Live music review: metal titans Helmet led triple bill at Mohawk Sunday
Austin is changing. Live music destinations such as The Lost Well and The Coral Snake have closed in recent months. With multiple entertainment districts for live music remaining in the long-called “Live Music Capital,” the population boom in Austin has caused a widespread growth of apartment buildings next to outdoor venues, with the noise curfews requiring earlier start times on school nights to ensure the local tech worker doesn’t miss their 8 a.m. sales meeting. Last Sunday night in the Red River Cultural District, beloved downtown venue Mohawk held a legacy show that presented a gracefully aging spectacle from alternative metal titans Helmet along with opening help with talent from different heavy music spheres worldwide. For a show where doors had to open at a move-your-ass 6 p.m., the triple-punch bill made the best use of its time through acts to warm up for the deafening drop-tuned explosion of the long-running New York headbangers.
Baltimore’s War on Women took the opening reins at 7 p.m. on the dot, ready to bring their smashing and screaming activist hardcore to the early-comers for Sunday night’s show. Formed in 2010, the Maryland fivesome came armed with a sharp delivery, slashing through thrasher after thrasher. The band took brief moments between each offering to convey to their audience that they were taking the stage not to be something important but to say something of sensitive imperativeness.
From multiple audience call-and-response sections and callouts to the DC area, a mere hour away from their hometown, it became clear that this set was all about the message. If their banter didn’t make it clear, the East Coast punks were also selling emergency contraception at their merch table; go figure. Singer Shawna Potter’s commanding stage presence comes as a bombastic highlight, with swinging hair and roaring vocals all in tow for a faultless opening set.
Stoner rockers Slomosa took the stage next, hailing all the way from Bergen, Norway. With riffs and a vocal delivery reminiscent of Austin doomers, The Sword, this one felt right at home on an Austin stage. With crunchy Black Sabbath riffs and the rhythm section to tie it all together, the Scandinavian heavy-hitters had the chops to show up for a genre with a playing field as wide as a Colorado cannabis farm. Since the group has only been touring the states since last year, the leadership of frontman Benjamin Berdous has dubbed the entity “Tundra Rock,” also the title of their second LP, with a mish-mosh of riffs that present a steady array of tunes that crank to 11.
Helmet promptly took the stage at 9 p.m., with a 90-minute stampede planned to inch all the way up to the gentrified Sunday cutoff time. Since this tour commemorates the 30th anniversary of classic album Betty, the main set included a full-album presentation of the record. The 90s big leaguers executed the album with precision, taking little time in between to tune, let alone speak as the onrush continued with maximum urgency. The low-note guitar chugging is addictive, with frontman and guitarist Page Hamilton informing the attendees, “We’re tuned in drop C, in case you guys were wondering.”
Hamilton handled both lead vocals and guitar solo sections throughout the set, holding his own as the sole remaining founding member of the group, proving that these songs are known better than the back of the musician’s hand. Drummer Kyle Stevenson efficiently handled the throne, taking the place of founding drummer John Stanier and still practicing the mission statement as if there’s still something to prove. The heavy bass is also a topic of focus in Helmet, and string-popping virtuoso Dave Case understands the assignment with well-oiled, machine-like dexterity. When the album concluded, there was only a few seconds of dead air before Helmet launched into another full set of hits and a handful of deep cuts.
The evening raged on, delivering four selections from just-as-classic record Meantime, with other favorites sprinkled in for the diehard fans. Set staple anthem “Unsung” showed its head to thunderous audience moshing. Hamilton acknowledged the impending curfew before closer “In The Meantime” acted as the final curtain call. “People are complaining, so we only have one more left tonight.” For an Austin appearance that wasted no time, Helmet once again delivered as a band with an impeccable legacy of a touring vehicle that still maintains a following of fans from their formative years to the present.
Helmet will continue on the Betty 30th Anniversary Tour in the United States before wrapping things up in March in Wisconsin. Tickets can be found via the Helmet website.
All photos by Casey Chumbley
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