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The first thing that strikes you about 'Betty' is the truly astonishing drum sound. Without a doubt, the most beautifully crisp, powerful drums of any rock album ever made. Helmet have managed to maintain the uncompromising grind of 'Meantime' but have sharpened their sound thanks to Page ... Read review
A review by navidson on Betty - Helmet February 11th, 2009
Author's product rating:
Originality
Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics
Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Best drum sound EVER, wonderful groove
Disadvantages:
Obscure lyrics
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
If there was ever an album that defied expectation, this is it. From the strangely serene, catalogue pose cover to the enlistment of rap guru T-Ray as a producer, all the signs point to a band trying to shed their college-boy, hardcore image. What could have been an unholy alliance between the polar opposites of rap and metal emerged as a career defining move for one of rock's pioneering and innovative bands.
The first thing that strikes you about 'Betty' is the truly astonishing drum sound. Without a doubt, the most beautifully crisp, powerful drums of any rock album ever made. Helmet have managed to maintain the uncompromising grind of 'Meantime' but have sharpened their sound thanks to Page Hamilton's ever-more avant garde lyrics, a hint of more melody and those pristine drums driving everything along. Witness 'Biscuits For Smut', a song the Chilli Peppers could have penned if they had any balls, the sliding bass of Henry Bogdan making it sound like the older, wiser more streetwise brother of 'Give It Away'!
In the past, Helmet have been stamped as being the epitome of the hardcore sound, but whilst other bands continue the same well-worn path (hello Biohazard, Cro-Mags etc) 'Betty' branches out, slotting some surprising influences in along the way. 'Beautiful Love' is a delightfully smooth, languid Jazz groove featuring Hamilton's much vaunted guitar skills, that is, until the truly nasty bass and drums kick in, transforming it into a sonic-youth style noise fest. Likewise, 'Sam Hell' the final track, is a warped blues song, all slide, distorted electric guitar and voicebox vocals. There are no one-trick ponies here.
The standout track is 'Speechless', featuring one of Helmet's many massive "riffs with gaps". It also contains a truly glorious catchy chorus, one that could have seen them reach the charts. It's as song that will live on long beyond Helmet themselves. The lyrics are a true mystery:
"Shine the Baptist and debank the log."
Answers on a postcard. It does make a welcome change from the usual bullshit hardcore lyrics.
For a band that apparently has influenced more people that most, it is astonishing that so few people know anything about Helmet. Imagine nu-metal with brains, hardcore with melody, metal without cliché, well here it is. Find out where all that great music you've been listening to over the years, actually came from. Discover Helmet.
Label / Distributor: Interscope/East West / -, Universal IMS / Universal Music, Interscope / Universal Music
Producer: Helmet; T-Ray; Butch Vig
Pieces in Set: 1
Studio / Live: Studio
Stereo: Stereo
Format: Performer
EAN: 765449240423, 606949240424
Catalogue Number: 6544924042
Additional notes
Album Notes: Helmet: Page Hamilton (vocals, guitar); Rob Echeverria (guitar); Henry Bogdan (bass); John Stanier (drums). Engineers: Anton Pukshansky, Martin Bisi, John Siket. Recorded at Soundtrack, Power Station, and Sound on Sound, New York. Guitar thugs Helmet muscled their way into a hefty bidding war in the early 1990s, boasting an impressive use of negative space within dense guitar structures. Due to Page Hamilton's stop/start guitar riffs, Helmet was easily recognizable in a sea of guitar-heavy competitors. Now with their second album BETTY, Helmet starts right back where they left off. BETTY growls and grinds through fourteen songs simmering with post-adolescent angst. Boasting song titles like "Biscuits For Smut" and "Overrated," Hamilton and his songwriting couldn't be better fit for the apathetic and apocalyptic 1990s. The trick is to keep up with Hamilton's many varied allusions. Mixing nihilism with a fascination for pop culture commodity, Hamilton drops words like "cellulite" with "karmic wealth" to create an insightful foray into an over-stimulated and jaded culture.
Album Reviews: Rolling Stone (10/6/94, p.91) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Learning from its mistakes, the band has broadened its scope on BETTY, expressing emotional depth and musical wit along with brute strength..." Musician (7/94, p.89) - "...BETTY blows the lid off the sucker, using hip-hop, hints of jazz, reams of speaker-altering noise and, unexpectedly, humor. Helmet have de-metallized metal..." Spin (8/94, p.85) - Satisfactory - "...This is heavy metal without the theater, headbanging music for people without hair..." NME (6/25/94, p.41) - 6 - Good - "...not only does BETTY betray a surprising sleight of hand in its shuffling of familiar components but it also has the sense to lob the odd ringer into the gig..." Alternative Press (9/94, p.74) - "...BETTY, is filled with the crunch based power we've come to expect...a little chancey, yet undeniably Helmet..."
Titles on disc 1
1.: Wilma's Rainbow
2.: I Know
3.: Biscuits For Smut
4.: Milquestoast
5.: Tic
6.: Rollo
7.: Street Crab
8.: Clean
9.: Vaccination
10.: Beautiful Love
11.: Speechless
12.: Silver Hawaiian
13.: Overrated
14.: Sam Hell
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since : 17/06/2005
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