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Rating: The best way to listen to "Meantime" is to place yourself right in the middle of two monolithic three-way JBL speakers and let the amplifier levels spill into the red. Your own will becomes clouded by the violent representation executed by the New York quartet led by guitarist Page Hamilton. The funny thing is that Atlantic had pulled them from Amphetamine Reptile and signed them in 1992 (the grunge era) thinking they had the next big thing in the Nirvana-Nevermind style.
What idiots these record executives! Page Hamilton had absolutely nothing to appeal to the flannel generation, his masters were the great noise masturbators of the bleak everyday nightmare of the eighties, the early Swans or Sonic Youth. He, however, goes further, approaching the boundaries of metal that the Beast created by Michael Gira had not dared to approach: Helmet does not present the indeterminacy or the self-indulgence of those forefathers. This band is ruthless in rejecting captivating embellishments, they are surgical in controlling their aggressive anger, therefore they know how-where-when to strike, which nerve to expose, and how to regulate blood flow to the arteries without causing an aneurysm. The beauty is that you enjoy this self-destructive game, the tons of riffs they unload on you are so granite and edgy that, from the center of the JBL speakers, you find yourself catapulted with shocking realism onto the streets of the Big Apple, breathing the suffocating gusts of steam rising from clogged manholes.
Ten livid-colored candies with a devastating effect due to the bulldozer guitars maneuvered by Page Hamilton and Peter Mengede and the pneumatic drills in the hands of the Bogdan/Stanier duo, an impressive wall of annihilating riffs of direct Sabbath-inspired origin filtered through the noisily contemporary mind of Glenn Branca's brilliant student. He also echoes Ozzy in the most melodic (so to speak) track of the lot, that "Unsung" which would be used in the 2000s by video game creators. Elsewhere there's panic embedded in the stop and go commanded by John Stanier's snare in tracks like "Ironhead" or in "Give it", in the tons of molten metal spewed from the blast furnace that spits out the opener "In the Meantime", in the scorching and rare guitar solo that leaves a roaring echo in the cathartic silence of the splendid "Turned Out".
And so it seems that in 1992 the promising platinum egg-laying hen instead laid fireballs that were not easily digestible by the general public, but perhaps Page Hamilton & Co.'s problem was presenting themselves with any old look: no ripped jeans or flannel shirts dear to the grunge generation, not even the long dreadlocks like Zack De La Rocha that enchanted rows of kids. These guys, with their baseball caps and short hair, anonymous t-shirts, and nerdy shorts, without even taking a bite out of a bat's head, it was unthinkable that they had balls so big as to turn you inside out in a washing machine like a sock, then hang you out to dry with the rest of the laundry, underwear included, in eager anticipation of the next spin cycle.
An seminal album to listen to on continuous loop, at least until the firefighters arrive, called by the usual cranky neighbor.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 In the Meantime (03:09)
earth tone suits you
so give it a smile
if i could hold your feet down
get to know for awhile
to make due is a promise
hard to keep without help
never taught to look in
i'm too concerned with my health
helpm me spread right, ash is
cow fertilized
come down in a feed town
strength to minimize
hold it...
in the meantime x3
(screams)
in the meantime...the meantime
02 Ironhead (03:22)
Safe to kill
It all comes back or
Stick it out and
Wage my own attack
Lift me up through
What I've found
Bite my lip
How far down is down?
Time to take
What I know
Keep it in and
Live here all alone
What's the worst or
Better dead
Wear it out
The pain is in my head
03 Give It (04:17)
killing hurts
has to be done
peace and love and
who's number one
the right to give
learn to bleed it's free
pain is outside
lift it up to see
step ahead
always wear the past
dying soothe me
beneath the smell of grass
no world secret
kept is too intent
i've got my nerve
self-help confidence
confidence
04 Unsung (03:57)
Your contribution left unnoticed some
Association with an image
Just credit time for showing up again
Attention wandered I'm left with it
Gone by sin too slowly
Can't pass it up
Then I thought nothing is right
I turned it off
To die unsung would really bring you down
Although wet eyes would never suit you
Walk through no archetypal suicide
Die young is far too boring these days
Your will to speak clearly
Exposed too much
Unsung once too often
Could not rub off
05 Turned Out (04:14)
come off crisp and play up to cynic
clean and schooled right down to the minute
you need to hear that your life is rough
speaking out and cold that you've had enough
you know how to live and your heart's gone "bi"
substance rush is giving art a try
your righteous squat's been burned to the ground
pass the buck
never utter a sound
high times, hard times
downtown julie brown
you turned out
wasted time
need escape me
missed it, right?
you turned out
take my time
give it to you
get out
07 Better (03:10)
get it right
my last word sins
i taste it now
omission wins
for keeping down
my better side
i still ignore
and try to hide
so get out
the easy word
will never slip
i brought it down
to take the lip
don't need to know
don't have to feel
your better side
i had to steal
your better, you die better
write down the day, expend it
work it in again, death ends it
08 You Borrowed (03:45)
i'll throw you scraps and talk
the bad things
the language or the motive
affected shown is
self imitating
trust the dying breed
the pitch i made has been
on my end i trust in
what's left here
to lie is
admired you trust in
without fear
you borrow
my world of one speak up
the good things
the guidelines let me follow
offense is borrowed
10 Role Model (03:34)
assume my stance
i could certain lose it
reach out
show you help
look down and take a chance
feel like i've gone
too far the reason comes
beg to know
talk to hear
wonder how it came out wrong
one saves
gone right
one begs
lost sight
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