Ugly. Harrowing. Barbaric. If those three words in any way describe the kind of music you get your sick, miserable kicks to then congratulations, you’re about to have a new favourite album. ‘Debt’ is the debut full length from Plymouth trio Helpless, following on from their 2015 self-titled EP, both released through the UK’s premier purveyors of modern hardcore Holy Roar, and by golly is it a nasty piece of work. From its first blistering seconds to the final agonising moments, this is about as brutal an album as you’re likely to find in 2017, or any other year for that matter.
Opening with a tirade of gnarled blast-beats and hideous riffage, ‘Worth’ sets the template immediately for Helpless’ brand of grind-fuelled sludge. A whirlwind of venom-spitting anger, the song is over and done in 90 seconds, bleeding straight into ‘Out Of Commission’, a more disjointed and off-kilter assault that has distinct echoes of Salt Lake City bruisers Cult Leader (and their predecessors, Gaza). Gaza/Cult Leader’s off-the-rails sonic horror is clearly a strong influence on Helpless’ sound in general, though it would be remiss to suggest the band are mere copycats. Music this deeply soaked in anguish can only come from a very real place, and though the palate that Helpless paint from may share many of the same shades of black as with their Utah counterparts, they’ve done more than enough on ‘Debt’ to put their own stamp on this sound.
‘Grief Vultures’ arrives with a razor-edged explosion of hardcore noise that devolves into manic grind, before shifting into the uneasy dirge of ‘Moral Bankruptcy’, one of the slower and more pummelling tracks on the album. Sinuous guitar lines groan over thundering drums, coalescing into a relatively expansive ending that shudders to an abrupt stop and leaves the listener breathless and abused. ‘Sertraline’ ups the ante once more, perpetuating the grim and sickly atmosphere through into ‘Weightless Prayers’ and ‘Ceremony Of Innocence’, a double-header of bruising violence that buries your ears under the weight of its monolithic riffs. Though there are moments where the blistering pace of ‘Debt’ lets up, there is never any real respite, as even in its slowest and most reflective moments, this album is still akin to a plastic bag around the head – suffocating and inescapable.
Helpless save their queasiest moments for last, as the rumbling menace of ‘Denied Sale’ brings the album to a thundering close. Nauseating walls of buzzing riffs swarm around as the band channel more of a post-hardcore and noise rock influence, the ending in particular sounding like a dark parallel universe version of Botch. It’s a fitting close to one of the most uncomfortable hardcore records this year, but one its ungodly creators should be more than proud of. In a world where metal and hardcore is becoming ever more sanitised and polished, we need acts like Helpless now more than ever to drag us thrashing and screaming back into the murky depths below, and ‘Debt’ is the audio equivalent of cement shoes.
JAMES LEE