MESHUGGAH

The music here is like a combination of all the old stuff, but still creating something new. There is alot more prog metal influences here, like Tool for example. This is probably their most dynamic album since DEI or perhaps ever, and the music is much more textured and layered. If you listen to it many times you will probably find new stuff all the time. I really wish that if any of their records will get rereleased in 5.1 it would be this one.

I read an interview where Tomas said that they tried to make every track on the record different from the othes, and I think they succeeded well. The tracks are very varied but still form an convincing entirety. The highlights of the album are the dynamics in Electric Red, the epicness Dancers to a Discordant System, the odd time signatures of Pravus and of course Bleed, one of the heaviest tracks Meshuggah has ever put to record.

The production is clear and professional, as the boys apparently have a studio of their own they (mostly Fredrik) have developed to great producers. You can hear all the guitars, the bass, and even Tomas' ghost notes in Bleed, if you listen carefully. In conclusion: this is another mastepiece from Meshuggah, and probably a good starting point for new listeners. 5 well deserved stars.

The addition of 8-string guitars ( Well actually detuned 7-string guitars because their custom build 8-string guitars couldn´t stay in tune and they had to return them to the builder to get them modified) and a generally much slower pace, than was the case on the predecessor, gives Nothing one of the most crushingly heavy sounds ever created on a metal album. The trademark impossible to play rythm patterns and heavy chugging riffs are still intact on Nothing and so are Jens Kidman´s caustic aggressive vocals, Tomas Haake´s incredible drumming and Fredrik Thordendal´s Holdsworthian jazz influenced guitar soloing. It´s definitely the guitar sound and the slower pace that sets Nothing apart from earlier releases. The hypnotic groove from Chaosphere is even more effectful in the slow to mid-paced tracks on Nothing. Some people seem to find Meshuggah´s music cold and calculated but I think there´s a groove that most people don´t notice on initial listen. I´m probably a bit slow but it took me a couple of years too before I learned to fully appreciate Meshuggah´s quite inaccessible music.

The 10 songs on the album are of high quality. The opening song Stengah sets the standard from the start but other songs on the album such as Rational Gaze and Closed Eye Visuals are also killer tracks.

Because of time pressure, as Meshuggah was announced in the last minute to join the 2002 Ozzfest tour, Nothing had to be mixed in just two days and mastered in one. I´ve always enjoyed the crushingly heavy and unique sound but some people seem to find the sound cold. An aquired taste for sure. Meshuggah opted to re-release a re- mastered version of Nothing in 2006. The 2006 version also features re-recorded guitars and bass and includes some triggered drum samples.

Nothing is pure and simple a masterpiece in my book. A unique technical/ progressive extreme metal album. It´s challenging, it´s aggressive, it´s played with virtuosic skill and it´s got a hypnotic groove that´s irresistable. Nothing is one of my favorite albums and of course it deserves a 5 star rating.

1. Combustion - When I first heard this riff I said to myself, "Wow, a real riff". Yes this song is incredibly heavy and very headbangable (there other matherial makes headbanging very hard to do, headbanging within polyrthyms can cause. Very thrash like, perfect opener to a great album.

2. Electric Red - Very good, 8 strings and some polrythyms, very Byzantine, using them in a musical way, a trait Meshuggah usually forget.

3. Bleed - Ok, probabbly the heaviest thing ever created. Tomas' feet are in agony, the only points he can stop are in the slow dark sections, and the weird solo bits. That's probabbly the reason the song is called Bleed, cause that's what will happen to your feet if you play this song (or your ears if you listen to it) Great song, and very avant garde video, perfectly insane.

4. Lethargica - An album track really, some of these songs aren't the most memerable, kind of like somethign from Nothing, just a bit similar, but still a good song.

5. Obzen - Great riffage, short and sweet, but kinf of still to complicated...these guys really need to just right a song instead of a continous comfusing ryhthym, but if thats what you're into...it's great. (I'm probabbly contradiciting myself a bit...but meh...who cares.)

6. This Spiteful Snake - Good lyrics, very dark ,and great use of language. The music is good again, a bit chugga chugga, but meh.

7. Pineal Optic Glands- Reminds me of Shed from Catch 33, dark and disturbing. Very odd solo as well.

8. Pravus - Another memorable riff, something this album dosent have alot of, but great songs.

9. Dancers To A Discordant System - Best song in my opinion, closes the album great, especially the last stanza, very philosophical. This song is obviously about the absolute garbage that is played in todays popular music. Great ending, very creepy.

