HELMET: AFTERTASTE
ALBUM REVIEW: Helmet's often-ignored fourth album is, in many ways, their best. Fight me.
HELMET: AFTERTASTE
INTERSCOPE
Captain’s Log, Stardate 180397: The locals are restless. There’s been no new material from Helmet for three years and the people are hungry. Since 1990, the band have released three albums; one and a half on Amrep (the filthy landmark Strap It On and the vinyl version of Meantime) and Betty on Interscope. Born Annoying, a comp of early singles also came out on Amrep in 1995.
It’s fair to see that between Strap It On and Betty, the band were contenders, and, to be clear, that should be no surprise to anyone who gave any of their Amrep LPs even a cursory listen. It’s almost as if they could do no wrong; even signing to a major worked for them, at least on the surface - they were still as bludgeoning, awkward and technical as they ever were, so no harm, no foul, right?
Well. Not quite. That unimpeachable reputation seemed to change in March 1997 with the release of Aftertaste. It was shot down critically, and commercially didn’t live up to Interscope’s expectations.
100K copies in the year of its release, apparently.
Doesn’t sound like something to be sniffed at, TBH, but I guess that’s major labels for you…
Critically it was poo-pooed for not being Betty part deux. Fans were maybe expecting something else entirely, but Aftertaste began the downward slope for the band. Certainly, of the five albums that have followed in the intervening 37 years, I can’t imagine any of them have sold close to Aftertaste’s numbers.
I may be wrong. I hope so.
My point is, Aftertaste is a turning point. In some ways, that’s not up for argument. Units is units, after all. But in other ways, it seems to be the most unjustifiable nonsense ever committed to paper. It’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy which I’m sure has just been repeated often enough to become a truth, regardless of the actual facts.
And those facts are that Aftertaste is easily the most consistent record the band released and the songwriting is without exception a masterclass in heavy as fuck groove orientated riffage. Hamilton’s voice is louder and clearer in the mix, exposing his lyrics as being biting, bitter and cynical - and in every example - catchy as hell.
Perhaps that’s the problem. Aftertaste is incessantly catchy. It’s not a pop album by any means, but the tunes that are held inside every song are ear-worms; addictive and fist-pumpingly moving. Maybe that’s not what some of the dyed-in-the-wool fan-base wanted, but really - if you love Unsung, their standout moment up to this point, you must love Aftertaste.
It’s a whole fucking album of Unsungs!
So why is Aftertaste itself left unsung?
It makes no sense to me at all.
As I listen to the album now, my head is in a constant state of involuntary bob. The swing of the tracks is undeniable. The simple vocal melodies wash over the grinding and discreetly complex stop-starting guitars and metronomic drums. It is masterful.
I promise.
OK, so perhaps there aren’t as many “clever muso” bits in the songs as there were before, but they’re still there - the timings are still odd, the beats to the bars are unexpected and the way the riffs chop between each other, pausing for an uncountable moment of silence - all Helmet songwriting trademarks - are all still here.
They’re just addressed with a little more subtlety. Rather than becoming the hooks themselves, the awkward intellect of the playing backs up the drive of the lyrics and vocals.
It subtle, but it’s a skew to the presentation that makes a difference. Perhaps that’s a reason why some fans - the more guitar oriented of them - felt it had moved too far away from their past endeavours. For me - and I’m more about the overall song, led by the vocals - it’s a positive stride forwards, making the songs more memorable and undeniably well written.
Listen to Side Two mid-point Harmless, and tell me the lurching Helmet of old has been and gone.
It’s here. In spades.
It’s not cool to say Aftertaste is killer, but fuck cool. Don’t let your desire to be accepted by your peers get in the way of the truth.
Perhaps another reason the album wasn’t received as well as it should have been was the cultural exhaustion of the time. 1997 was all about Nu Metal. The despicable likes of Korn and the lamentable Limp Bizkit, Coal Chamber at al - all of whom proudly cited Helmet as an influence - had released so many sub-par, swing-riff, stop-starty rollers that maybe the record buying public and the critics were just getting tired of the formula that Helmet created seven years earlier.
Understandable.
That vile nu-metal detritus was everywhere in 1997. The unimaginative stench of its foul coat-tail-riding and dim-witted, cluelessly homegenous songwriting made a mockery of the integrity from whence their inspiration came. Aftertaste could have culturally been cornered by crap through no fault of its own.
Just another reason to hate nu metal and all that its chipped nail-varnish, cod-hip-hop and myopic melodrama implies.
That aesthetic couldn’t be further from Helmet.
Lazy journalism unjustifiably clubbed them together with adolescently insipid, mainstream nonsense.
Listen properly to Aftertaste now.
Really listen to it.
Forget what those cunts said. Lose your preconceptions, just for the 40 minute duration of the album. Do that, and tell me afterwards that it’s a weak, derivative or “predictable alt-rock” album.
I fucking dare you.
Just listen to opener, Pure. The atmospherics. The staggeringly dry intro riff. That snare crack. FUCK! How about this for a snarky dig at the bullshitters?!
“The limits of attention span
Successive thoughts you don’t have
But you still pretend
Because you can’t be pure, you’re self-assured.”
The screams and the guitars fade together, into Renovation’s grumbling bass intro riff from Henry Bogdan and a hollow roll straight into Page Hamilton’s grinding guitar and that chorus:
“I know I might be wrong
But I’m sick of pretending
I’ve listened to you too long
And nothing’s ever mended.”
