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It’s been almost 20 years since Page Hamilton put the band Helmet together, and a lot has changed in the rock ’n’ roll landscape.

Helmet’s fusion of indie rock and metal has inspired a legion of followers, from Chevelle to Killswitch Engage to The Deftones. Hamilton has gone through numerous bandmates, even disbanding Helmet for a period of time, and almost as many labels.

Yet he’s persevered, and with him, Helmet’s original vision remains intact — conquer and destroy, and take no prisoners. It’s a full-on rock assault when the band takes the stage, and like the militaristic tool from which the band draws its name, Helmet prides itself on being hard, strong and durable.

Does it ever get old, watching the band fall apart around him and having to rebuild it from the ground up? Of course it does. But he’s been doing it so long that it’s almost become second nature, and besides, the retirement plan for heavy rockers isn’t exactly an appealing alternative to someone who’s spent two decades on the road, churning out one monstrous riff after another and singing until his vocal cords throb.

“Yeah, absolutely it does — it’s a pain in the rear, to tell you the truth,” Hamilton told The Daily Times this week. “But I just try to keep it together and keep it moving. It’s hard to put a finger on why, really — I just really enjoy playing this music, and this band seems to fulfill that void that existed when we first hooked up.

“It’s been a year with these guys now, and it seems to be going really well. It’s really fun; when everyone else quit, and I just wanted to go with the best players and sort it out like that. We’re in better shape, actually, than we might have been, and after this tour, we’re going to get into the studio.”

Helmet came together in 1989, when Hamilton left his old band and hooked up with founding members Henry Bogdan, Peter Mengede and John Stanier. The band was something new on the New York underground scene — often referred to as a “thinking person’s heavy metal band,” the members opted not to go along with the archetypal image of a metal band. Instead of long hair and black clothing, they looked like regular guys, but they knew how to rock — the music was characterized, according to the band’s Wikipedia biography, “by repetitive, syncopated, staccato guitar riffs, often in odd time signatures, and almost always in a minor key with drop-D or drop-C tuning. The guitar sound is heavily distorted and dissonant, with choruses that often involve guitar feedback waves.”

After releasing its first album, “Strap It On,” on the Amphetamine Reptile label in 1990, Helmet signed to Interscope Records in 1992, part of a wave of metal signees at the time that generated rumors of a massive payoff and complete artistic control for signing on the dotted line. “Meantime” was released in 1992 and would become the band’s biggest-selling album; creative tension, however, resulted in Mengede’s departure. The band dropped the album “Betty” in 1994, lost Mengede’s replacement and soldiered on as a three-piece for 1997’s “Aftertaste.”

The tour to support that record became the band’s last with the original lineup — a breakup was announced in 1998, and Hamilton went on to perform with a number of bands in the New York area. By 2003, at Interscope’s urging, Hamilton sought to put Helmet back together. Bogdan and Stanier, however, declined to participate. Because Interscope owned the band name, Hamilton went ahead without them, adding three new members for 2004’s “Size Matters” album.

“It was seven years between albums, and I think you can’t help but progress naturally as a songwriter,” Hamilton said. “I’ve never been much for concept albums, and I try to be self-conscious about what we’re doing, but it’s only natural that you grow as a writer. I’m a little less interested in the kind of stream-of-consciousness songwriting we had for a while.

“Songs tend to be recollections of experiences you’ve had, and I’m interested in developing my own language and my own vocabulary as a songwriter. I don’t know if it’s because I’m more experienced with songwriting or have just developed a bit more, but all of those elements have sort of become combined, and I think the songs are a little bit easier to follow. I’m not really concerned with trying to convey a message so much as having a clear narrative thread.”

After leaving Interscope in 2005, Helmet signed with Warcon Records. “Monochrome” was released last year, but shortly after playing the Warped Tour, Hamilton found himself without any bandmates when his guitarist, drummer and bass player all quit to pursue other commitments. Hamilton wouldn’t be deterred, however, and after adding drummer Kyle Stevenson, bassist Jon Fuller and guitarist Jimmy Thompson, Helmet opened for Guns N’ Roses in December of last year and made it overseas to Australia and Europe this year.

If anything, he added, the turmoil has been fuel for his songwriting fire.

“I’ve always started by drawing on visceral experiences, and I think the best situations to draw from are truthful narratives,” he said. “Truthful ideas is at the heart of the whole personal-experience thing. And I think it’s always interesting to be an observer, to sort of chronicle something you’ve witnessed.”

If nothing else, Hamilton has witnessed a lot of rock ‘n’ roll history, as far as Helmet is concerned. He’s more comfortable on stage than ever, less inclined to over-analyzing, he said, and more content to just ride the wave of energy that washes back and forth from band to audience.

And white detractors may scoff at Hamilton calling his outfit Helmet, he’s been the band’s heart from the outset. If anybody’s earned the right to claim the name, it’s Hamilton.

“Not to take anything away from any musician who’s ever performed with the band — there’s always been a high level of musicianship in this band — but the basic concept is still the same,” he said. “I’m the vocabulary, and I don’t need anyone to guide me at this point or come up with ideas for me. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I have a pretty rigid practice regimen. I’m prepared every day, and there are things that I work on every day.

“I’m not looking to anyone else for validation. I’m not like someone who has a dozen projects going on simultaneously — this is all that I have, so it’s more organic in a way. Everything we do is generated from ideas I started 20 years ago, and I’ve developed those things along musical paths that still hold true to this day.”