An origin of hardcore, a long lasting, full music experience, and a strong hard rocking sound all characterize Helmet. Beginning with their first album in 1990 titled "Strap it on", helmet, composed of Page Hamilton at the mic and guitar, Peter Mengede also on guitar, Henry Bogdan at bass, and John Stanier on drums, started with a hard-hitting sound.  With their first album, Helmet established their original sound of short, meaning-filled lyrics combined with an unignorable sound of heavy guitar throughout their music. After "Strap it on", Helmet put out "Meantime" in '92.  "Meantime" continued their trend of short seperated, critical lyrics combined with the hard guitar. "Meantime" composed ten songs of short length, yet this album had a huge impact on the modern hardcore scene. Songs such as "he feels bad" and "ironhead" indicate heavy roots of hardcore, hard sounding music. On their next album, "Betty", Helmet gained their first highly played single, "Wilma's Rainbow." Yet on "Betty", Helmet took a turn from their previous albums as the sound changed with the times.  Acquiring a new guitarist, Rob Echeverria, the album was, in general, more toned compared to the previous two releases. The guitar seemed to fray from their usual hardcore sound to a more melodic (in a harsh sense of the word) tone. Yet throughout this change, the development and maturity of the band as a whole was seen most distinctly on this album. Songs such as "Tic", "Street Crab", and "Overrated" still show the hardcore roots of "Meantime" and "Strap it on", yet songs such as "Biscuits for Smut" and "Sam Hell" show an entirely new side.  Their final album, "Aftertaste", released in 1997, also saw the face of a new guitarist, Chris Traynor.  This album also had noticable changes, most of all the maturity of the band's sound.  Beautifully developed songs such as "Driving Nowhere" and "Broadcast Emotion" made this album my personal favorite. After this album, the band broke up to pursue individual interests. As of the moment there are rumors of Page Hamilton playing on the new NIN album. We shall see...

"Meantime" released 1992 (2nd album)

"Betty" released 1994 (3rd release)
 
"Aftertaste" released 1997 (final release)