MESHUGGAH

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.

The time signatures and all over the place and vary greatly, even in one song! The guitars may be playing in 5/16 or 17/16 while the drums are in 4/4 and the time signatures change wildly throughout the song. The amazing thing is, it all melts together! Despite all that madness when it comes together it flows like a regular 4/4!

Perhaps to a simple music lover this will seem off beat, chaotic, and terrible. No doubt it takes a higher musical mind to truly enjoy this album. If you can really grasp WHAT the band is doing then this album is a gem. Despite its crazy rhythms and time signatures it all adds up in the end. This album is a mathematical masterpiece of music. Never thought an equation could sound so good!

Before I get into the actual songs, if you are a drummer then you must listen to this album for Haake's drumming! This is where he showcases his true skill. He can play a simple 4/4 beat with the cymbal and snare, yet play in 23/16 with the bass drums! Not to mention the stop and go/technical beats he lays down with the bass. The man must have 2 brains I swear.

Concatenation. A brutal song. Starts right out with the crushing riff. It sounds like a wall of noise. Get used to it. We also Haake's technical, off beat drumming and Jens violent vocals. The middle section has a jazz inspired solo by Fredrik, being played over an absolutely brutal rhythm guitar.

New Millennium Cyanide Christ. One of their most famous songs, and one of my favorites. This song is the epitome of Meshuggah. A 4/4 cymbal rhythm over a 23/16 with the kicks, being followed by the crushing guitars. There are 5 measures in 23/16, 1 in 13/16, 9 in 3/8 and 1 in 5/8. That adds up to 64/16 OR 16 measures in 4/4!

Corridor of Chameleons. Another wonderfully brutal song with some pounding, driving bass drum work from Haake. Of course there is an awesome Fredrik solo and some manic screaming.

Neurotica. A slower, cool sounding intro with some nice bass. The next riff is really cool and sounds like it is falling off. Overall, a slower song that sounds really cool.

The Mouth Licking What You've Bled. My second favorite from the album. An insane intro quickly followed more heaviness and Haake's now famous off beat drumming. These continue throughout the song. This song has a great solo, and at :54 is one of the most intense parts, ever.

Sane. This song has one of the coolest sounding drum beats ever. It sounds reversed...there is a continuous double bass with out of whack drumming on top. God knows what signature he is playing in. After the solo there is a long, slower section and at 2:45 is one of the most sections yet!

The Exquisite Machinery of Torture. A slow, heavy intro which is soon followed by almost rap like vocals. Really great sounding. One of the most unique solos on the album is in this song.

Elastic. Ah, what is prog without a 15 minute song? This is a true progressive song with the riffs and flow changing throughout, and some nice solos. A really slow, creepy section kicks in after 4:00 and at 6:00 things really get messed up. The next 5 minutes is just a noise. A noise that will consume your soul and make most go into a mental breakdown. Then in the blink of an eye a true wall of madness barrages you. It is EVERY song on the album being played at once. Pure madness!

What to say? This is an amazing album. This is only for metal heads, the regular progger should stay FAR away. Every song is good, but none really stand out. They all sound similar, and have a similar feel. While it's good, not diverse....therefore this album can not get a 5. If you take the vocals, and pure brutality this album is a must have for most prog-metal fans. 4 stars

This album does have a different sound from their later works. The guitars are not as heavy sounding and instead of their soul crushing, staccato, riffs this albums uses tremolo picking thrash metal riffs. However, even back in these days they use their mechanical, complex jazzy guitar solos. Fredrik is one hell of a player.

You can really hear the bass on this album, MUCH more than on later works, and I am always a fan of that. Their bassist at the time was Peter Nordin and while he may not lay down anything mind blowing, there is some great bass work here and you can REALLY hear it.

Jens vocals on this album are actually the most tolerable of any Meshuggah work. He employs a harsh, yet non pitched scream. This is perfectly tolerable for ANY fan of metal and the vocals actually fit the music quite well, as opposed to later albums where his vocals seem to just pierce everything.

My favorite part of Meshuggah. The drumming. Tomas Haake is, in my opinion, the best drummer there is right now. We all know his insane poly rhythmic drumming with complex bass patterns and pin point accuracy, not to mention some great jazzy beats. While you do hear traces of that this album features more straight forward thrash drumming, which is still impressive nonetheless.

