The Million Dollar Grunge Album That Never Was
In 1990, the New York based alternative metal act Helmet unleashed their debut album, Strap it On, through the noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile Records, a label known for releasing music from the Melvins and The Jesus Lizard, among others. While Helmet’s debut did have a leaning for the noisier side of things, there were strong hints of the then-up-and-coming grunge scene masked underneath post-hardcore sentiments and massive staccato riffing. Why does this even matter? Well in the early nineties, the growing grunge scene was becoming the most marketable commodity in music, as 1991 saw major labels trying to cut a deal with anyone even remotely associated with grunge.
Somehow Helmet got swept up in the drama, landing a huge deal with Interscope records, who fronted them, as the story goes, one million for the recording of their next album. The result of that record deal is one of my all time favorite metal albums of the 90’s, Meantime, which was released in 1992. Although Helmet never really achieved widespread fame, this was their breakthrough album, as it landed on the Billboard charts at #68. It’s also Helmet’s only album to be certified gold in the United States, having sold over two million copies to date. Riding on the coattails of this album, the band managed to snag a few spots on soundtracks throughout their career (like The Crow, Johnny Mnemonic and The Jerky Boys).
While I have a huge soft spot for Helmet’s swansong album, Aftertaste, I think that Meantime is, truly, the band’s best work. I use swansong because even though Aftertaste is technically not the band’s last album, what’s been released since their reformation doesn’t nearly match the quality. Betty, this album’s follow up, showed Helmet forging a more melodic, experimental path and with Aftertaste the band returned to a forceful, grunge-laden style with tons of hooks, but the dissonant heaviness and staccato riffing were cut back from Meantime. Surely, most people who have heard of Helmet, and even most of those who are into the band, came across their music via the heavily rotated on MTV track “Unsung”. While the rest of the album really isn’t as melodic as that track, it really gives a good feel for what the band was all about; thumping bass, grooving drum beats with one of the loudest snares you’ll hear, Page Hamilton’s distinct vocals and catchy, hook-laden guitar riffs that brush the edges of grunge, hard rock and heavy metal.
But that grooving, somewhat alternative style isn’t the only style dancing through Meantime. The album opens with a monstrous wall of sound in the form of “In the Meantime”, with its rangy, fast paced riffing and rolling drum fills. We get a taste of Page Hamilton’s heavier vocals, which sound like a gruff bark. It’s two sides of the same coin, really. Where the magic is, though, is Helmet’s merging of these two elements into a cohesive beast that spans nearly forty minutes.
Tracks like “Better” combine the grooving, heavy handed riffing and Page’s barked vocals with some melodic accoutrements while he shouts “get out!”. “Give It” shows a slower burning groove to the catchy guitar riffs and pummeling drums, while Page’s clean vocals are spot on. It’s a mix of both worlds, the clean and the dissonant, and it’s remarkable when both come crashing together in a grand upheaval of grooving, rollicking swagger with a bitter, metallic edge, like on “Turned Out”, with possibly the grooviest, catchiest, sink-your-teeth-into-est riff of the album. Meantime is an album full of hooks, heavy hitting guitar riffs and one of the best rhythm sections of the time period.
If you’ve never listened to Helmet before, this is a great starting point, but really you can’t go wrong Aftertaste or Betty either. Meantime features ten tracks of hard hitting alternative metal and is an album that deserves to be played from start to finish. Although Helmet is still alive and kicking, this is where it’s at. Despite million dollar contracts and grunge band bidding wars, Helmet’s sophomore album is one of the heaviest and most grooving of the scene. Over twenty years after its release, Meantime remains essential metal listening material.
