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Meshuggah cannot be comprised of human beings. Their music sounds like an aural manifestation of Skynet from the Terminator films. I is an EP consisting of one 21 minute track that will go down in history as perhaps the heaviest epic ever. While there are symphonic epics that rock throughout, this is a hammer to your skull. Those who are not well versed in prog metal are not suggested to start here.

First, ignore the awful visual pun that is the album cover. The song opens immediately with pummeling riffs, the musicians fly at the speed of light through the first few minutes. When the death screams come in you know this isn't going to be a happy affair. Things begin to slow down around the 5 minute mark from hyperspeed licks to solos at the mere speed of sound. While Fredrik solos, Marten plays a melody that doesn't match at all and yet it all fits.

If you think the relentless shredding is terrifying, you'll wet yourself around the 14:40 mark when the band halts to doom metal speeds and let each sinsiter riff and bass pound sink in. The sound reverberates through your brain and it sounds like a mechanical hell, where there is only hollowness and despair. When the other guitar and drums re-enter, you get pummelled to the very end where the distortion builds and builds until the point where you can't take it anymore before cutting out suddenly.

This busts all preconceived notions of prog epics. There is no soft acoustic part and no slow build up from near silence to normal (this goes from loud to punishing). It stands as one of the top prog metal epics, alongside DT's Octavarium, Fates Warning's Ivory Gate of Dreams, and Symphony X's Divine Wings of Tragedy. This is dizzingly complex, particularly the insane drumming of Haake. These guys are airtight as a unit and can do whatever they want on their instruments. Only the heaviest of metalheads should flirt with the awesome power of this band.

Grade: B+