Page Hamilton is dripping with disdain and is just so tired of your bullshit. The solo of the LP whines in to a rhythm guitar drop-out before it builds again to the end.
Wowzers.
Exactly What You Wanted is, erm… exactly what you wanted. To my ears, one of the best Helmet songs in the entire canon. The riff exemplifies the title; its swinging bludgeon is vintage Helmet at its best - and the lyrics are fantastic. They stay in your head for weeks:
“I let you down again
What’s another harmless between friends?
Now you can be disappointed;
I thought I gave you just exactly what you wanted?”
Like I Care follows with its circular verse passively-aggressive chorus. Another highlight amongst highlights. Driving Nowhere with its sharp, crunching riff and deliberately monotonous melody works so well when it drops to the contrasting chorus and out again.
It’s clever songwriting.
Hamilton’s phrasing is abstract in places and there’s a real joy to hearing what he’s saying correctly. When a particularly difficult line suddenly becomes clear, it has a habit of opening up the song’s lyrics entirely.
One thing that happens on these songs repeatedly - and it gives you a surge of thrills in your chest every time- is the drop out to a lone guitar riffing before everything crashes back in with a solo or a chorus. Driving Nowhere does this with aplomb, and fires a silo of the most abstract jazzy guitar smack into your hideous mush.
It’s a beauty.
Birth Defect is hilarious in its loathsome bitterness:
“I’d rather be insulted by you
Than someone I respect;
If I don’t share the same view
It’s just my birth defect
All the good that never comes from always getting your way…”
And then the disjointed, jolting guitar riff squirts and squeals until we land back here again. Perfect?
It might be. That first line is definitely my favourite of the album.
Side One comes to a close with the anthemic Broadcast Emotion. I’d love to see them play this live. There’s something moving about the melody that makes me well up. I’m not crying. You’re crying.
Perhaps that’s a canny trick to reflect the song title. They really know what they’re doing, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I feel so wonderfully manipulated.
Side Two lifts off with It’s Easy To Get Bored:
“I don’t have time to waste; I’m busy cultivating useless good taste.”
Yet another pithy Hamilton lyric for the ages.
Diet Aftertaste begins a four song run of particularly vintage Helmet sounding songs. Each one exemplifies a different aspect of the perfect form, which is just one more reason for my mind to be boggled by the dismissive reaction to this album.
Diet Aftertaste takes care of fist-pumping bangers; the crowd screaming along with Hamilton’s sickenly sarcastic putdowns:
“Another self-made luminary?
Or maybe just the fucking tooth fairy…”
Harmless addresses the full-bore rush of Helmet’s skillset. Distorted vocals, cracking snare, rolling and awkward riff. No air to breathe. Often held up as the noisiest example on here of what the audience was clamouring for. Don’t get me wrong - I think it’s ace - especially that amazing drum solo - but it’s no more iconic than any other song on this flawless record.
It sounds more old school though, admittedly.
(High) Visibility demonstrates the band’s ability to go casual and low-key.
At first.
And then - that guitar sound. A winding, whining lead motif and back to The Chug.
Marvellous.
And then that chorus.
Yum.
Insatiable is another one that’s held in high regard with the long term fan-kids. Not surprising. It could come off Strap It On. There’s an anger and rough edge to the song that the others avoid. I love its climbing bridge. It’s awkward, nasty and grimy. It represents Helmet’s rage and start-stop rhythms.
The album closes with Crisis King. Perhaps its the only song on the album that stands out as something less than magnificent.
I love the opening riff and the fast clatter of the drums. The discordant jazz strum of the verse. It’s ace. No question.
There’s just something about the chorus that feels slightly by the book, that notches it down from the nines and tens across the board, to a six or seven.
By any other standard, that’s still killer. It’s just always stood out to me as an anomaly on the record; it feels more throwaway than the other songs. There’s no salty lyrical hook.
The production is really meaty across the whole record. It’s dense, thick and smooth. The mix is the best Helmet ever sounded IMHO. Having the vocals so comparatively high in the mix, for me, was a masterstroke.It gave the band more personality. It was no longer just about the complexities of the riff, it became about the whole song. It leant the band some charisma that had been overwhelmed by their instruments up to this point for me.
My copy is opaque orange. A really nice, heavy pressing that harks back to the original translucent orange EU pressing from 1997.
It wasn’t repressed until 2012 on Let Them Eat Vinyl, which is what my version is.
I was desperate to get hold of it before then on record (I only had a CD), but it was just too pricey. Even my gatefold reissue commands a price north of $100 now on Discogs - and there are only seven for sale in the world. Surprisingly, original pressings aren’t that much more expensive. They’ve held their unattainable price - the five available online range anywhere between $125 and $250, depending on the aspirations of the seller.
It’s a shame that it’s become so unattainable. It’s such a great LP, but most people will have to be content with a CD, tape or streamed version of it.
Regardless how you listen to it, though, listen to it.
To my ears, it’s an impeccable classic and a set of songs that are some of the strongest the band have ever turned out.
Page Hamilton says of Afterstaste that the band wanted to make the most Helmety Helmet album they could.
To my mind, they succeeded.
The band are often touring. Catch them if you can.
Ave, dorks!
Thank you. Very good article. I love Helmet. But they’ve always been that kind of band that’s missing something for me: sometimes the guitar sound is too polished, a bit plastic, sometimes the vocals don’t quite hit the mark, and other times they’re just too monotonous. However, what you can’t take away from them is their good riffs and melodies. Thanks for reminding me about them.