I credit HELMET and this album Meantime for putting Metallica on the backburner.
Review by A. Stutheit
At the time this album was released (1992), this type of music was called “alternative metal,” but this album (“Meantime”), and this band (Helmet) were, for all intensive purposes, the start of the genre that we know today as nu-metal. Its heavy riffs, stop-start rhythms, and soft-hard song structures were the motivating force behind many `90’s hard rock bands. Thus, Helmet should definitely be considered one of the most influential and important rock bands of the 1990’s. Even super-influential bands like Korn, Pantera and Tool have cited Helmet as an influence.
Musically, it’s clearly evident that frontman Page Hamilton listened to a lot of Black Sabbath while making this record. “Meantime” is full of sludgy riffs and even some Ozzy-esque vocals (which are especially apparent on the song “Unsung”).
Songs like “Ironhead,” “Give It,” “He Feels Bad,” and “You Borrowed” best illustrate Helmet’s famous stop-start rhythms (and “Ironhead” even has fast, almost galloping guitars), and “Unsung” and “Turned Out” have the aforementioned sludgy riffs, which lurch and almost bob. Elsewhere,”In the Meantime” has a heavy, grooving main riff, “Better” and “Role Model” should quench your cravings for a heavy song (“Better” has some heavy yells, and “Role Model” has heavy, churning riffs), and “F.B.L.A. II” has a guitar solo and some everything-but-the-kitchen sink drumming.
For whatever reason, this album has aged very well (better than most nu-metal records). This may be because Helmet were such an original band, or maybe because Page isn’t constantly yelling about “nookies” and hatred. Or maybe it’s because “Meantime” has a few guitar solos, and guitar solos are foreign to almost all other nu-metal bands. But, whatever the reason, Helmet are not normally grouped with nu-metal bands, so they are one of the few bands whose albums sales didn’t plummet when nu-metal collapsed. Thus, it’s OK if your friends know you listen to Helmet–they won’t laugh at you.
In conclusion, this is where nu-metal began, so if you hate nu-metal, you should hate these guys; but everybody who enjoys nu or alternative metal, and those who are fans of Korn, Deftones, Tool, etc. should definitely check out “Meantime.” And even if you don’t listen to Helmet, you should definitely give them props for essentially being a modern day Black Sabbath and creating a whole genre–even though that genre would die off about a decade later.