SELFCAGED

Worth owning for the live vertion of Gods of Rapture alone, this is a great piece of earlier Meshuggah. Meshuggah fans will always think what they want pretty much anyway, so my opinion probably matters very little - but this is a great release from a great band, its only 4 tracks, but 4 very worth while tracks they are. Get it if you can.

"Selfcaged" is an EP release by Swedish technical extreme metal act Meshuggah. The EP was released through Nuclear Blast Records in February 1995. There exists both a US and a European version of the EP. The US version features one more track than the European version. The extra track is "Humiliative", which was also featured as the first track on the 1994 "None" EP.

"Selfcaged" is honestly one of those releases that I´m having a hard time understanding the value of. The three studio tracks on the four track EP, "Vanished", "Suffer in Truth" and "Inside What´s Within Behind", are all present on the band´s second studio album "Destroy Erase Improve ( 1995)". They appear here in slightly different versions but we´re talking minor details that set these versions apart from the versions on "Destroy Erase Improve ( 1995)". The US bonus track "Humiliative" is, as mentioned above, already featuring on the "None (1994)" EP, and therefore doesn´t add much value to this release. The fifth (or fourth if you own the European version) and last track on the album is the track that presents most value for the money as it is a live version of "Gods of Rapture" from the "None (1994)". It´s a decent live version, but nothing too special.

"Selfcaged" was probably released to promote "Destroy Erase Improve ( 1995)" and if that´s the case this is a good teaser of what´s in store on that album, but for those of us who already own "Destroy Erase Improve ( 1995)" and the "None (1994)" EP this is not the most exciting release. In my opinion this is purely a fan release and while the quality of the material is high, I´m questioning the relevance of the EP and I think a 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.