Helmet

Having missed Helmet when they toured last year, it’s needless to say that when I first heard they were touring again, I was palpably moist. One of the first bands to throw out all the “I’m metal” theatrics so common in the genre, Helmet’s focus on their music is what makes them so appealing. Theirs is a sound that is dark and bleak, yet exciting at the same time.

I arrive in time to see Many Machines On 9 playing their support slot. I am thoroughly under-whelmed. It sounds like a mix between Limp Bizkit and Nine Inch Nails if Trent Reznor had far less talent and while they’re obviously talented musicians, I just don’t dig the sound. Abandoning the support act nightmare I retreat to one of the many fine drinking establishments in the area.

A five-dollar steak and a few drinks later and it’s time for Helmet to take to the stage. With Page Hamilton the only remaining original member (with the other three members changing more often than the border between Israel and Palestine nowadays) I have to admit I have mixed expectations as to what the show will be like, and without Battles drummer extraordinaire John Stainer, I am half expecting to see a tired rocker trying to make a buck off his former glory.

But standing a the back of the crowd, drink in hand as they open, all my doubts fall away as I throw myself headlong into the moshpit, only to exit not long after far the worse for the experience. They play with the passion and energy of a much younger band while Hamilton’s vocals have only gotten harder and rougher with age.

So, a near concussion and a few disturbing remarks from a tall man with dreads named Betty (coincidence?) later and I’m at the bar, drink-less because I can’t take my eyes of the stage for long enough to grab a bartender. Frustrated and conflicted I’m trying to make up my mind, drink or rock, when Hamilton announces they are going to play Meantime from finish to beginning as “it kinda makes more sense that way.” My choice made for me, I return to the crowd.

They launch into Role Model and you’d never have guessed that there was ever another line-up. The band work together flawlessly as Hamilton’s distorted guitar solos sail out over the crowd like a filthy gust of rock as the rest of the band relentlessly kick out riffs and fills with the practised ease of professional musicians who love their job.

FBLA II, You Borrowed, He Feels Bad all tear through the mosh like a serial killer through a pre-school, sending the crowd into a frenzied collective seizure. Unsung rears its ugly head. That rolling bass and guitar intro builds into a syncopated guitar riff so crunchy, so dirty and heavy it just makes you want to quit your job, join a metal band and spend all your time grooving to riffs like this and having virginal 18 year old Japanese girls hand feed you overproof rum from the skull of a Bengal tiger. Page’s vocals, while not particularly impressive in a musical sense, were measured, consistent and very effective, full of conviction and feeling, but what more would you expect (or want) from a man who looks, and performs like the Lance Armstrong of metal.

He takes a break, exhibiting his dry sense of humour as he chats to the crowd about Australia, Sydney, what the band has been up to, introducing the new members and praising Coopers for it’s preservative free, vegan goodness before handing out most of his beers to the crowd. Everyone is yelling out song requests, none of which are from Meantime and he has to keep reminding the crowd, “that’s not on this album, it has to be off this album.”

Give It. What a song. The methodically plodding guitar riff, Hamilton’s droning vocals, “killing hurts, has to be done, a piece of love, who’s #1” the unrelenting drums. Everyone is moshing harder than they have all night even though it is one of the bands slower songs and suddenly I find myself back in 97.

As the unmistakably merciless riff of In The Meantime pounds through the crowd, a change comes over the crowd. Page is screaming. The drummer is moving like an octopus on speed. The bass player looks like he’s trying to hurt his instrument as much as he can. The crowd are on the verge of descending into bedlam. I see a 4-foot tall blonde girl punch a man with a shaved head in the kidney while she’s moshing, before being swallowed by a wave of sweat and flesh. A deadlocked teenager gets pushed over and starts punching the guy who pushed him. Things are getting out of control.

Then all of a sudden they’ve left the stage and everyone is chanting more. I’m still looking around astounded at the savagery of the show, which I assumed was going to be a low-key affair. Trying to make sense of what’s happening as my head rings like Big Ben, the crowd chant louder and louder.

They return to the stage as the crowd erupts in applause. Hamilton treats us to some more of his witty repartee before launching into the encore. Hamilton takes requests from the crowd, but spends most of the time confused, trying to catch what they’re screaming at him. Eventually he chooses FBLA off Strap It On and in an instant the crowd are back at their raucous best.

I don’t recognise the last song (I guess it’s off Betty or Strap It On), but I wish I did. Page and the guitarist are working together like only practised musicians can while the drummer delivers a hailstorm of skin-smacking over the finger-bending bass line. They build and build until the sound reaches a peak and then crash back into the breakdown like Billy Joel out for a night on the town. before ending on a testicle-tickling crescendo that leaves my eyes watering.

They finish. We applaud. They leave the stage. We leave the building.

Helmet summed up for me what a band should be, tight, energetic, consistent and primal. They have a sound that seems almost timeless, their riffs, irresistible, prey on some part of the human psyche that dates back to our days in the wild. They’re vitriolic straight up metal, while having been ripped off by every other metal band under the sun, still to this day remains instantly effective, and one can only hope that they keep up their current rate of touring and come back as soon as possible.

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