Helmet @ Gaelic Club, Sydney(26-27/03/07)

Wed 28th Mar, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Finally. After 10 long years, Helmet return to Australia. A lot has happened since their last legendary ‘97 tour. The band broke up around head honcho Page Hamilton, and after a few quiet years he steadily rebuilt the band and released 2 albums – Size Matters and Monochrome.

The current version of Helmet (it’s been a revolving door over the last 4 years) features West Australian axeman Jimmy Thompson on guitar, Jon Fuller on bass, and Kyle Steveson on the drums. But ah, where’s the furious John Stanier, original drummer extraordinaire? He busy with Mike Patton’s superb Tomahawk, along with the mighty The Mark Of Cain. Now there’s a double-act that’s hard to beat… unless you’re Helmet.

The precise brutality of Helmet’s cutting edge metal shows how influential they have been, and continue to be on a stack of pissweak nu-metal and emo imitators. On both nights at the Gaelic Club the sheer accuracy of their hardcore thrash was just amazing. They played songs off all their albums, and it was never enough.

Seriously, the bonejarring riffage of Milquetoast, Blacktop, and Better is something that has to be seen to believed. And what about See You Dead and the twisted metal of Swallowing Everything? Bloody hell, it was just fucking marvelous. The heavy toned groove of It’s Easy To Get Bored and Driving Nowhere were matched by the subtle-as-a-jackhammer Ironhead and the war cry of Turned Out. Actually, anything of Meantime (an essential part of any rockin’ CD collection) was downright ballistic.

Frontman Page chatted frequently with the crowd on both nights and his Aussie-esque humour was a perfect hit. He’s a funny guy and he clearly loves it here. He was even taking song requests, a nice touch. The first night focused a little on the rarities, while the second night was about the singles. This was fantastic for those of us who turned up both nights, only half of the setlist was the same on either night. Fan favourites the head-snapping Unsung and In The Meantime were of course played both nights and had the crowd going rightly berserk.

Smart, I Know, and Wilma’s Rainbow kept the insane tempo going. The monstrous FBLA and the sonic onslaught of Pure prepared everyone for the almighty hellfire of Birth Defect, Exactly What You Wanted and Like I Care. Where the fuck else would you wanna be on a Monday or Tuesday night when you could be enjoying the likes of the searing Crashing Foreign Cars and the pummelling fury of Tic? 

Helmet play precision hitting heavy metal without any of the usual (but often entertaining) bullshit ”I’m so metal” theatrics and it’s a part of their broad appeal. They’re very much thinking mans metal (ok, ladies too), with a complete focus on their music. With plans on working on a new album at the end of the year, we can only hope Helmet return soon. I don’t want to wait 10 years again…