Paralyzing Ignorance. Begins with a slow melodic intro which quickly picks up intensity. Here is some great work of Haake's drumming. A simple, slow riff begins before we are thrown into a chaotic bass section. Then the thrash begins. The rest of the song is very thrashy and their is a sweet solo in there.

Erroneous Manipulation. A nice heavy intro! For a while the song continues slow and heavy with some nice thrash bursts. The middle section is great! With some complex soloing, and even a small melodic section. Some crazy bass as well!

Abnegating Cecity. A nice thrashy song, though not extremely fast, and with some interesting solos throughout.

Internal Evidence. A sweet bass intro quickly followed by some technical drumming. Gotta love a drummer that can work some technicality into thrash! In fact this song has some of the albums most technical drumming, and some of his jazz prowess as well. Overall this song is quite progressive.

Qualms of Reality. Another nice thrashy song.

We'll Never See the Day. A fairly slow beginning that moves into a faster Metallica-esque downpicking riff. In fact this song has a VERY strong Metallica sound. However, the solos the bizzare meshuggah solo's we all love, and their is some great drumming yet again.

Greed. The beginning almost has a hardcore feel to it with the drums. Also, another great place to hear some killer bass. The song then goes into a thrashy section with some off beat drumming! It sounds like the Haake we now know. The song is pretty quick, and has a nice progression throughout.

Choirs of Devastation. An instrumental song (well not quite), this one is fairly mellow, (compared to the rest). There is a beautiful minute long opening, when some heavy riffs and great drumming kicks in. After some spoken word a REALLY groovy riff comes followed by some blazing, yet wonderful solos. Great ending. This is my favorite song from the album! A real winner here.

Cadaverous Mastication. Not one of my favorites, a good song but nothing spectacular here. The weakest on the album. Not bad really, but not good.

Overall, a great album! Obviously the regular progger should stay away from this, or any meshuggah album. However, fans of prog-metal this is a good work! It is still very thrashy so it depends on how metal your taste is. For me, this album is a solid 4 but for this site I give it 3 stars.

This album has all the we love and expect from Meshuggah. Crushing riffs, and insane drumming. Though it is not to the level of later albums you can clearly hear the magnificent work of Thomas Haake. His playing runs the gambit on this album. We hear double bass pounding thrash beats, to slow jazzy drumming, (that is quite beautiful) to has signature off beat, poly-rhythmic patterns.

Although we heard bits of it before, this album really expands on the jazz fusion elements. The drumming and guitar work in these parts are simply beautiful. Best examples are in Future Breed Machine, Vanished, Inside What's Within Behind, and Sublevels.

You can hear it in many of the solos as well. To a less musically traveled ear the solo's may sound like crazy metal shreds, but we here know better. The solo's are very jazzy. It also creates a very interesting juxtaposition. Not often can you hear high pitched, jazzy solos over brutally crushing guitar rhythm's.

There are 10 songs on this album. All are good. Some are stronger than others. Some are absolute winners I could always listen to, some are good but not anything spectacular. I will talk about the best few on this album.

Future Breed Machine. One of their most well known, and I see why. After a 30 second long intro that sounds like a factory the song kicks in. Overall, a pretty thrashy song, with heavy riffs and some pounding vocals. The double bass part just after 2 minutes is very intense. However, just after is one of the best parts on the whole album. This jazzy section is just wonderful. Then it's back to brutality.

Acrid Placidity. This song is a total departure from the album. It is slow, mellodic with beautiful guitar work and almost no drumming. Yup, it's all about the guitar, and words can not describe. A must listen. Interesting to note: this song was written by rhythm guitarist Marten Hagstrom. We're so used to his crushing rhythm guitar work, it is amazing to see his melodic side. And after hearing this song it is no surprise Meshuggah started moving in that direction since his entry on this album.

Suffer in Truth. A slow, bassy, double bass drum pounding intro. This song features some of the best bass guitar on the album. Not to mention some superb drumming and guitar work. It is a very mechanical song with a great feel.

Sublevels is a great song, and has one of the best intros! Also, some of Haake's best work.

Overall, a great album. Obviously not for the regular progger or even the standard metal head. This album is INTENSE. It is not the easiest to listen to, (although better than some later works). You must like this kind of music. The vocals of Jens are a drawback. His vocals have always been tough. They are not deep growls, or high pitched shrieking...just loud. They can be very piercing. It is tolerable though.

Great album. Great sound, later to be expanded. If you are a fan of more extreme metal, technical metal, and the more extreme side of prog-metal this album is a must listen. 4 stars.