New York, NY · alt-metal · post-hardcore

Helmet

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Page Hamilton's precision-machined downstrokes — the band a generation of nu-metal quietly ripped off, still tighter than all of them.

Helmet formed in New York in 1989 around guitarist and vocalist Page Hamilton, an Oregon-born, jazz-trained musician who had moved to the city to study at the Manhattan School of Music. He recruited bassist Henry Bogdan, guitarist Peter Mengede and drummer John Stanier for the original lineup, and the band's name came from a friend's suggestion of "Helmuth," misheard as "helmet."

Hamilton's jazz training shaped the band's approach: rigid, staccato downstroked riffs, drop-tuned guitars, abrupt stop-start arrangements, and drumming locked tightly to the guitar rather than swinging against it. That mechanical precision set Helmet apart from the grunge and hardcore bands it shared stages with.

The band's 1990 debut, Strap It On, sold well enough on the independent label Amphetamine Reptile to draw major-label interest, and Helmet signed to Interscope in 1992. Meantime, released that year, went gold and remains their best-selling record; Betty and Aftertaste followed before the group split in 1998.

Helmet reformed in 2004 and has released five further albums since, among them Size Matters, Monochrome, Seeing Eye Dog, Dead to the World and Left, bringing the total to nine studio records. Hamilton has led the group through several lineups since, now drummer Kyle Stevenson, guitarist Dan Beeman and bassist Dave Case, and the material still depends on precision: the songs work because everything lands on the same beat.

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alt-metalpost-hardcore