HELMET
Aftertaste (Interscope)
Rating: ****
By Sandy Masuo

   Nearly 10 years ago, when Helmet first began hammering out its bristling, minimalist rock, it defied most metal conventions of the day. The clean-cut jock-rock crew led by Page Hamilton eschewed both the fashion fetishes of the hair-band school and the anti-fashion stance of the grunge faction. The bracing music combined a conservatory-bred sophistication with the gnarly starkness of AC/DC. Hamilton and company had stripped metal down to its most basic components--riveting riffage driven home by a relentless rhythmic attack.
   After methodically exploring this primal terrain for two albums (Strap It On and Meantime), the band arrived at 1994’s Betty on which they stretched the premise in some startling directions--from the bluesy twang of “Sam Hell” and the woozy swagger of “The Silver Hawaiian” to a devilish deconstruction of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery’s “Beautiful Love” and the shockingly poppy undertow of hit singles “Wilma’s Rainbow” and “Milquetoast.” Having gone out on a limb with such reckless experimental abandon, the band apparently felt compelled to get back to basics with Aftertaste.
   There are some pop-inflected moments on Aftertaste--”Renovation” and “It’s Easy To Get Bored” hinge on beefy power pop that’s reminiscent of the Kinks--and Hamilton’s signature no-frills vocals are more prominent in the mix, sometimes (“Exactly What You Wanted,” “Insatiable”) taking on a Trent Reznor-ish ranting edge. Ultimately, though, it’s the raw, grinding tension of the music that most effectively conveys the angst-tinged content of such tracks as “Like I Care” and “(High) Visibility.” Much of the album churns with the crisp sludginess that underpinned Betty and defined the earlier albums.
   Certainly Aftertaste is every inch a Helmet album, but whether it represents musical ground gained or lost remains to be seen. For now it looks like a strictly lateral move.