KOLOSS

After four years of touring and promoting obZen, Meshuggah have finally returned to the studio and carved out a new batch of groovy compositions that all rhythmically inclined lunatics have been waiting for!

It really feels like the band where downgrading their level of ambition on obZen, which featured clear reliance on the sound of other acts and genres to enhance the classic Meshuggah sound. Even though I still think that the writing wasn't a big problem, I can't deny that the band were relying on simpler and groovier riffs to enhance the all around experience of their music. This alone might just have been the reason why obZen was the breakthrough album that it was.

Even if Koloss might seem like a logical followup to obZen, the album also features sounds of the past that I've been lacking for almost a decade! I hear sections that remind me of the slow atmospheric riffs of Nothing, rhythmic insanity that was their masterpiece I and let's not forget the scope of possibilities that was Chaosphere. This doesn't mean that everything Meshuggah does becomes an instant masterpiece, compositions like Do Not Look Down and Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion were just too repetitive to my ears and brought back the bitter taste of obZen. Luckily there are enough imaginative moments that make Koloss a standout moment in the band's discography.

The Demon's Name Is Surveillance has the riffs and the groove that can only be labeled as classic Meshuggah at its finest, featuring a mindboggling attack that you'll want to keep returning to just for the sheer thrill. The next great moment takes a bit longer to manifest itself, but once the first sounds of Marrow come around you know that you're in for another juicy piece straight out of the Thordendal/Haake cannon. But it all sounds pretty unimpressive once Swarm comes right in act three and completely mesmerizes with a slightly new take on the classic Meshuggah sound of I that singlehandedly breathes in new hope into the band's future endeavors!

I'm sure that fans of obZen will not be disappointed by Koloss, but ultimately it is the fans of the band's glorious past that will get most excitement out of this new release. Even though Meshuggah is no longer the creative force they once were, there are still enough signs of sheer brilliance here that make me excited about their possible perspectives, especially since the album ends on a very meditative note with The Last Vigil.

***** star songs: The Demon's Name Is Surveillance (4:39) Marrow (5:35) Swarm (5:26)

**** star songs: I Am Colossus (4:43) Behind The Sun (6:14) The Hurt That Finds You First (5:34) Demiurge (6:13) The Last Vigil (4:33)

*** star songs: Do Not Look Down (4:44) Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion (6:55)