NONE

Meshuggah are always an acquired taste for some, this however is perhaps their most acessible work besides their thrash influenced debut album. Still, this EP shows a clear path what Meshuggah was about to become. Technical and polyrhythmic complete with very tricky use of time-signatures, and the riffs are some of the best I've heard from them. It's definietly a step forward from their debut album and it is the first Meshuggah release to featuring their "classic" sound. This EP is comparable to "Destroy Erase Improve" especially, as they are both very similar in style except for that "Destroy Erase Improve" is heavier and sharper and this one is not quite as heavy, but still extremely complex and raw, without forgetting the acoustic works here too that works incredibly well between the heavy riffing from the band.

There's no weak tracks here, except for the ending of "Aztec Two-Step" which is basically just 5 minutes silence. Otherwise, this is top-notch stuff,with the best track being "Slickening", a great candidate for beign the best Meshuggah track from their early years. "None" is not as mind-boggling as later releases but still a highly recommended EP for fans especially! I'll give it 4.7/5

The birth of the metal experiment.

Meshuggah - progressed. The band's first real outreach towards a more complex and progressive sound, None is a bit more laid back approach from their first progressive studio approach in Destroy Erase Improve. However, for those not adjusted to this band or this sound, it won't seem as such.

It becomes clear very quickly how much this band has to offer. The only comparison I can make to the lead guitar sound is Allan Holdsworth, which is really saying something. However, it's Allan with an unhappy childhood, as evidenced by the dense riffing and distortion. Haake's drums are not as impressive here as they would be on other albums like Chaosphere, but you can already tell how much different his style is to others in the field.

Sickening is the best track here, sounding most like a DEI track but has a very nice clean section to go with it. A great EP to have. The only downer to this is the vocals, which are not near as robotic and structured as they would become later (trust me, you don't want a lot of variety with the vocals with this style of music). For those that can stomach the initial sound, there are enough tricks and turns to keep yourself entertained.

"None" is an EP release by Swedish metal act Meshuggah. The EP was released through Nuclear Blast Records in November 1994. It bridges the gap between the band´s debut and sophomore studio albums "Contradictions Collapse (1991)" and "Destroy Erase Improve (1995)". Since the release of "Contradictions Collapse (1991)" rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström has joined Meshuggah, making the band a five-piece. Lead vocalist Jens Kidman has therefore been relieved of his rhythm guitar duties, and solely performs vocals on "None".

Considering the rhythmic complexity of Meshuggah´s music that was probably a good idea, but compared to the technical thrash metal style on "Contradictions Collapse (1991)", the material on "None" are actually generally a little less structurally complex and more focused on heavy mid-paced grooves. In contemporary reviews the music style on "None" was often compared to thrash/groove metal releases by artists like Pantera, Machine Head, and Sepultura, but while there are both heavy riffs and groove laden rhythms in spades on "None", Meshuggah are ultimately a completely different sounding beast to the mentioned contemporary artists (who themselves would also be wrong to lumb in together). This is challenging, odd-metered, and unconventional thrash/groove metal. Meshuggah had not found their signature sound yet, and the music on "None" is not yet as hypnotic, repetitive, and alien sounding as later releases by the band...but it would be downright wrong to label this "just another 90s thrash/groove metal release" or normal in any way.

Meshuggah had a vision to challenge their audience (and themselves) from day one and "None" is no different in that respect to their other releases. "None" is a relatively long EP featuring 5 tracks and a total playing time of 33:14 minutes. Around 6 minutes of that time are just the band making noises and some silence and therefore closing track "Aztec Two-Step" actually only features 4-5 minutes of music, and not 10:43 minutes as the tracklist says. "Humiliative", "Sickening", and "Gods of Rapture" are all groove laden, heavy, and technical thrash/groove metal tracks, while "Ritual" is probably the most unique and different sounding song in the band´s discography. I wouldn´t exactly call "Ritual" a power ballad or anything like that, but it is unusually melodic and even features Kidman breaking out of his angry James Hetfield impersonation, singing some clean vocal sections...now that´s a first...and a last..."Aztec Two-Step" is an industrial tinged thrash/groove metal track.

"None" features a powerful, clear, and detailed sound production, and Meshuggah were already at this point an exceptionally well playing act, so while the EP isn´t a perfect release by any means there is enough quality here to fully warrant a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Meshuggah is a Swedish Progressive Tech Metal band that was originally formed in 1985 under the name Metallien, a name that was obviously hinting at another famous band at the time. Those influences were also apparent on the band's debut album Contradictions Collapse, but let's not talk so much about that era and instead move towards the period that has truly put Meshuggah on the map!

In 1994, Meshuggah was still a relatively unknown act and their debut album did very little to change this. Then came a 30+ minute EP titled None which predated Destroy Erase Improve by less than a year and showed definite improvement over their debut. None had almost everything that would make the band famous, over the course of the next few years, compiled on these short five compositions.

