Meantime by Helmet

Pros: Raging, heavy and angry
Cons: None

After reading tons of reviews from both fans and the music press, I knew eventually this album would find it's way into my grubby mits. Though Helmet are a very respected band, they never really got the recognition they deserved. They helped popularize ...

Pros: A terrific post-hardcore band, with a grindingly heavy melodic sound.
Cons: They broke up a year or so ago.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was 1993, a bunch of college friends and I chartered a van and drove from our upstate NY college down to Madison Square Garden to see Al Jourgenson's band 'Ministry' play, with the Brazilian metal band 'Sepultura'...

Pros: REALLY GOOD
Cons: none known

1992. I was into Entombed. My friends were into Fishbone, Sabbath and Yes. We didn't agree on a lot of things, but we all liked Helmet's Meantime. This was my favorite album in the world for a number of years, and I still enjoy it immensely. Meantime...

Pros: Raw, Pure metal. No gimmicks.
Cons: Nothing.

After having some success with a Indie release label "Born Annoying" back in 1990, Helmet was signed to Interscope. Their first major record release, "Strap It On" was ok, but it wasn't until the release of "Meantime" in...

Pros: Awesome guitars, great vocals, devastating drums, heavy and melodic all in one.
Cons: only 36 minutes, sort of repetitive at times.

It's hard to believe that I basically got into Helmet and the album Meantime because of Beavis and Butt-head. I saw the the video for the song "Unsung" and was just totally blown away by the riff and the sound of Page Hamiltons vocals....

Pros: Fun Listen, Unparalleled Musical Energy, Heavy Guitars, Inventive Drumbeats Keep This Disc Always At My Disposal
Cons: Monotonous, Short CD, Short Tracks, Not Good For Repeated Listening (gets old)

All true rock fans want is something that can satisfy their current mood, and maybe a little more. Meantime does just that, feeding what I will term an "energetic anger". All you feel is pure energy with the undertone of leadman...

Pros: No medieval devil baloney
Cons: Gets a little monotonous after a few consecutive plays

Page Hamilton, Helmet's frontman, was formally educated in Jazz. His work is a wonderful break from the traditional heavy metal virtuoso guitarists who were trained in classical music, such as Yngwie Malmsteen or Eddie Van Halen. His songs are less...

Pros: aggressive, innovative
Cons: sounds a little too much the same

in the late 1990's, a band named slipknot got a lot of credit for being musically innovative and using up to three drummers at once to create a really cool sounding drum effect. in the late 1990's, a band called korn got real upset becuase they said...

Pros: Unique, intense sound
Cons: "He Feels Bad" is not quite as cool as the rest of the stuff...

I suppose you could call Helmet a metal band, but that label doesn't quite fit them. They're not metal, they're not punk. Singer/guitarist Page Hamilton managed to create a unique sound for this band that disbanded way too early.

1992's...