CONCLUSION - This is probabbly Meshuggahs most structured album, great skilled songs and it may be a but repetive, but this album does display some great normal guitar riffs, e.g. Combustion & Pravus. Meshuggah fans may not like it that much, but someone getting into them should buy this album.

Lyrically the album is based on the book Catch 22, which is basically about being a victim of something, but having no control over it. The lyrics almost feel that the protaginist is the victim of himself.

1. Autonomy Lost - This introduces the first riff wich lasts through the next 3 songs. Short and effective.

2. Imprint Of The Un-Saved - Again this riff is heard, but with more complicated timing over it (the drums are progammed...what the hell!!)

3. Disenchantment - The first riff is heard for the last time, ends the first part of the album off great.

4. The Paradoxical Spiral - Altrernate picking is heard, before jetting off into the next riff. A mammoth of 8 string frenzy.

5. Re-Inanimate - Again this riff is being devolved, reminds me of classical sonata form.

6. Entrapment - This song deals with the paradox of insanity and trying to escape from it, this also ends the second part of the album and leads into the avant garde Minds Mirrors.

7. Mind's Mirrors - For some reason this is my favourite song on the album. I think the spoken words added with vocorder chords is amazing. Very Cynic like. Before that the lowest note probabbly ever is heard, sounds like the end of the world, very effective. Then a hypnotic picked guitar part is heard, very creepy and it leads you into the next song with no haste.

8. In Death - Is Life - This is the 4th part beginning, this ear crushing riff over Jonas growly vocals. Very short and leads into the next part of part 4.

9. In Death - Is Death - The longest song, heavy, creepy, heavy, creepy basically, good growling on behalf of Jonas. After minute 9, the most hypnotic part of the album is played, and makes you very unaware, but beware...

10. Shed - This completely suprises you, the massive climax, with Jonas's growling over the riff, it almost sounds like his growls are part of the instruments themselves. Amazing oddly timed riff with added dark ambience, another gem on the album.

11. Personae Non Gratae- Shed part 2 basically, but less efffective, the riff is replaced and watered down...preparing you for the end.

12. Dehumanization - Leads you towards the end, perfect timing and odd riffs galore, 8 strings being pushed into your face.

13. Sum - A little bit loud, a lot of quite towards the end. Then the album fades out on the chords of Mind Mirrors, very eerie but very beautiful.

CONCLUSION - This album is not for just prog rock fans only, you have to understand metal as a genre and look at what the band where trying to achieve...making inhuman music...which they did. It does sounds like minds smarter than our made it, and I'm proabbly right. If you dont like too much avant garde then buy Obzen or Nothing... Obzen is quite different because songs like Combustion, Bleed & Dancers To A Discordant System are not just random messing with odd time signatures, but sound like real songs. Meshuggah do ten to repeat themselves alot..but this album is definitley they're most experimental. To be honest i love this album, not too much, but if a bit of avant garde comes my way, i except it for what it is...ADVANT GARDE.

I admit, it took me a while to get into Meshuggah. I was just a little weirded out in the beginning because their stuff is so technical and complex it really has no genre except that it's metal. For a long time I couldn't get through the song "I"but I really love it now. It certainly is an excellent piece of music for those into extremely heavy and complex metal.

I now see the briliance in this album by comparing its technicality to my favourite band, Pink Floyd. Mainly, to pieces such as "A Saucerful of Secrets" or the studio album of UmmaGumma. The song just seems to go on and on and on, and gets increasingly complex with each minute that passes by. The opening riff sounds like a standard metal riff, but you begin to notice that it's not standard at all when it drags on for a minute and a half. This gave me a feeling of suspense... like what's going to happen next? And then the heaviest part of the song came on, and spent 20 seconds blasting my ears out.

The lyrics of Meshuggah are really interesting as well, might l add. They're very philosophical and conceptual. Overall this album took me a while to get used to, but now I have come to enjoy it, and its only song has become one of my treasured prog metal epics.

The dream team largely remains the same, with Jens Kidman using a wide range of screams, shouts and growls to communicate the tortured insanity that becomes a recurring theme throughout the album. Tomas Haake pounds the kit with complete control and fluidity, and the guitar and bass blast through on overdrive. The polyrhythms spiral and sprawl with an entirely anarchic feel, which certainly do the title of the album justice.