I consider Sickening to be the definite highlight here because, although it's still somewhat of a transitional composition between the two periods of Meshuggah's career, the composition actually show exactly how the band made their improvement by giving us, the listeners, a linear enhancement of their sound. It also helps that Sickening is one of the more well recognized songs in the band's arsenal. All this crammed into a six minute composition alone makes this little piece of Tech Metal history worth purchasing!

I also like Gods Of Rapture which features one of Fredrik Thordendal's trademarked guitar-solos which is backed up by a synthesizer sound that must have been inspired by Mats/Morgan, who Thordendal has collaborated with on a few occasions.

The only real issue I have with the EP is related to the 11 minute concluding track called Aztec Two-Step which actually ends after the four-minute-mark and the rest of the time is filled with sound-effects which are then followed by five minutes of complete silence. There is a minor pay-off at the end of that silence but it's definitely not worth waiting for.

This EP marks the new era of Progressive Tech Metal development and therefore I can't give it anything less than the 4 star rating which it truly deserves!

***** star songs: Sickening (5:47) Gods Of Rapture (5:11)

**** star songs: Humiliative (5:18) Ritual (6:17)

*** star songs: Aztec Two-Step (10:44)

MESHUGGAH has never been the most prolific of bands and that was quite apparent even in the beginning. While the debut EP emerged in 1989, it took two years to release the first album "Contradictions Collapse" and it would take three more for the next chapter in the MESHUGGAH universe to unfold and with the release of yet another EP in the form of 1994's NONE, the band took another significant leap into the djent fueled progressive angularity of the future. While clearly rooted in the Metallica leaning origins, by this time the influences are more distant as the band had started to extend past the thrash leanings of Slayer, Metallica and Sepultura.

One of the major differences came in the form of a fifth member as Mårten Hagström joined the team as rhythm guitarist so that Jens Kidman could focus exclusively as vocalist. This minor tweaking of the lineup allowed for a radical change in the band's direction as not only was Kidman let off the leash to break free from his James Hetfield limitations and expand into new territories but the addition of Hagström's rhythmic staccato styled riffing was exactly what MESHUGGAH needed to break their infatuation with late 80s Metallica worship. The result is that NONE is really the beginning of the classic MESHUGGAH sound that would only continue to evolve into the surreal avant-metal beast that would be fully unleashed on "Destroy Erase Improve."

The EP that slightly surpasses the half hour mark starkly contrasts with its predecessor as the opening "Humiliative" begins with surreal spacey effects accompanied by the robotic hypnosis of the classic MESHUGGAH chugs that essentially launched a new guitar style called djent, an onomatopoeia for the distinctive high-grain, distorted, palm-muted, low-pitch guitar sound that debuts right here on NONE's first track. Despite the thrash leanings still present, they are seriously teased into more inventive creatures with progressive time signatures, innovative guitar soloing and some of the jazz-fusion elements slowly oozing into the band's overall sound. Add to that there are some seriously adventurous percussive outbursts and bass grooves that deviate from the simpler status quo of "Contradictions Collapse."

The track "Ritual" debuts the jazz-fusion guitar intros and sounds like the band also went for lower string tunings which results in a darker, more sinister feel. While on this track Kidman does evoke a hint of James Hetfield inspiration, as does the general melodic riff, the band are also displaying how they are separating from the earlier albums by creating a more cacophonous storm of dissonance as the melody is slowly drifting away into a parallel universe and would emerge more disfigured once it arrives on the following "Destroy Erase Improve" album.

While that track and the more Pantera laced groove metal elements of "Gods Of Rapture" connect MESHUGGAH to its trash metal origins, the true leap in innovation comes to fruition on the frighteningly bombastic hypnosis of the near eleven minute closer "Aztec Two-Step" which demonstrates how MESHUGGAH was walking the tightrope between the thrash oriented early releases and the much more experimental and challenging albums to come. The track runs the gamut of tech thrash, progressive djent and delves into weird changes that would be a MESHUGGAH trademark of the future however the lengthy periods of silence at the end are annoying.

NONE was released on both CD and cassette in 1994 but also appeared on the compilation simply titled "Contradictions Collapse & None" however buyer beware! This comp only contains the first four tracks and doesn't include the most experimental wild ride "Aztec Two-Step" but yet contains the track "Cadeverous Mastication" which wasn't on the original "Contradictions Collapse" album and only tacked on later. It actually appeared on the debut EP in 1989, so my advice is to seek this one out in its original five track format. NONE is the moment when MESHUGGAH came of age and although not as perfected as what was to come, still signified a band that had shed its love affair with its influences and stepped up to the plate with some of the most bizarre metal to emerge in the early 90s.