Album Review: Helmet – Dead To The World

Starting point: Life or Death or Bad News

Personal Highlight: Look Alive

Like any Australian who watched Rage after coming home from a night out or waking up early on a weekend – I’m aware of Helmet.

They are the band with a pink guitar, the shorts wearing guys with a video that kept popping up every time a heavier act got to program the songs for the show.

Armed with lots of stock footage of industrial machines, their classic 1990’s video for the track Unsung has become etched into my mind as a 3am Saturday or Sunday morning nostalgia trip.
The fact that this song aired so regularly obviously meant that they were an influential band to many, yet I never really had exposure to them beyond the Unsung video.

The years pass from my late teens, the 3am Rage viewing sessions become less frequent. Adulthood sneaks in and so do responsibilities.

Playing in bands comes and goes and every now and then you jam with a musician who plays two bars of a Helmet song and is clearly distraught that you hadn’t picked it up.
“Maybe he didn’t hear properly” they think to themselves, I’ll play it again and maybe sing a few words”.
My blank stare continues.
The cycle repeats, they play it again and this time throw in a bit of chorus.
“Surely he must know the chorus”
Nothing. I am clearly an idiot, clearly the four year age gap between myself and those who seem to be the Helmet crowd is enough.
“Dude, it’s Helmet!” they exclaim.
“Oh, yeah pink guitar, Unsung…. From Rage!”
“How can you not know Helmet” they say with a thinly veiled look of disgust like I’ve kicked their cat.
Clearly I am not true metal. Funnily enough the other bands where this situation happens to me all the time are Nirvana and the Deftones.

If I were to play them a Black Sabbath riff that isn’t Iron Man, Paranoid or War Pigs I’d probably get the same blank stares and pull my best cat kicker face right back at them. It’s part of an attitude that I hope I’m weaning myself off, the close minded aspects that come with playing to a genre of music rather than making music that you like, no matter the genre.
Back on track. . .ear

Last year, mid Reuben binge I found myself drawn to the line in Return of the Jedi (The Reuben song, not Star Wars movie), a brutally honest narrative on the prospect of being an independent musician in the Internet age.

‘Guitarist and Songwriter’,

That’s what I thought I was,

I never had no dreams of being a waiter,

But these here Helmet rip-offs,

They don’t but my lunch,

So I will get a real job in the office.

OK, so there they are again. Helmet keep popping up.

Another band who I respect and adore mentioning Helmet, this time immortalised in their lyrics, not just in an interview.

I shall have to investigate Helmet and see what all the fuss is about. Thankfully for me, Helmet have a new album coming out, so here goes.

It turns out the reason I’ve not heard much from Helmet lately is that they’ve not released an album in six years. Dead to the World is the 8th full length release from Helmet and their second in the last 10 years.

From the first 30 seconds of Dead to the World all of the elements are there. There is no extended instrumental opening or theatrics, the first verse has started in the first five seconds.

The vocals are double tracked and dirty, the bass and drums are driving the song forward relentlessly. From the get go the attitude is there, this is rock music full of the counter-culture staples that think of when you think of the genre. The rebellious, angry at everything and everyone rock music.

“Catch phrases, punchlines, guns, bluster, ammo, incivility, impatience, murder. You, me, us, them, life, liberty and the pursuit of property.” – Page Hamilton, Helmet front man.

It reads like a George Carlin monologue. The intent is clearly there, the attitude is there. Do the songs match up to the intent?

Bad News features some harmonies that I can’t help but subconsciously link to the Beatles. There is songwriting talent on display here.

Does it sound like a new album? Not necessarily, it could have easily been released in the 1990’s aside from the mastering differences.

For me it becomes a great what if game, I think that I would like this album more if it had more of a modern production sound, but would doing that make it not sound like Helmet?

The songs are near as makes no difference four minutes or shorter, so nothing overstays the welcome. Look Alive near the end of the album provides a beautiful slow contrast compared to the rest of the album, its inclusion makes the album feel more whole.

People new to Helmet might find some songs on the album that please, particularly fans of 90’s rock (think Jon Bush era-Anthrax). Using the people I know who love the band, Helmet fans will buy this album either way.

This review was originally posted by Murray Stace at his site Relative Silence

20 Years On: Tool – Ænima

When I lived at home my family used to throw the best barbecues over summer. We had a big two-story villa with a generous backyard to match. Our parents would decide on a date and then we would invite all our friends. There would be kids swinging on the climbing frame and kicking balls at their parents, young children tormenting our dog, the blokes would stand ‘round the BBQ talking crap and the ladies would sit around in deck chairs catching up on the latest gossip and telling embarrassing stories about their children. The wheelbarrows were full of ice and there was any drink you could care to name. And more sausages, chops, steaks, salads, chips and dips than anyone could handle.

