4 out of 5

Label: Sargent House

Produced by: Chris Common

Hot Christmas Coals – Chris Common was the dream choice for producing this album.  Kurt Ballou did right by the group on followup Stillicide, but Common’s work with a lot of technical, intense hardcore provides the right base for capturing Helms’ unique balance of metal blasts, alt-rock jams, and sweet stoner sludge.  The sound is tricky to capture, and Common gets it all in there without sacrificing volume.

And god bless that volume.  Helms Alee are a guitar, bass and drum trio who play the shit out of whatever they play, catchy riffs transforming into megaton distortion explosions and solid, earth-shaking drum thumps suddenly double-bass drumming us into hell.  While vocal duties get split to a certain degree with bassist Dana and drummer Hozoji – each with their own vocal styles – it’s Ben Verellen’s shouts that normally drive us forward, and Sleep makes much out of his ability to turn it on and off in an instant, his croon almost sounding like Chris Cornell and then his screams sounding like, uh, the Ruler of All Things Menacing; dig the way, for example, Dangling Modifier’s guitar sounds like a laid-back 90s grunge jam while Ben decimates the vocals.  Elsewhere, this on/off rule affects the whole band, as on Pinniped’s heart-stopping conclusion, or fittingly doomy closer Dodge the Lightning, which starts out sludgy as heck before totally chillaxing, the intensity slowly creeping back in until… Yeah.  Damned goodness.

Now, the one downside to always playing your heart out – and something that has previously affected Helms – is that it can be hard to draw your songs to a close, especially when you’re keeping track times to tight 3-4 minute runs.  Indeed, there are a few songs here where those final riffs feel like they’re gearing up for another go… and then it just ends.  Opener Please Center does this, unfortunately, and Crystal Gale is, like, all buildup.  Thankfully, when this happens, the song is preceded by so much awesomness it really ain’t no thang.

With Sleep, Helms laid ownership to so much bad ass heavy rock, it’s a wonder there’s any left for any other band.