One cannot help but be impressed with their relentless ability to play an onslaught of such consistently brutal music. It would not appear to be a virtue, as such, by description. However, when one hears the level of intensity of the terrifying 'Concantenation', only steadily increase up until the closer 'Elastic', it's hard to point to the work of humans for an explanation for the madness. This is highly creative music, and the wall of sound prevalent throughout becomes a set of very distinguished songs after multiple listens. Whilst all filled with excruciatingly painful themes, terror, agony, misery, bewilderment and fury are all to be detected, and this range of high intensity emotions gives each song its own tortured message and sound.

You will probably only be able to digest this one in very small bites, but as you spend your ten minutes worth of Meshuggah in a darkened room, disconnected from the world, allow yourself to fall into the awe and might of these incredible musicians. Here, they prove that they take music to heights far beyond a virtuosic state; be prepared to discover mankind and the world in a new, surreal, and disturbing light. Yeah - it's that scary.

(4.4 stars)

The second setback on this album is how none of the songs really set themselves apart, for example: when I'm listening to the opening of Perpetual Black Second in my own head, I'm thinking that the same riff could be used in any other song on the album. This is true to me, despite being at different tempos. In fact the only song that stands out as different to me is Spasm because of Haake's little vocal part, but then again bringing something new to the album doesn't necessarily bring anything new to Meshuggah, and this sort of thing can be found in a purer (and in my opinion better) form in the songs Exquisite Machinery Of Torture and Sublevels from previous albums.

My final beef with this album is how repetitive and uninventive the riffs are. Once again, if you've heard one song you've pretty much heard them all. The only thing different here is a complete change in mood, which I salute them for, but then again on albums like Destroy Erase Improve and Obzen we had a change in mood with every song. The riffs in almost every single album they have done stick out somehow, examples for me would be the ending of New Millenium Cyanide Christ, the whole of Bleed, Combustion and and Soul Burn and finally the bridge section riffs in In Death - Is Death. But here all the riffs are pretty much in the same manner throughout.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a BAD effort as such. It's just... well, boring. I can't listen to the whole thing from beginning to end because it just wears me down with it's tedium. For this reason I can't give it anyhigher than 3 stars but i can't give it a 1 because it's obviously had a lot of work done to it. Just... the wrong kind of work. This isn't the Meshuggah I love here, their souls just weren't in it this time. So it's a 2 stars exactly from me.

There are some interesting things to note about Catch 33. First, this album is actually just one giant song, which has been divided into 13 pieces. Second, this is a concept album. Perhaps not in the standard sense that it follows a story throughout, but it is built around one concept, (which would be paradoxes). Third, Tomas Haake does not drum on this album. Instead they use a drum machine, (aptly named the "Drumkit from Hell"). Granted, the drum programming is done by Haake, and the program uses actual samples for Haake's drumming. So while absent in person, it sounds exactly like he was playing. (Apparently, this was due to time restraints but I am not sure). Also, interesting to note Jens played guitar on the album, in addition to Fredrik and Marten.

The album begins with Autonomy Lost. This segment jumps right into a very Meshuggah riff. Heavy, odd and poly rhythmic. Soon a manic sounding tremolo picking starts up in the background. Then you are pelted by Jens vocals, the most intense yet. This continues through Imprint of the Un-Saved and Disenchantment. Of course with subtle changes throughout that only us proggers would notice.

The Paradoxical Spiral starts with more manic guitar and then a very groovy riff. There are vocals here, ( I believe by Haake) but they are tough to hear, buried way under the music. Jens then comes in. The music has a very different feel in this section. A pretty nice solo comes in about 5 minutes in.

NOW things get real interesting. Mind's Mirrors begin with a very unique sound. I am not sure, but it sounds like guitar tuned so low the strings are hanging. It produces a very low, rattly sound that is really just amazing! Soon Tomas Haake starts delivering some spoken word through a vocoder, (or some synthesizer, I do not know). This over the strange rattling creates a GREAT atmosphere. It really is beyond words.

In Death - Is Life and In Death - Is Death really change the pace. This part goes on for over 13 minutes. It starts out nice. It features a slow, haunting, strange melody with a building noise in the background, and the whole piece builds until we are suddenly thrown back into a riff. It sounds cool, but not very different from prior parts and honestly, it drags a bit. Though there is a cool little section with some great drum programming then we go into another different piece.