And the music. That was usually my highlight. When I was 17, my Dad and I built a stage on our roof to host some live bands. As you can imagine, I thought it was pretty damn cool to say that my band headlined a gig atop the roof of my house. We were told that the music was loud enough that it disrupted Saturday evening mass at the local church a block away. But for the sake of this story, I’m going to move on from the live bands to focus on our stereo that provided the music for most of the other barbecues.

This stereo was the stuff of legends. My mum had owned it since well before I was born and it has always made me wonder about her past. How did my gentle mother, the social worker who runs the women’s church group and does sewing in her spare time, come to acquire such a kickass stereo? And, to make it even more intriguing, we discovered some old Kiss and Led Zepplin cassettes that belonged to her. Anyway, regardless of my mother’s questionable history, that stereo pumped out some serious volume.

Dad had a worker called Tony at the time. He had been a lithographer before he decided to switch to building and he’d also had a background in the military. He was a Wellington bogan from way back who had been there when Shihad and Head Like a Hole were starting out. I always liked Tony. He treated me with respect and had taken it upon himself to educate me in the way of music. I used to help out on the construction sites during school holidays and Tony controlled the worksite radio. For the most part we listened to The Rock, but sometimes Tony would put on Solid Gold to mix it up, much to our horror. Every time a song would play Tony would quiz me about the band name and song title, and would feed me bits of trivia about the band.

So when we had our barbecues Tony always came. He would bring his little chilly bin containing bottles of vodka and mixers, and a supermarket bag full of CDs. He would control the party playlist, handing me a CD and telling me to put in on. Often he would say “Hey Joseph, you may want to skip this track – it’s a bit rude!” I remember him selecting Shihad, Rolling Stones, HLAH (Tony loved HLAH. It was a few years before I made the connection that HLAH and Head Like a Hole were one in the same.) And Tool.

Tool really stuck in my mind. Tony asked my dad if he could show me the CD cover for Ænima and then did so once he’d obtained permission. The artwork was really cool for the album. The images moved when seen from different angles. There was the box with the flames around it that flickered at different angles and the “third eye” with the two pupils that move. Under the disc was an image of the California coast disappearing into the sea. But the image that stuck in my head was a contortionist doing naughty things to himself. If you ever want to capture the imagination of a teenage boy showing him something like that is certainly one way to do it.

Fast forward a few months and I’m browsing through the albums at the local CD store, Everyman Records. Then I see it, that same Tool album, with the lenticular jewel case. Oh man! I bought it straight away and went home to listen to it. At the time I didn’t know how twisted the lyrics were for most of the songs, but I did know that I didn’t want my parents finding out that I owned the album.

They obviously found out soon enough. It’s not like I was subtle showing my newfound love for the band. My best friend Tom and I both bought matching “third eye” tshirts, much to both of our mothers disgust. And looking back, I can see why they weren’t too keen on their children listening to songs with titles like “Hooker With A Penis”…

But appropriate or not (OK, there’s no room for argument here – it’s definitely inappropriate), there was undeniable talent that went into the production of this album. Like 10,000 Days, and Lateralus – two albums that we also discovered soon after – the artwork and packaging was pretty awesome. I struggle to think of many other albums that impress me as much as the lenticular Ænima case, or the stereoscopic 10,000 Days case.

And the music was right up our alley. We were angsty teenagers wanting to rebel against the world with no reason to justify those feelings. What better way to showcase our misplaced emotions than to listen to subversive music like Tool? And we were in total awe of the musicianship that went into that album. The odd time signatures, the amazing tones, the monstrous drumming, the subtle layering. Maynard’s hypnotic singing, along with the whispers and screams and howls.

And the sheer weirdness of it all. Those filler tracks are so odd… The circus organ interlude, the recording of a needle skipping on a CD, the static and the baby cries, the cookie recipe made to sound like a Nazi rally… It added a twisted element of intrigue and humour to it all. It’s intellegent art-rock that outright snobs it’s listeners. System of a Down was the only other band I can think of that we were listening to at the time that made a deliberate point of being so unusual.

It’s now been 20 years since Ænima was released. I’ve seen Tool play live twice (Big Day Out 2011, and Vector Arena 2013), and am among the devoted fan base who cling onto hope for another Tool album. It’s been a decade since their last, and although the rumours arise every year, we still cross or fingers and think: this year may be the one!

Until then I’ll can live with the six releases that the band has already given us.

