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Rating:
We are at the end of the year, and it is time to take stock; and in all honesty, I never would have thought I'd have to choose the new Helmet album as the worst album I've listened to in 2016. A difficult choice considering the unconditional love I had, and still have, for Page Hamilton and his band in the early part of their career; with particular reference to the first two "disastrous" works "Strap It On" and "Meantime." Short, fierce albums with a deadly progression that knew how to unite Noise and Hardcore; and in a live setting, an overwhelming experience given the unprecedented volume with which the New York guys assaulted the listeners. Good old days!!
Absolute disappointment listening to the new work released a couple of months ago; right from the first songs, I was astounded by the almost total lack of those challenging and heavy guitar riffs that made Page famous. And even the voice has become much cleaner and more accessible compared to the nineties.
Okay Page, you've now passed the fifty-year mark, and expecting an exact copy of your early works seems pure utopia to me; but in my opinion, it wasn't even predictable to take such a sharp turn towards a calm and catchy sound as in all the songs that make up this "Dead To The World." How I miss that thermonuclear power plant-like rhythm section of the formidable duo Bogdan - Stanier (bass and drums, respectively, of the already mentioned first albums).
Take a track like the single "Bad News" (from the prophetic title, my dear Page...): give it a listen, the song does not exceed three minutes, and you will stand by my side. It always feels like facing a terrible copy of Justin Broadrick's Jesu, with that watered-down voice that has lost all the shouted anger from Page in the works of nineties memory. And there are ten other songs with the same bland progression, including an embarrassing cover of Elvis Costello.
Two positive things: the cover image and the album's duration, which fortunately doesn't reach forty minutes.
Next February 22nd, they'll be playing in Milan: I'll try to be there anyway, because I'm sure Helmet will know how to give me the atomic sonic blows of tracks like "Unsung" and "Repetition"...SINATRA...
Ad Maiora.
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