Helmet are considered by many to be one of the seminal underground rock bands of the ‘90s, with albums such as Meantime offering up fierce reductionist rock and enjoying plenty of critical, if not commercial, success. However, on the evidence of this, their first album in seven years, they would have been better off leaving their legacy alone.
Apparently main man Page Hamilton has spent a lot of the intervening time “sitting in the company of people like Bono and David Bowie”, but it’s a pity he didn’t soak up a few more ideas on how to write a decent tune from them.
Helmet might have helped to spawn the nu-metal sound that took many lesser bands to giddy heights, but instead of coming back to show the young whippersnappers what it’s all about , Size Matters instead sounds jaded and uninspired and guilty of many of the genre’s worst characteristics.
Once renowned for being gritty and raw, the production sheen on this record merely serves to make Helmet sound soulless. Hamilton has reactivated the Helmet name with a lineup including former members of Orange 9mm, Testament and Anthrax, but the riffs on songs like ‘See You Dead’ and ‘Crashing Foreign Cars’ just sound indistinguishable after a while.
I’m sure hardcore fans will be happy to have them back, but any curious first-timers would definitely be better off checking out their back catalogue. Disappointing.