MESHUGGAH... AREN'T THEY GREAT?

speed metal-loving dope fiend buddy came over last year and brought some of their records for me to listen to. i guess with my "grown-up" ears it's nowhere near as scary or interesting. in fact fairly uninspired.

Meshuggah are great but a little one-dimensional. I seem to go through phases where I'm really into that sound and listen to Chaosphere about a million times. Then I put it back with the rest and wait until this happens again a few months later.

Still prefer Frederick Thordendal's Special Defects though.

i've never seen that one, but it sounds awesome. the one i saw was shot in very gritty black'n'white in a warehouse, abandoned slaughterhouse, or other grimly industrial edifice. the camerawork was very shaky and amateurish -- kind of the blair witch project of metal videos. i think some of the members of the band may have been wearing masks ...

BTW, those of you who want to see the video that's been talked about in this thread:
http://www.nuclearblast.de/events/meshuggah.htm
Just click the link on the image that says "Final"
Realvideo unfortunately, but hey...

That's true. Apart from those unusual and creative solos and the ethereal touches, the other thing that keeps me listening is the entrancing precision of the drums/guitar riffing, no matter how oddball the timing gets. They love a groove that has a nice big fat hole in it that they can just float or bounce over.

What's going on with those surly, warm guitar riffs? They often don't seem to contain notes as I know them. Are there - gulp- microtunings happening there?

They are a bit one dimensional, but they're trying to perfect one sound, one vision perhaps. They are definitely sonic surfers, there is some kind of trance headspace happening in there.

Didn't hear anything like that going on for "I."

But I didn't know that the record was alienating fans.. haven't really been keeping up. Why? Despite the length, I would think it would be a bigger crowd-please than just about any song on "Nothing," since when that one came out, everyone was all, "This is way too slow, man!"

It's interesting, vis-a-vis the ongoing electronic metal debate, that the most striking suggestions that such a thing is possible comes from examples like like Meshuggah, Beherit and Darkthrone, who use (mainly) traditional instrumentation; yet somehow end up with a linear, cold/evocative, train-track mentality which seems to invite comparisons to techno and the sequential computer approach, where perhaps the more self-consciously techno-hybrid acts like NIN and Aborym don't really imply it at all, in spite of the rhetoric.

To put it another way, a techno freak is more likely to relate to Meshuggah than to Aborym, in spite of the intrinsic merits of the latter's music, and in spite of the fact that Aborym use more electronics and sequencers. Perhaps the minimalism and the focus on the groove is the key.

But I didn't know that the record was alienating fans.. haven't really been keeping up. Why?

well, this is going by the metal-archives reviews, which are half in awe, half disparaging. the general concensus among the haters is that it's much longer than it has any business being, not enough going on, etc, etc.

apparently the new one is to be called "catch-33" and is coming out in may (16th for eu, 31st for us).

Swedish experimental extreme metallers MESHUGGAH have finished mixing and mastering their new album, "Catch 33", for an April 11 release via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2002's "Nothing" is being described as one continuous 47-minute song divided into 13 parts and is said to be "musically the opposite" of the group's 2004 EP, "I".

Best thing about the new one is the keyboards (I think?) on the penultimate track. Sounds very full, which is something I've been waiting for them to play around with for years now, seeing as how their production aesthetic seems to be going for anything but a 'full' sound (which has it's charms, don't get me wrong, but can get to ya after a while).

And the dynamics of the album are pretty unique. Despite the thing being one long song, they never go for the slow builds; they're totally on or off, chugging and noisy or muted and reserved. They switch between the two quite a few times throughout the album. Something like the FT solo record in that respect.

Also... ROBOT VOCALS.

-- el sabor de gene (yn...), March 25th, 2005.

OTM, 'I' is ultimately gonna be considered be their masterpiece.

As for Catch 33, I half to say I'm a tad disappointed. It's a bit too same-y in the first half, though it starts gaining momentum about halfway through.

'I' just set the bar too high, I guess. Still Catch 33 is a good album, and I'll probably like it more with repeat listens.

from the little i've read about "catch 33", i don't imagine it's going to be the most instantly accessible album in the world. i'm looking forward to it more than i can explain, though ... anyone know the UK release date? (as discussed on threads passim, i'm very wary of leaks.)

It's also suprisingly un-heavy for a Meshuggah record. I can see myself listening to much of it at work.

one of my albums of the year, i'm thinking.

whoa, really!?!

Seen them live three times in the past ten years, they never ceased to amaze me.

Thordendal seems to be the only guy in metal to have a really Allan Holdsworthian appraoch to lead guitar. I love it.