Album Review: "Dead To The World" by Helmet

HELMET

*Dead To The World*

(earMUSIC)

Helmet, certainly not dead to the world, just won’t go away. And that’s a good thing. The band’s eighth album since 1989 is another uptempo alternative metal effort that showcases singer/songwriter/guitarist Page Hamilton’s catchy tunesmithing. The chorus of “Bad News”--“all news is bad news”--seems to reflect the tenor of the times, doing so in a repetitive pop rock way. The guitar work on “Red Scare” and “Drunk In The Afternoon” displays more of the edgy and groovy Helmet swagger first set down on 1992’s definitive album *Meantime.* “Green Shirt” is a throwaway, quirky song, out of place amid the tight riffing and discordant lead guitar style of Helmet’s usual sound. “Die Alone” better showcases Hamilton’s crisp yet distorted guitar work, as he disdainfully delivers the lyrics, biting off each word in frustration: “Last to first, people are the worst / Die alone, honey, you don’t need them.”

6/10
Link to print version of review in December 2016 issue of Illinois Entertainer magazine. Navigate PDF file to page 44.

Appearing Dec. 16, 2016 at Metro, Chicago. I'll be there...you?