In addition to Cloud One, I really like Positraction with Thalia Zedek. That was their Caroline Records shot for the majors, but still had some great tracks.

Krev wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2024 3:16 pm In addition to Cloud One, I really like Positraction with Thalia Zedek. That was their Caroline Records shot for the majors, but still had some great tracks.

There was a weird, pandemic-era album called Dangerous Visions that came out a few years ago. It pairs decent (if different, mellower) new material on one side w/Peel Session versions of two Positraction tunes and two subsequent songs on the flip. If you dig Positraction, you'll like the latter, which was recorded in 1989, not long before the band split. "Someone Else's Sweat" is the closest Live Skull ever got to writing a bitter, heartbreaking ballad, and it's a Thalia-era highlight.

Krev wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2024 3:16 pm In addition to Cloud One, I really like Positraction with Thalia Zedek. That was their Caroline Records shot for the majors, but still had some great tracks.

I love when I get to discover a band like this that’s been around forever but never got in my ear. Listening to Cloud One now. It’s definitely a massive influence on Band of Susans and the very early Helmet recordings. Or maybe they were all part of that scene’s sound. It’s definitely a little more rock than Sonic Youth. Great rhythm section.

My fave Live Skull release is Snuffer, although it may be their most "normal" sounding.

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2024 2:04 pm Furthermore, I don't find myself often wanting to go back to that 1990s major-label-aggro Andy Wallace/drop-D sound these days. It reminds me of shiny black plastic, for some reason. It's even worse than '80s overproduction b/c it's less clumsily distinctive and doesn't even have much comedy value.

Pretty much this for me. There was maybe a 2 year window where Helmet sounded distinctly heavy and modern, but after getting into bands like Neurosis and even a lot of metalcore stuff by the latter '90s they seemed instantly dated and wimpy by comparison. I think I said something similar in the Prong thread but that super-gated guitar sounds like it exists in an anechoic chamber and is the opposite of rocking to me.

Maybe good as a gateway band but looking back on it as a whole, Crap.

I was looking at the dates indicated, but I guess that just means we're judging here only the Helmet that we know doesn't completely blow. I don't mind what they're doing. It's cool and minimalist, but wears a little thin over an album length. I think they represent really well on their "best of", which keeps it down to the amount of Helmet most people can tolerate. The Bjork cover is funny.

Gramsci wrote: Thu Sep 12, 2024 2:55 pm [Helmet] was definitely a band that should have had a specific life and ended. I wish Hamilton had started something completely new, even with a different singer of something. It seems he’s made a decent career/living out of flogging the Helmet horse but it kinds feels a waste of his abilities.

This.

Here's a question: should Strap it On get remixed? I feel like it's their strongest material overall and pretty ground-breaking at the time, but also a very murky mix.

Were Therapy? the Irish Helmet?

twelvepoint wrote: Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:13 am Here's a question: should Strap it On get remixed? I feel like it's their strongest material overall and pretty ground-breaking at the time, but also a very murky mix.

Good question. Always thought the roughness of it somehow added to its charms... but is is really a maybe TOO murky mix.