Joseph James

Interview: Incentives

Melbourne based hardcore act Incentives have just dropped their début EP, Dusk, at the end of June. I fired some questions off to vocalist Kyle Adams just before then to see where the band was at prior to dropping their first EP, and to learn more about who they were.

Will Not Fade: I’ve visited Melbourne once. It was in 2012 and I stayed with my friends who were in the band The Voyage, and we all went to see Terror play that weekend. I got the impression that in Australia people take being in a band pretty seriously, whereas here in New Zealand it’s more like “hey let’s start our sixth side project, and I’ll play an instrument that I haven’t learnt because it looks fun!” Have you noticed much of a difference between NZ/AU bands?

Kylee: We were lucky enough to tour New Zealand early 2015 and made great friends with a band called ‘The Inquisition’. I don’t really feel like we picked up on any huge differences other than the fact that the New Zealand scene is considerably smaller. This probably means that as an Australian band you really need to put in a little bit of extra time and money to get yourself noticed and grab opportunities. End of the day I think both scenes really love their music it’s just a matter of scale.

How does the Melbourne hardcore scene feel at the moment?

The Melbourne hardcore scene is super, super, talented right now. We have heaps and heaps of bands coming out and continually impressing! I still think there is a bit of a gap between the “In group” and the rest of the scene but that’s always pretty standard for any kind of scene in any facet of life.

I read that many of your songs are written about girls. Which member of the band is the biggest ladies’ man? (You need a story to back up any answers to this question!)

Daaaammmn, this is tough but good old Jezza (bassist) is currently the only single member so best for the future of all four other relationships I don’t disclose a great deal. Jezza has a pretty neat track record when it comes to Tinder, and has been known to pull some local girls when we pull up in their town. Currently boasting a 100% strike rate down in Tassie!

The Dusk album cover features a picture of a faceless man with a gorgeous beard, but I see in your publicity pics that none of you have beards. What gives?

Well you see before our drummer Joe moved to Melbourne he lived in the mountain ranges, and whilst stalking his Facebook to ensure this new drummer was a legit person I stumbled across a few photos. These photos depicted a wild Joe two weeks after his 18^th birthday. Where Joe grew up you aren’t considered a man unless you trek through the bush for two weeks either side of your 18^th birthday., and so these photos our dear drummer was sporting one fine beard and that’s basically where the inspiration came from.

You came to NZ last year to tour with Depths, Hand of Mercy and The Inquisition. Tell me what you enjoyed/learnt during that trip.

We loooooove New Zealand! Everyone was just so genuine and kind to us throughout the entire trip it was quite incredible. We made some lifelong friends in The Inquisition so that was great. One thing we did learn though was that our New Zealand friends weren’t all that great with the local geography and with an adventure that ended in Papatoitoi. I feel we Australians have a better idea when it comes to such matters.

Do you prefer playing all ages or R18 shows?

I really don’t mind! Over ages is fun because everyone can get drunk and have a bit of a time, but then it’s equally fun playing to younger crowds too. It’s all a good time really!

Joe’s dad built his drum kit for him. How did he learn how to do that?

This is the question I have asked myself a million times, but again I think it comes down to the coming of age ritual. Upon Joe’s return he had a fully constructed guitar he had built out of tambark and other fauna, so my tip is that Joe’s dad managed to do something similar but in the form of a drum kit.

You’ve been playing for three years, but have only just recorded your first EP. Do you think this will open many doors for you?

One can only hope! It’s been hard for us to keep things consistently moving given that we have had so many lineup changes but now things have got a bit of a move on and we just want to keep the momentum rolling.

You’re just about to drop your first EP, and have a tour lined up. What else is on the cards for Incentives?

I guess just more of the same! Everything bigger and better would be the goal. Creating memories that we can always look back on is my biggest wish. I understand bands aren’t the be all and end all, so really I just want to do as much as I can during this short little time frame we have. Then when my kids give me shit for wearing cardigans I can whip out some old photos and music and say “your dad had a half decent run back in the day” hahaha.

Which song do you think I should share with readers who aren’t familiar with your music?

Hmmmmm possibly “Dawn”. We’ve had a great response to that track and Jezza has a sing on it too! It’s pretty much the only song on the entire EP with a chorus so perhaps this chorus trend may continue with the new stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Hopefully I’ll catch you next time you cross the ditch to play in New Zealand again!

Thanks heaps for the interview man! Probably the most fun I’ve had with an interview this entire time (had over 50 of the buggers). Hopefully we can make it out to New Zealand again soon and see you at a show.

