Some of you are going to love this album. Some of you are going to hate this album. Judging by the extremely small (and thus inaccurate) sample size of opinions I have gathered over the past couple of weeks, middle ground is nonexistent, or at the very least undiscovered by yours truly. For those expecting a singular, hellbent on absolute destruction sequel to Night Terror, those hopes shall be put to rest shortly after the needle drops. I can hear the bugles commencing your buoyant funeral pyre, each track a flaming arrow, straight through your cadaver.

“What? No ‘Grandmother Claws’? What about, ‘Even Bigger Spider’?”

Did you just assume this three piece would dwell on formulaic success just to please you? Probably.

One thing is for certain, considering the three elements that make up this band (Ben Verellen – Guitar, Dana James – Bass/ Guitar and Hozoji Matheson-Margullis – Drums/Bass) and the other musical projects they are currently involved in or were in the past, Weatherhead sounds more like Helm’s Alee than Night Terror does. This is a reality that the listener is going to have to come to terms with, regardless if they are ready or not. Hydrahead Records has always been home to heavy bands that can’t be pigeonholed into any particular genre.  It’s only fitting that Helm’s Alee castoff any “Pixies” comparisons (Seriously, where did these come from? Unless you speed up “Grandfather Claws” 50 percent and simplify the drums beyond recognition, that aural reference is an extreme reach at best. Stop.) and become more unique than they already were.

The album starts with the thumping yet brief track “Elbow Grease.” All the familiar elements that make up Helm’s Alee can be found here. James’ distorted bass sounds like tectonic plates shifting below your feet, Matheson-Margullis churns out drum fills that your feeble human mind is incapable of understanding and Verellen’s guitar lead extends far beyond the mesosphere yet still maintains the ability to make sense of the rhythm section.  As a seasoned Helm’s Alee fan, you’ll notice that nothing is “amiss” so far. If anything the enjoyable introduction to their sophomore effort was too short.

“8/16″ is a line in the sand. On one side, there will be some listeners who think this is five or six different songs unnecessarily rolled into one. “Some ambitions should remain dormant,” they’ll argue. “It seems like there is a magnificent disconnect from part-to-part, a five-minute song for showmanship sake.” On the other side of that line will be the listener that absolutely adores this track. “The transition from the crushing opening riff to the delicate verse is a thing of beauty,” they’ll gush. “It’s amazing how they combined the first and second half of the song so effortlessly. ’8/16′ eradicates conventional thinking by a heavy band — plus it kills live.” I happen to attend the latter school of thought but there will be some of you who will graduate from the former. If that happens to be the case, prepare to be dazzled or disappointed by a song that bares a strong resemblance to its name..

“Music Box” tinkers and gaits like a ghastly mechanical figure moving about a haunted, abandoned warehouse. The introductory cymbal bells remind me of rusted shackles, clamoring against the corroded worn floors of the building. The guitar is the sound of the wind outside causing dead tree branches to scrape against the side of the building. The lyrics don’t speak of escape, but the vocals sound like they desire greater things. As for those who are not android jukeboxes being held captive in a spooky building (aka — “the listener”), this is the first definitive instance where a Helm’s Alee song is absent of expected quiet/loud dynamics. I can’t imagine this song being anything other than it is, clandestine and mesmerizing.

The arpeggio exercise during the beginning of “Pretty as Pie” is deceptive. The unfamiliar listener might expect this to be a short instrumental or a song that will end up resembling “Betwixt” on Night Terror. Around the two-minute mark, everything you know is wrong (shout out to Marble Madness for NES). As soon as the drums and bass establish themselves alongside the guitar, it sounds like a 50 ft. wave blanketing your back as you attempt to sunbathe on the beach. It’s over. There’s no chance in hell you’re going to survive that impact.  I remember the first time I saw “Pretty as Pie” performed live more than a year ago. My jaw literally removed itself from my face, made it’s way over to the crowd of Verellen amps positioned behind Helm’s Alee and disintegrated. I can no longer function like a “normal” human being but it was well worth it.

I’ve never been a fan of the segue. I like the idea but usually the music is so boring that I’m often left asking, “Did this band put this track on the album to seem like they are real artists?” At first, I did not like “Anemone of the Wound” all that much. It struck me as a “filler” track. However, the more I listen to this album, the more I like this song. It’s almost a necessary track in many ways, shifting from “Pretty as Pie” to “Mad Mouth” might drive the listener into furtive hysteria. This instrumental makes sense of it all. When they performed the song live during their album release show at Neumos, Hozoji played bass (as she does in Lozen) and Dana played guitar.

Even though “Anemone of the Wound” eases you into “Mad Mouth” with relative ease, whenever I get to “Mad Mouth,” I often wish I were still listening to “Pretty as Pie” instead. I like the somber beginnings of the composition, especially the odd-placed drum fills. It’s when the song starts to “take off,” (ie. when everything stops and there’s the guitar riff that bridges the two parts of the song together) that I lose interest and want to go on to the next song. “Mad Mouth” is not a bad song (I enjoy it live) but it’s one of the weakest songs on this album. Not even the drum work of Matheson-Margullis is enough to redeem it.

