I’m sitting in the WLFM office right now, rocking out to Meshuggah. As I’ve been doing this for the past hour now, I came to a realization: Meshuggah has been the only metal band I’ve been listening to for a while. Like nonstop. I can’t help it! They’re too good. I’ve been trying to figure out how to put this into words. All that usually comes out is something like, “They’re just…ahhh!” I don’t know. So let’s see if I can make something happen by telling you a little bit about the men who I think make up maybe the most metal band out there right now…Okay, maybe not as metal as Slayer. I mean, who is more metal than Slayer?
Meshuggah came to be in 1987 in the town of Umea, Sweden (the “a” in Umea has some sort of symbol that I don’t know how to pronounce. Just imagine it’s there). Still consisting of two of it’s original members, vocalist Jens Kidman and guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, Meshuggah has grown into a powerhouse in the metal genre. Known for their extremely complex poly-rhythms and sound that hits you so hard you go blind, Meshuggah has released six full-length albums with their follow-up to 2008′s ObZen due out on March 27th of this year. By the way, ObZen is fucking fantastic and you should give it a try. It’s hard to sit through and by the time you finish it, you probably won’t want to listen to anything for the rest of the day. But it’s an unbelievable album.
This is really hard, you guys. I have no idea where to go from here. Their sound is an immense juggernaut. Just an unstoppable for that continues to pummel you into submission but keeps you wanting more. I’m clearly not going anywhere special with this right now. So here is a video while I regain my thoughts.
OH MY GOD WHAT A HORRIFYING VIDEO.
But seriously, Bleed is a perfect example at what Meshuggah is capable of doing. You don’t need the video to know that Meshuggah is scary. Scary good, too. The precision in Bleed is unbelievable as well as incredibly difficult to do. Pick up a guitar and try playing that rhythm. You can’t. Okay, so their using 8-string guitars. But that’s besides the point. You still won’t be able to play that shit even if you did have 8-string. It’s a monstrous riff that is not easy to pull off on any of the instruments used by Meshuggah. And that’s something that sets them apart from the rest of metal. Heavy Metal is a genre that is centered around dexterity and accuracy, which culminates in the technicality of what makes the music so enticing. But Meshuggah’s music has so many complexities to it that they sound like no other band around.
Shit, my shift is almost up and now I’m listening to Cee-Lo and Clipse. Listen to Meshuggah. Just not for too long. I keep finding myself taking Advil after about an hour because their music provokes my brain to explode out of sheer awesomeness. Look for their new album Koloss, dropping March 27th, 2012. Koloss has been highly anticipated and according to Meshuggah’s website, it will “pulverize your being”. So if you’re like me and you get excited about music that will apparently obliterate your very existence, let’s hang out on march 27th and get pulverized into oblivion.