This one is a little faster then the rest of the album and is quite technical, showcasing Meshuggah's complex rhythms. There are some intense vocals and interesting solos here. There is an interesting section that builds and builds, with some low vocals then explosion! One of the greatest screams you'll hear. The next section is cool, and the album goes out with some intense screaming and then....dead.

A VERY unique piece, and in my opinion their most progressive one. It is a good work, however there are some downsides. Overall, sections tend to drag. It is good for a while, but I just feel myself ready to fast forward eventually. Maybe they do this on purpose to then wham you with a change...but I can not take it sometimes. Also, I have been talking about Jens vocals for some time. They have been tolerable yet increasingly harsh. Some sections on Catch 33 they REALLY fit the music. Other times they are way too piercing.

A good album, could listen to it, but not very often. However, any Meshuggah or tech/prog metal will at least appreciate the complexity and progressiveness of this album. I give it a 3.5, thus it gets a favorable bump. Highly recommended for prog/tech metal fans.

4 stars

As mentioned above, Fredrik and Marten belt out some really slow, heavy, and groovy riffs. One thing I love about this album is a lot of the riffs sound they like are "falling off", (the only way I can describe it). A really cool sound. Of course Fredrik's solo are still here. It would not be a Meshuggah album without his bizarre, jazz fusion inspired solos.

The bass on this album is much less noticeable on this album. Which I am never a fan of. This album also displays some of Haake's best work. He plays some really technical, and complex rhythm's that will just blow your mind.

Jens' vocals have always been harsh but on this album they are stepped up. This is the album where his vocals become more piercing...but it is still tolerable.

Stengah. What a way to begin the album. You are thrown into one of those insanely heavy, slow chugging riffs. Notice hear what I mean with it sounds like they are falling. Then comes in Haake's signature drumming. A slow, groovy song with some nice solos.

Rational Gaze. My favorite song on the album, and actually one of the first I heard from this band. This song has one of my favorite examples of Haake's drumming. His continuous crash cymbal, off beat drumming, and wild bass drum use is so cool sounding. This song also is the best example of the "falling" riffs. At some points it sounds like they are just falling off the face of the planet. Just before the 2 minute mark you can hear some truly insane drumming. Haake must have 3 brains. There is a very dissonant solo later in the song, very cool.

Perpetual Black Second. The opening half minute will blow you away. This song alternates between really groovy riffs and short, staccato riffs. Some great drumming, a wild wild solo, and the outro is just brutal. Warning: The vocals on this song are quite intense.

Closed Eye Visuals. More of the same here. That is one downside of this album. However, it's ok since it all sounds so amazing. Good, but not one of the best on the album.

Glints Collide. A cool intro riff and really superb drumming. Again a good song, but nothing stand out about it.

Organic Shadows. The beginning will explode your brain! It soon goes into another crazy riff and some of the most off beat drumming yet! (Which is a good thing in the case of prog!) One of the better songs on the album, and the vocals are very intense on this one as well. Also, one of the best solos in the album are here.

Straws Pulled at Random. A manic intro and then into what might be the most dissonant, whacked riff on the album, (and THAT is saying something). Haake's drumming is beyond grasp, one of the best examples on this work. This song might be the might technical and completely insane on the album!

Spasm. Great intro. At :30 is some warped drumming and the vocals are quite awesome. They persist through the song and I am glad! They are just great sounding. Good solo, (that should go without saying). Overall the song is...well, spasmic.

Nebulous. A very slow, VERY heavy song. The music is pretty cool but the vocals are too much for me on this one. It's worth sitting through however. Such a massive tone! 2:00 on is just a flat out assault on your mind.

Obsidian. Begins with a slow, kind of creepy, yet beautiful intro. It carries on for a bit but then back to brutal reality. Best way I can describe this song is: This song should be played if the world was ending in a nuclear holocaust. That is what it sounds like.

Overall. WOW. Just wow. A brutal assault on your mind. The combo of heaviness and complexity is mind boggling. While this is a GREAT album it's major problem is all the songs are similar. Granted, they all sound good...but there is not much variety. Same style, throughout. Probably that was done on purpose by Meshuggah. Jens vocals can be difficult at times as well. Anyway, fans of prog/tech metal must have this album!

I give it a rating of 4 stars.