[.ca] Betty

starts strong, ends a little weak:
i am a big fan of helmet and in my review for 'meantime' i gave them five stars. while the 1994 follow-up 'betty' is a good album, it is not as consistent or as strong throughout as it's predecessor. the album starts out very strong. the first six songs are some of helmet's finest. there are a few other good songs in the latter half of the disc, but quite a few come across as filler, like 'beautiful love' for instance. they also don't seem to have as much energy. page hamilton's vocals are a lot more sing-y than yell-y on this disc and when he does yell, his voice sounds a little more strained and cracked than on their previous albums. while i recommend this disc to helmet fans, it is definetly not their best and was the beginning of helmet's commercialization. you can also see the shift in direction helmet was taking which would lead to their next album 'aftertaste' which sucked royally. but that is another review altogether.

Plodding...:
Sludge rock with a little grunge. A mostly dull release in all regards. Plodding songs that show little varience go nowhere. I cannot get into this even after a decade. Some moments see the songs taking off 'somewhere' but it is a mere tease of what the band might be capable of if they decided to write good songs. In short, Listen only if you have plenty of TIME on your hands.

One of the Greatest Bands of All Time:
I didn't like this album very much when I bought it way back in 1994. I was in high school at the time and was JUST getting into rock music. I primarily listened to R & B and Rap and because of that didn't have such a keen ear when it came to rock. So, what prompted me to purchase this title in the first place? I owned The Crow soundtrack which I believe can stand as probably the best multiband compilation of all time (and ALL the songs were actually IN the movie). On that CD was a track called "Milktoast." That particular song was one of my favorite tracks on the CD and I had to purchase something else by this band I had never heard of called Helmet. Wanting a radio-friendly saccharin infused hard rock album (keeping in mind I was in high school) I found this CD disappointing. Some songs I liked, many I did not. Let's fast forward several years. I used to be a violin/viola player and was starting my own rock band at my alma mater of Howard University. As the singer I had many ideas for songs and I decided to start playing guitar as a way of conveying my ideas to the band. As my playing skills increased I found myself turning to different directions for my musical inspiration. Now 1999, I shuffling through CD my CD collection and stumbled across something that I couldn't understand why I didn't like before: Betty. Helmet then became one of my all time favorite defunct bands (Nirvana being my other favorite) and I found my guitar playing sound greatly influenced by that of Page Hamilton. Through Helmet I honed my rhythm skills and learned through both Helmet and Nirvana that the most important thing about crafting a song is not necessarily it's complexity but it's actual effect on the listener. Helmet's sound is deceptively simple, and even their most midtempo songs have very complex rhythm structures. To this day the rhythm patterns in "Vaccination" blow my mind. Helmet's "in your face" straight forward rock has gone greatly overlooked for many years. In fact most people who are huge fans of the modern metal movement need to listen to this album and "Meantime" and will be surprised to find some riffs and even a few lyrics taken from Helmet. Listen to "Betty" and then "White Pony" and you'll see what I mean. The Deftones even covered "Sinatra" from Helmet's Strap It On album on an Import "Minerva" single. Don't be fooled, most of the popular hard rock that's out there was influenced by this band whether they admit it or not. Many guitarists however, will readily admit it.

HEAVY MUSIC schooling 101!!!!!!:
Helmet came on the metal scene in the early 90s and completely reinvented the heavy music landscape much like Korn and Deftones did in the mid 90s. "Betty" is essential listening and influenced countless "NU-Metal" bands (I really hate that term!) including my own band! If you're into today's heavy music then Helmet MUST be a part of your collection. Pick it up now and groove to it!!...dig?

Another great album by a truly great band:
In the world of post-hardcore one band tends to get overlooked and that is the criminally underrated Helmet. Apparently these guys are one of the the biggest influences on nu-metal, but that is to do them such an deserve as to insult them. They have far more talent in their little fingers than any of those chumps in Korn or Limp Bizkit. This is a very strong album with an experimental album that defies the boundaries of post-hardcore/Alternative metal. Alongside Fugazi and Quicksand this is one of the most intriguing bands of the past 15 years, show them the respect they deserve and for god sake purchase their albums!

• Wilma's Rainbow
• I Know
• Biscuits for Smut
• Milquetoast
• Tic
• Rollo
• Street Crab
• Clean
• Vaccination
• Beautiful Love
• Speechless
• Silver Hawaiian
• Overrated
• Sam Hell