KOLOSS

Released four years after the landmark Obzen, Koloss was met with much anticipation. You see by 2012, the metal world, and the prog metal world especially, was in the throws of a "djent" revolution. And the undisputed progenitor of that revolution was Meshuggah. The metal world was eager to see how its late entry into the pantheon of metal gods would opt to reveal itself in a landscape more than ready to accept its revelation. So how did Koloss fair? Well I guess it depends on who you ask.

The record is best described as distilled Meshuggah; the requisite components are all there but more friendly and accessible. The grooves are deep, but not mind-bending. Thordendal's guitar leads continue to generate ambiance but they stray from their typical dissonant spaciness and settle on something approaching standard voicings. For the old die-hards, it was easy to see why they would not value this record. But from the outside looking in, Koloss is a commendable album all around. By making this record, the band didn't just open themselves up to even greater mainstream appeal, they brought diversity to their sound thus sustaining their relevance even as the trend they helped established subsided.