Incentives links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IncentivesMelb/

Bandcamp: https://incentivesmelbourne.bandcamp.com/

Tour: https://www.facebook.com/events/1752335758369622/

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/incentives-band

Joseph James

Interview: Brutal Harmony

What is the story behind your band?

The vision behind Brutal Harmony is to bring our brand of raw metal music set to a storyline that is dark and twisted with classic horror themes.

Brutal Harmony was started as a side project. How do you split your time between your different projects?

Well, in the beginning of the project, we were just playing around with the idea of what we thought would be different and fun at the same time. So Brutal Harmony was created as a side project to a couple of other more serious bands that we were playing and touring with. As the writing continued, we realized this was more exciting and in many ways better than what we were already doing in the other bands. So as of February of 2016, Brutal Harmony is our sole project, and we invest 100% of our time and effort into BH.

How would you describe your sound?

Dark, Melodic, and Soulful Metal.

Do you really live up to the “brutal” aspect of your band name?

We believe the music and our live stage show will live up to our name. The songs, videos, and the stage show to come with share the story of the Brutal Harmony. We have a story board for the BH band member characters that will play out in our up-coming shows and videos.

The whole mask thing has been done before by bands like Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Gwar etc… How does your overall image affect your band?

Our mask represent those with no name, no spirit, or humanity. The masked characters are known as The Unity Of Fate.

Who are your key influences?

I would have to say various classic metal bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, Black Sabbath and many, many others.

What are some key themes and messages that you cover with your music?

Classic Horror Movies , Unrest, and the balance between good and evil.

What format do you use the most when listening to music? [vinyl, cd, streaming etc..]

We would say, all of the above [laughs]. Vinyl most certainly feels warmer and in our opinion, is the best format.

What song or album do you recommend for first time listeners?

Our single “FEAR”. It has all the elements that makes Brutal Harmony what we are.

Tell me about Sonic Outlaw Records. I can’t find much information about them online.

Sonic Outlaw Records is a new independent metal record label set to launch with Brutal Harmony in June 2016. The label is licensed and registered and geared up to roll out and sign a couple more artist before the end of 2016. The label is owned and financed by a group of private investor’s. There will be much to see later this summer.

What is your band’s greatest achievement to date?

Honestly, we feel our greatest achievement is doing what we love to do as much as we get to do it. Not everyone has that ability and we’ve seen so many great musicians quit music over the years, not because they want to but because life, family, jobs wouldn’t allow for it. The fact that we have all always found a way to overcome those hurdles we think is our greatest achievement so far.

Who would you most love to tour or collaborate with?

Slipknot is one of our very favorites but there’s just so many great bands out there these days it’s hard to narrow that down. Be easier to say who we would not collaborate with probably…….

What plans do you have for the near future?

We are still in the process of booking the rest of this year out but so far we have some great shows coming up. Main priority for this year is to finish the album to follow up the single release of Fear. Once that is done we will be hitting the road a lot harder.

Here’s your chance to say anything that we haven’t covered.

The song “flying purple people eater” is reeaallyy hard to get out of your head once it gets in there…….

Brutal Harmony: Facebook Website Twitter Youtube

Interview: Novacrow

Novacrow are a UK based hard rock band with a generous dose of zombies and sleaze added to the mix – think along the lines of Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. They’ve just released debut EP Black Syrup, so I sent them some questions to learn more about the band.

What is the story behind your band?

Kitty: Seeing as the truth is pretty straightforward, in that Jonyx and I started making music together and we acquired Freddy and Torben for Novacrow purposes, here is an extravagant backstory.

Jonyx: Originally conceived on the planet of Sexlexis in the Andromeda system, we were sent to dominate Earth through the power of pelvic-thrustingly good music. Unfortunately Sexlexis became struck with the extremely erotic disease ‘Sexlexia’ and we were given the task of finding a cure, the fastest way to spread the word…Novacrow! (continuity errors in storyline may occur…)

Torben: …and then I joined

Where are you from, and what prompted you to start?

K: I have always loved playing in a band and I think the four of us were drawn together, because we all enjoy making lots of noise and embarrassing ourselves. Jonyx and I are from Wolverhampton, Torben is from Norfolk and Freddy is originally from Italy.

How would you describe your sound?

Freddy: A sextastic sonic force.

K: Fat juicy riffs, sleazy vocals and groin-grabbingly good choruses.

T: Top stuff.

What song or album do you recommend for first time listeners?

F: Our EP ‘Black Syrup’ is a must listen for anybody who enjoys being a person. I’d say ‘Fat Frog’ off it would give the best idea of what we’re about.

J: Black Syrup, it’s the tits!

T: I’d personally go for Fight the Horde, I consider it a stomping song.

