I'm a professional audio engineer and a lifelong musician. Meshuggah is probably the only band that manages to not only keep my attention, but allows me to think about music from a different perspective. Considered to be the godfathers of Djent, which is a super progressive style of metal with low tuned, extended range guitars with beautiful melodies laid over and groovy and often complexI'm a professional audio engineer and a lifelong musician. Meshuggah is probably the only band that manages to not only keep my attention, but allows me to think about music from a different perspective. Considered to be the godfathers of Djent, which is a super progressive style of metal with low tuned, extended range guitars with beautiful melodies laid over and groovy and often complex drum beats. But being the gods they are, Meshuggah turns everything up to max and ripps the knobs off.
Obzen changed my world when I first heard it. I'm sure anyone that has heard the song Bleed, knows exactly what I'm talking about. Even on that album songs like Pravus were so beyond anything I had ever heard before and I thought, "Damn, I wonder what they do next." Then came Koloss, and that again, blew my mind. More dark, with some fatter riffs and more relentless playing style than Koloss which was more about the technicality. (but lets face it, Meshuggah should probably translate to modern English as, "Technical as fuuhck"
But this album, The Violent Sleep of Reason is an entirely different beast due to the fact this whole album was live tracked. That simple fact alone tells you just how insanely talented these men are. That they can go into a studio and whip this stuff out like its just band practice or a walk in the park. In the studio, I've seen drummers that cant even manage a simple 4/4 without screwing up every fill and falling off tempo. Meanwhile, drummer Thomas Haake is over here playing some of the most rhythmically complex and precise drumming known to man.
Lets talk about this album.
Right off the bat, Clockworks punches you right in the balls with some of the most progressive, mind bending music that Meshuggah has ever created. It is literally the most astonishing feat of musicianship and technical prowess that they have ever done outside of "Bleed". I mean hell, the guy they have right now filling in on tour for lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, is a man named Per Nilsson who has a super high IQ and is a member of some super elite IQ club. So to even fill in for Meshuggah, you basically need to be some sort of mathematician to even understand their music, much less play it in real time, night after night. Its madness.
I feel these are the areas most people don't comprehend when listening to Meshuggah. Their music is so far advanced, that it tends to go right over most peoples heads, probably due to modern day lack of attention span. They are like aliens from another planet that have opened our eyes to the real possibilities of what humans are capable of playing without the aid of backing tracks. I actually live a daily life with a rather tough case of OCD, (the legit kind), and Meshuggah's music has been quite therapeutic for my brain activity and fidgeting. Anytime I find myself getting off track, i just think of one of their riffs, and I'm back on point.
The whole album is a mindfuuk, constantly spinning you around and making you think, "Are you serious? Those are people playing that?" The song "Nostrum" is another track thats just balls to the wall. I'd highly recommend you check out the studio video for "Nostrum" too where you see in the background, bassist Dick Lövgren wearing giant sleeping slippers, just tapping along to the 4/4 beat, but not the rhythm. Its mesmerizing.
Simply put, as Bill Burr once said about them, "If you have not seen Meshuggah live, you are doing yourself a disservice as a human being, its life altering".
They will go down in history as the most forward thinking band that has ever walked this earth.… Expand