting with any studio masterpiece from "Strap It On" onwards (carefully avoiding the post-reunion releases: misleading, regardless of the qualitative level, a topic best not delved into here), this "Born Annoying" is a valid appendix for delving into the origins of Page Hamilton and his bandmates' work, which adds nothing more than further pearls of experimentalism to an already rich thread.