Why kazoo? It’s definitely not a conventional instrument.

K: Kazoos are just hilarious. We first used one when we did a terrible cover of ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Valentine’s gig. People loved it, so we thought it would be funny to add a bit of kazoo into all of our shows. We ended up recording it on the opening track of our EP, Fat Frog.

Torben, you appear to be the punk in a band of metalheads. Does this cause any conflict?

T: When I first joined I wanted to play everything much faster, but whilst punk is my favourite genre, I grew up on metal, owning every Opeth record and listening to them on repeat. Gojira were also big for me, and still are. But having said that, I wouldn’t say it has caused tension, at core we’re all just looking to have fun playing music we love.

Sadly, rock music is still male dominated. Do you find that you’re treated differently to other bands because you have a female singer?

K: It’s hard for me to be objective as (obviously), I’ve only ever been in bands with a female member, but I’d say that we are treated differently to an extent. ‘Female fronted’ is regularly treated like a genre, which is a bit strange, as we often find ourselves billed alongside a load of symphonic metal bands. To us, the fact that we have a female member isn’t an important part of Novacrow. I’ve had my fair share of derogatory comments, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a couple of snide remarks to stop me from rocking my ass off.

It looks like you have a lot of fun playing on the zombie/horror theme. What are some more creative examples of where you have taken this theme?

K: We did a big cheesy B-movie music video for our single Fight The Horde!!! Which was super fun to film. We’ve used this in our live shows too, in one we used a giant screen to show clips creating a ‘storyline’ and had zombies coming on stage and out into the audience. At our EP launch we did zombie face painting too, so we had a whole crowd of the undead.

Between you all, the band covers recording, production, writing and art. Tell me about your DIY motives.

F: For us it pretty much came naturally, we all seem to fit together like a sort of jigsaw puzzle. John has the most experience in photo editing and designing, so he just took on the role of artwork designer. I’m a producer of my own accord outside the band, so I took command of recording, production, and video editing when needed. This leaves most of the artistic direction up to Kitty, so she’ll write most of the songs and we all chip in accordingly.

And then there’s Torben.

Paint me a picture of what I should expect to see at a typical Novacrow gig.

Kitty: Picture yourself at a dingy venue with a cheap pint of beer in one hand. Novacrow comes onstage and suddenly you are weak at the knees. Each member is dazzlingly attractive and unimaginably talented. Their music is so fantastic, you feel faint. Their stage banter is so hilarious, your sides actually split from laughter. The crowd around you are going wild, foaming at the mouth, tits everywhere. You fish out your wallet and you’re literally throwing handfuls of money at the band, they are just that good….

Kitty, I saw that in the list of books you read last year you covered a lot of classic literature and graphic novels, especially some dystopian texts. Talk me through some of your favourites. I know you have a degree in English Lit, so I’m expecting some good recommendations.

K: YES. Excellent question. There are so many incredible novels that everybody needs to read! Obvious choices include Fahrenheit 451, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse 5 and any of Poe’s short stories.

My longtime favourite author is Stephen King. His first person narratives are unbeatable and I love his great sprawling fantasy epics. It, The Stand, The Dark Half and The Green Mile, are a few of my top choices.

In terms of a quirky recommendation, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, or Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. I’ve also just finished the trilogy of 1Q84 novels, by Haruki Murakami, which were fantastically written.

What format do you use the most when listening to music? [vinyl, cd, streaming etc..]

F: I mostly download my music, and when I buy CD’s I’ll import them to my laptop. I ain’t got the time to pick out a CD and put it in a CD player and shit, I just want it THERE!

Torben: MP3s or digital music, whenever I travel or walk I have music in. I have a vast collection of CDs which I listen to whenever I can, because I love having a hard-copy of the music I love most.

Tell us your best tour story.

F: We once played a biker club in the middle of Derbyshire and camped out on their fields. There was a HUGE slug that turned out to be just two regular slugs. There was also a lot of booze, some cooked chicken, a broken pump, and a giant fake plastic horse. And Showaddywaddy.

What is your band’s greatest achievement to date?

K: The fact that we’ve somehow tricked people into believing that we’re a real band, rather than a group of attention seeking idiots. I’m super proud of the EP and the excellent feedback we’ve had from it.

Who would you most love to tour or collaborate with?

F: The almighty GWAR.

K: Wednesday 13, Rob Zombie, Skindred or Alestorm.

T: Murder Dolls or Green Jellÿ who were great fun to play with… anyone who’s up for fun and some heavy music basically.

What plans do you have for the near future?

K: Loads of gigs, working on new material and general badassery

Novacrow: Website Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube