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Contents

[edit] Meshuggah

[edit] Albums and Reviews

[edit] Other stuff

[edit] Interviews

1 2

[edit] The article

This is stuff that will come to the article Meshuggah

[edit] Sources

  • Allmusic - Contradictions Collapse[5][5]
  • Allmusic - Destroy Erase Improve[6][6]
  • Stylus nothing[31]

[edit] Style

The level of experimentation[12] and the stylistic variations and progress during Meshuggah's career have made the music journalist label Meshuggah under severeal musical genres. In general Meshuggah have been labeled as (often a combination of) thrash metal,[14][28] death metal,[14][30] technical death metal,[17] math metal[4][21][22], avant-garde metal,[14] progressive metal,[14][27] experimental metal,[14] post-thrash metal,[17][18] alternative metal,[6] grindcore,[15][14][24] mathcore,[14] or even terms like tech-thrash.[21] Meshuggah incorporate also elements from math rock and experimental jazz[4] and create their unique and recognizable sonic imprint.[14][9] Their style evolves between each release[19][20] as also Hagström explains: "we try never to repeat ourselves."[20] Music critics claim also that Meshuggah is pushing the heavy metal into new territories[8][6][24]

Trademarks and characteristics, which define Meshuggah's sound, include complex,[4][22] technical[6][19][24][29] metal with mathematical songwriting,[8] usage of polyrhytmic structure,[19][23] rapid key and tempo changes[10] odd riff cycles, neo-jazz chromatics,[8] "rotating" time signatures[24] and rhythmic syncopation.[24][26] The complexity in combination with aggression makes some critics call the music cacophonous[24] and the polyrhythms can make the music sound like the band members were playing different songs simultaneously.[25]

In a typical polyrhythm by Meshuggah, the guitars might play in odd meters such as 5/16 or 17/16, while drums play in normal 4/4.[31] On "Rational Gaze" (from Nothing) drummer Tomas Haake is playing simple 4/4 time, hitting the snare on each third beat, for 16 bars. At the same time, the guitars and bass are playing the same quarter notes, albeit in a different time signature, and eventually, both sides meet up again at the 64th beat.[24] On "Bleed" (from obZen) Haake is much of the song playing half-time on snare and high hat while his feet join the other instrumentalists in the "gang blasts" that are one of Meshuggah’s trademarks.[23] Sometimes Haake is keeping the hi-hat and ride cymbal simple, 4/4 time, but the snare and double bass drum uses for a different rhythm.[26]

The drummer Tomas Haake is considered to be one of the most technical drummers in today's heavy metal.[10][19][27] He has been called by Rolling Stone Magazine as "a one-man percussion army"[15] and is known for his precise[6] cross-rhythm drumming.[15] A trademark of Thordendal is his free jazz-inspired soloing[27][28][26] He is also known for the usage of a "breath controller" device.[26]

Prestigious Rolling Stone Magazine describes the "Swedish sonic extremists" as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands".[14] Meshuggah have also been desribed as highly skilled[6][19][24] virtuoso[15][30] or genius-bordering[6] musicians and "guitar, drum and metal mags"[4] with "incredible abilities recognized by mainstream music magazines, especially those dedicated to particular instruments."[4]

[edit] Lyrics, songwriting and vocals

Thomas Haake also writes most of the lyrics.[20][23][25] "I usually write lyrics in a once-a-year burst," he says. "After reading a few really cool books, seeing a couple good movies, I get hit with a wave of inspiration… some kind of concept. Even though we don’t make concept albums, we like them to have strong conceptual underpinnings kind of lurking in the background, and it’s definitely a concept that gets me going. I don’t really write lyrics for finished tracks."[23]

The main theme of obZen is "human evil" as Haake explains. "The title is a play on the words "obscene" and "Zen," suggesting that we’ve found harmony and balance in warfare and bloodshed.[23] Meshuggah has often esoteric lyrics,[4] which deal with themes such as human physiology, psychology[19] and existentialism[8] or "visualize the integration of machines with organisms as humanity's next logical evolutionary step."[6]

Jens Kidman does not play the guitar anymore, but he is still involved in writing guitar riffs.[20] Except when Hagström finds himself needing a soloist, he and Thordendal rarely record together. Each plays both guitar and bass (touring bassist Dick Lövgren doesn’t record with the band) on their compositions. "Sometimes," Haake says, "I’ll sample guitar parts, cut them up, pitch-shift and tweak them until I’ve built the riffs I want, just for demoing purposes."[23] But most of the time I’ll just present the drums, and explain my ideas for the rest of the song, sing some riffs.[23]

The vocal style of Jens Kidman varies between hardcore-style shouts[6] and "robotic"[8][24][26] death metal vocals[8][20][30] Kidman also alters the pitch of his screams to match the instrumental part of the band.[28]

[edit] Early work

Early work of Meshuggah, with main influence from Metallica, "is simpler and more straight-forward than their more recent material, but some of their more progressive elements are present in the form of time-changes and polyrhythmics, and Fredrik Thordendal's lead playing stands out."[1] Contradictions Collapse and None EP would generally fall to the alternative metal category, rather than into the progressive metal.[5] The debut album is also been described as relatively unmature, but original Meshuggah's release.[6] The double bass drums and angular riffage also defined the early work of Meshuggah.[1]

With Destroy Erase Improve meshuggah showed accurate calculated fusion of death metal, thrash metal and prog metal and extraordinary technical polyrhythmic math metal.[6] Allmusic describes the style as "weaving hardcore-style shouts amongst deceptively (and deviously) simple staccato guitar riffs and insanely precise drumming -- often with all three components acting in different time signatures."[6] Guitarist Fredrik Thordendal adds the melodic element with is neo-jazz fusion-like lead guitar.[6]

[edit] Chaosphere

"Tomas Haake's characterization of the album, "Destroy Erease Improve was beatiful and gay, while Chaosphere is not!" was the prevailing feeling. Some fans felt that they had left their dynamic and progressive elements behind, while others thought they were only progressing naturally and focusing on their original sound."[1] Chaosphere is moving in the territories of very fast tempo[26] death metal while Meshuggah know "how to play their instruments and segue tempo changes",[7] as per Allmusic, which also compares the genre with grindcore fathers Napalm Death[7][11]

[edit] Nothing

Meshuggah's official website states that 2002's Nothing "displayed a very mature and convincing Meshuggah, now focusing on groove and sound. The production was clear and brutal, beyond anything ever heard. A band constantly evolving, Meshuggah once again divided their fans into the "ecstatic" and the "slightly disappointed"".[1] Rolling Stone states that with this album the band "continues to innovate without stinting on the aggression".[15] Allmusic uses formulations even as "masterminds of cosmic calculus metal -- call it Einstein metal if you want"[8] for the description of Nothing. This album abandons the fast tempos of Chaosphere and concentrates on slow tempos, tuned down, drawn-out notes[26] and deep grooves.[31]

The album was intended to be recorded using custom-made Nevborn eight string guitars, but the prototypes were faulty so Thorendal and Hagström used detuned Ibanez seven-stringers instead, which created additional problems, as they kept untune during the sessions.[3][25] When Ibanez later provided Meshuggah with special eight-string guitars that worked properly, the band re-recorded the guitars for Nothing, which was re-released in 2006.[25]

[edit] I EP and Catch Thirtythree

The I EP contains one single 21-minute epic song[9][26] of complex arrangements and was a hint of the forthcoming album.[4] Meshuggah used again the eight-string guitars[20] and programmed drums for the first time in their career on 2005's Catch Thirtythree[14] except for two songs from 2001's compilation Rare Trax.[2] Hagström offers: "the eight-strings really have given us a whole new musical vocabulary to work with. Part of it is the restrictions they impose: you really can’t play power chords with them; the sound just turns to mush. Instead, we concentrated on coming up with really unusual single-note parts, new tunings and chord voicings. We wanted to get as far away from any kind of conventions and traditions as we could on the album, so the guitars worked out beautifully.”[20] Catch Thirtythree is one 47 minute long song divided up into 13 sections.[9][13] It is more midtempo guitar riff based, more straightforward and rather an experimental full-length album than a proper full-length like Chaosphere or Nothing.[32][27]

Some songs are still using Meshuggah's "familiar template combining harsh vocals and nightmarish melodies over coarse, mechanically advancing, oddball tempos"[9] but with addition of "ambient sounds and quieter dynamics."[9] "The first third of Catch Thirtythree centers around two simple riffs."[27] In the song "In Death -- Is Death" the band uses a combination of noise and silence, which is in contrast eith the untypical melodies on "Dehumanization". On "Mind's Mirrors" Meshuggah used even electronics, programming and robotic voices. "Shed" incorporates tribal percussion and whispered vocals.[9]

Nick Terry from Decibel Magazine describes the album as a symphony of four movements.[21]

[edit] obZen

With 2008's obZen, Meshuggah returned from the more experimental territory of 2002's Nothing or 2005's Catch Thirty-Three[10] to the sound that is more traditional in terms of structure[13] and recalls the band's earlier catalog albums like Contradictions Collapse, Destroy Erase Improve or Chaosphere.[10][16][23] Allmusic states that "power, compositional ethics, and musical acumen"[10] are at the center of obZen." But Meshuggah still resumes musical or technical innovation. The obZen drops some of the mathematical quick changes of the past releases and the melodic orchestration of Catch Thirty-Three[10] and uses complex[13] heavy[19] riffs, technicality and structures with unusual time signatures.[13] The album is also considered to be an amalgamation of all their previous works.[10][19]

Thomas Haake returned back behind the drum kit and captivated the music journalists with his extraordinary technical performance of the song "Bleed".[10][19][16] In an interview for Gravemusic.com, Tomas Haake stated about "Bleed", "It was a big effort for me to learn, I had to find a totally new approach to playing the double bass drums to be able to do that stuff. I had never really done anything like that before like the fast bursts that go all the way through the song basically. So I actually spent as much time practicing that track alone as I did with all of the other tracks combined. It's kind of a big feat to change your approach like that and I'm glad we were able to nail it for the album. For a while threw we didn't even know if it was going to make it to the album."(blabbermouth "bleed")

[edit] add

Umeå, a college town in northern Sweden with a population of 105,000 and a dead link to its tourism page; vinyl-only Psykisk Testbild EP; heavily of Metallica’s influence[20] studio/live bass[23]

the CD booklet has no liner notes, lyrics, or credits whatsoever, just the faintest hint of one word: ingenting, which is Swedish for "nothing". = instead of liner notes, lyrics, or credits in the booklet of Nothing there is one word: "ingenting", which is Swedish for "nothing"[24]

[edit] Reflist

  1. ^ a b c d e Espn. A short biography. www.meshuggah.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
  2. ^ a b c Rare Trax - 2001. www.meshuggah.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  3. ^ a b c Gear. www.meshuggah.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Jason Ankeny and Bradley Torreano. Meshuggah Biography. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  5. ^ a b c Steve Huey. Contradictions Collapse/None review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n John Serba. Destroy Erase Improve review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  7. ^ a b c d Mike DaRonco. Chaosphere review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i John Serba. Nothing review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Eduardo Rivadavia. Catch Thirty-Three review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thom Jurek. obZen review. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  11. ^ a b c Jason Ankeny. Napalm Death Biography. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
  12. ^ a b c Top 10 Swedish Metal Bands. About.com:Heavy Metal. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Chad Bowar. Meshuggah - ObZen. About.com:Heavy Metal. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Meshuggah. Nuclear Blast. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Gteg Kot. Meshuggah - Nothing. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  16. ^ a b c d Chris Steffen. Meshuggah - obZen. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  17. ^ a b c d Meshuggah. Metal Storm. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  18. ^ a b c Meshuggah. Metal Archives. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Jom (staff). Meshuggah obZen. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rod Smith. On Catch 33, Meshuggah sound the booty call of Cthulhu—one mouse click at a time.. Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  21. ^ a b c d e Nick Terry. A futurist symphony in the key of Sleep. Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  22. ^ a b c d Aaron Burgess. Swedish math-metal gods enjoy their temporary free-agent status. Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rod Smith. Tomas Haake and Mårten Hagström’s experimental wisdom takes Meshuggah to higher ground. Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Adrien Begrand. Organized Chaos. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  25. ^ a b c d e f Adrien Begrand. Nothing (Special Edition). PopMatters. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Adrien Begrand. MESHUGGAH I. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g Adrien Begrand. MESHUGGAH Catch Thirtythree. PopMatters. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  28. ^ a b c d e Mike Galaboff. Meshuggah "I". Western Courier. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  29. ^ a b c Ben Mitchell. Meshuggah Nothing. Blender. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  30. ^ a b c d e Ben Ratliff. Meshuggah obZen. Blender. Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  31. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Stylus_Nothing
  32. ^ MESHUGGAH: 'Catch 33' Tentatively Scheduled For Release In April. Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.