One of the most original hard rock/heavy metal bands to rise up from the United States underground; The original and most prominent lineup featuring Page Hamilton on
guitar and vocals, Henry Bogdan on
bass, John Stanier on drums, and various background guitarists. Their original sound was
based around
heavy guitar distortion with droning riffs, outrageous
guitar shredding and solos (influenced by bands such as Sonic Youth, Void and Killing Joke as well as many jazz musicians), loud chuggy
bass lines,
heavy snare drumming, and background guitars to create a "wall of noise" sound.
In 1992 they blasted into the mainstream with their second album "Meantime", which featured their most known song "Unsung". The band also released "Give It" and "In the Meantime" as singles, but both songs flopped in sales and didn't receive as much attention as "Unsung". Helmet's two albums "Strap It On" and "Meantime" were both so groundbreaking that it spawned many watered down imitator bands that ripped from Helmet's sound, the most prominent three being Korn, Deftones and Tool. This move infuriated and disgusted the band, giving them the desire to do something much more experimental to alienate themselves from their imitators.
In 1994, Helmet released their third album "
Betty"; a much more melodic album which owed more to bluesy and
jazzy heavy metal, which featured the songs "Wilma's
Rainbow" and "Milquetoast", both of which became minor hits on modern rock radio. Helmet have gone on to release 3 more albums and still remain a favorite of Modern rock, Hard rock and Heavy metal fans today.