Everything that “Mad Mouth” should be, “Epic Adventures Through the Wood (sucker punch)” is. I love the vocals during the verses, they work perfectly with the down-trodden bass line. I also appreciate how the guitar and drums are playing in double-time, in a way it emphasizes the bass lines that much more.  By the time Verellen steps on his distortion pedal, the listener is keenly aware that they are on the verge of something special. Although the song does not stray from the verse-chorus-verse format like most of the songs on this album, in many ways that only adds to the power of the song. I like odd twists and turns more than the average music fan, but sometimes it’s nice to keep things simple.

For all the complexities and fluctuations that were abandoned on the previous track, “Speed Sk8r” has enough for a four song EP. Juvenile spellings aside, this is one of the strangest yet somehow enjoyable tracks I have heard in a while. The beginnings of the song are an exercise in hand dexterity. One could argue that the song’s opening installment exemplifies unnecessary showmanship, but I would respectfully disagree. If Helm’s Alee went directly into those blast beats, the machine-gun snare strikes and everything else would’ve been rendered less effective. The second half of the song is a different type of beast altogether. The guitar gives a hint of the vocal melody to come, however, you would never expect the guitar to drop out completely and be replaced the vocals (which are now at the forefront). I’m curious to know how this idea came about. I appreciate the notion for its uniqueness. Others might label the sudden change as “unfocused.”

“Pig Pile” delicately hums much like Carissa’s Wierd’s “So You Wanna Be A Superhero?” This is probably the only Weatherhead album review that you’ll read that will make comparisons between the two aforementioned bands.  The first time I heard “Pig Pile,” Carissa’s Wierd was the first thing to come to mind. I don’t think the guitar lines are all that similar but the feel and the idea of the song are practically kin. If you know anything about my love for Carissa’s Wierd, you know that this is a compliment of the most sensitive highest order.

Whispered droning becomes choral harmonizing on “Revel!” probably the most un-Helm’s Alee-like track they have written to this point the most unique track that Helm’s Alee has written to date. When I first heard those “sounded like they were recorded in a church” vocals, I was pretty stunned. As a listener we’re so used to Verellen mimicking the jet engine wail of his six-stringed instrument, that we forget about his underlying vocal talents. The real question was, could they reproduce the quality of their in-studio vocal performance live? On the night of their album release show at Neumos, I found out the answer was yes. Besides the vocal arrangements, the actual music is stereotypical Helm’s Alee (quiet to loud dynamics, off-kilter drumming, the occasional soaring guitar lead and a distorted bass as an anchor to keep it all together). The song begins like a lamb and goes out like a lion. The listener is left with the band’s final command, revel. Little do they know I already have, over and over again.

“Ripper No Lube” would mean more to me if “Big Spider” did not already exist as a song on Night Terror. Hilarious song titles aside, I would like to file a public complaint via the blogosphere. “Big Spider” never gets played live and I want to know why. This main idea of  “Ripper No Lube” is very similar “Big Spider” except it’s not nearly as good. Helm’s Alee, why do you often opt to play the former song instead? Can anyone provide me with the answers I seek?

Music writer’s have a tendency to act like obsessive compulsive secretaries. Any and all of the music they write about must be neatly labeled and organized so the audience they are writing for can identify it appropriately and possibly act as “consumers” of the “product” shortly thereafter.  “Born in Fiberglass” is not a “progressive rock” song. It’s Helm’s Alee song that has odd time signatures (um, like 80 percent of their songs). However, this is the one song on this album where a music writer pencil-neck geek is going listen to it and go, “Helms Alee are a modern day heavy prog rock band,” and somehow include it in their overall review of the album. Besides every real music writer nerd knows a real “prog” rock songs have to be at least five minutes long (lazy pre-requisite). “Born in Fiberglass” has grown on me after repeated listens.

The beginning of the album’s title track ruminates the twinkly endings of “Born in Fiberglass” within seconds of making its presence known on your stereo. “Weatherhead” has the most vicious (not only musically, but lyrically as well) verses on Helm’s Alee sophomore album. Gentle readers, let me tell you a story. My aunt in Detroit used to have a pitbull. I know what you’re thinking, “Pitbulls are mean, scary dogs.” You’re right. Pitbulls that reside in Detroit are probably more vicious than  pitbulls that live on Mercer Island (this is not a scientific fact). Imagine a pitbull that lives in the basement of your aunt’s house in Detroit and literally never sees the light of day. I rarely saw the dog(because it would’ve chewed my little-kid face off if within close proximity. Most of the time I just heard its bloodthirsty bark through the wooden door leading downstairs. The canines repugnant paws screeching up the stairwell, eager to show you what a life of darkness can do. That’s exactly what the verses on “Weatherhead” sound like. The sound of wanting someone else to pay for what life has done to you (dude translation: it’s awesome).

If you’ve made it to the end of this review, give yourself a hand. It’s long but I feel this is an album that deserved adequate attention. If you scour the internet you’ll find dweebs lunatics that say lots of different things about Weatherhead. Some writers try to place this album in the current context of the “Seattle Sound.” Others will make odd-ball allusions to the Pixies and Kurt Cobain. Both these approaches to reviewing Weatherhead are fucking stupid puzzeling to yours truly. Take this sophomore effort by Helm’s Alee for what it is, a band that is in the process of evolving into something that’s truly original. Even though this just came out, I’m looking forward to the next release.

Final Thought: You must listen to this album with headphones. Unless you have an amazing stereo, it’s not going to cut it. I will also say that this album takes multiple listens. It may not “click” right away but eventually there will come that moment and you’ll feel my self-righteous energy from miles away. Enjoy.