Meshuggah is widely acknowledged as an influence on many modern metal bands from Textures to Tool. They are regarded as pioneers by critics and musicians alike.
Discography
Psykisk Testbild (EP, 1989)
Contradictions Collapse (1991)
None (EP, 1994)
Selfcaged (1995)
Destroy Erase Improve (1995)
The True Human Design (1997)
Chaosphere (1998)
Contradictions Collapse and None (1999)
Rare Trax (2001)
Nothing (2002)
I (EP, 2004)
Catch Thirty-Three (2005)
Nothing (Re-Release With DVD) (2006)
obZen (2008)
Alive (2010)
Koloss (2012)
Pitch Black (2013)
The Violent Sleep Of Reason (2016)
Immutable (2022)
Band history
Meshuggah was formed in Umeå in 1987; two years later, the band released their first record, an EP entitled Psykisk Testbild (which can be roughly translated as "Psychological test image". This recording displayed a straightforward thrash metal influenced sound, with some strains along the lines of Metallica's concurrent releases. There were also hints of more complex music in the songwriting. As the group grew older, they further refined the technicality of their musicianship and songwriting. This led to a harsher sound, utilizing strong seven string guitar (and later eight string guitar) rhythms, manic sounding vocals, and a combination of jazz fusion elements as well. This caused the band's style to border on the lines of an esoteric feel. This style has shown to be hard to appreciate by some but it is widely embraced by Meshuggah fans.
While the band's music is extremely intense and aggressive, the members often demonstrate a strong sense of humour: their video for "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" consisted of the five band members sitting inside their tour bus headbanging and air guitaring to the song. Promotional photos of the band often include comical grimacing.
In late 2005, Meshuggah were nominated for a Swedish Grammy for the album Catch Thirty-Three.
Bands such as Dream Theater, God Forbid, Deftones, Textures , Lamb of God, The Safety Fire and Tool have cited Meshuggah as an influence.
Style
Among the band's most recognizable qualities are lead guitar player Fredrik Thordendal's abrasive, chaotic and dischordant solos, singer Jens Kidman's vocals, which resemble manic screams and shouts; the churning, dissonant rhythm guitars and the polymetric drum beats. In a typical Meshuggah song, drummer Tomas Haake plays two separate rhythms: a standard 4/4 beat with his hands, and a completely different metrical subdivision with his feet. The guitars mostly follow the bass drum work, creating an awkwardly pulsating rhythmic pattern to work as the basis of the song.
To give an example, the main riff of the song "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" from their 1998 album Chaosphere follows the aforementioned blueprint. Haake beats a rather slow 4/4 rhythm with his hands, while the bass drums and guitars play a repetitive 23/16 rhythm pattern on top of it. As the subdivided pattern is repeated, the pattern's accents shift to different beats on each repetition. After repeating the 23/16 pattern five times, a shorter 13/16 pattern is played once. These patterns sum up to 128 16th notes, which equals exactly 8 measures in 4/4 meter.
The band has evolved through a number of stylisitic periods. Contradictions Collapse and None have a sound similar to Metallica's concurrent albums. Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere have a more distinct off-time influence along with the thrash metal sound. Nothing and Catch Thirty-Three have a sound close to the vein of groove metal, consisting of droning and slow grooves.
While live drums were obviously not abandoned, a unique decision was made to use programmed drum patterns using Toontrack's "Drumkit From Hell" (developed in co-operation with Tomas Haake and Morgan Ågren) sample library on the latest album Catch Thirty-Three, not only providing a more precise and mechanized drumscape, but also making drum beat creativity a more collaborative effort amongst all of the band members. It cemented the album as one of the band's most complex works to date. The band members have, however, stated in several interviews that the decision to use programmed drums was due to the lack of time given by their label to produce the record.
On all records since Nothing, guitarists Thordendal and Hagström use custom-made Nevborn, and custom Ibanez eight string guitars. These guitars add two low strings to allow the crushing, heavy riffs to be played in even lower registers. They currently use Line 6's Vetta II Amps.
In regards to lyrics, the main lyricist of Meshuggah is drummer Tomas Haake, who uses complex, but precise, vocabulary and metaphorical styling. Through abstract descriptions, Haake's lyrics discuss such topics as the self, society, mendaciousness, and the human condition, all with an overarching theme that intertwines with metaphysical concepts relating to the psychedelic experience. While Haake tends to write the majority of the lyrics, guitarist Mårten Hagström also contributes to some songs.
Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion
Meshuggah Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Frequency of doom
How strongly the violent thoughts of vengeance echo
Setting in motion the strings of hate
Shudder
Shudder
Vibrate
This is the soundtrack to our hostility
To our mailcious intent
To the pointless grudge forever held
The callow dream, the dismal wish to harm
Animate now
The twisted sounds
Of our disdain
Our rage
The notations
To our contempt
To unforgiveness and loathing
A sonic declaration of spite
And resentment
Its resonance grinding to dust our souls
The twine of revenge tightly strung
Its subharmonics
The undoing of all
So enticing
The retaliation
Chords of man
The all-deafening
Oscillation of the damned
Let forth the hateful
The murderous
Let their malignant prayers resound
The reverbant
Odious request
The wish of death abound
So enticing
The retalitation - chords of man
The all-deafening
Oscillation of the damned
The lyrics of Meshuggah’s song “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion” convey strong emotions of violence, hatred, and revenge. The lyrics suggest that the violent thoughts of vengeance echo with a frequency of doom, shaking and vibrating the listener. This soundtrack is the declaration of the spiteful and resentful people, who hold onto their grudges forever, desiring to harm the ones they hate. The sounds and notations in the song are twisted, reflecting the contempt and rage that one feels towards their enemies.
The song emphasizes the sonic declaration of the desire to get revenge on someone, which can grind one’s soul into dust. The subharmonics of the song symbolize the undoing of all. This undone sound is enticing, and it tightly strings together the cords of man, leading towards an all-deafening oscillation of the damned. The song asks for the hateful, the murderous to be let forth, to let their malignant thoughts resound.
In conclusion, the song “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion” by Meshuggah is an intense and emotional portrayal of violent thoughts and desires for revenge. The lyrics provide a warning about the destructiveness of these thoughts and their impact on one’s soul.
Line by Line Meaning
Tremors, reverberating
The aftermath of vengeance resounds
Frequency of doom
The impending destruction
How strongly the violent thoughts of vengeance echo
The intensity of the desire for revenge
Setting in motion the strings of hate
Causing the hate to take effect
Shudder
Shaking from the animosity
Shudder
Shaking from the animosity (repeated)
Vibrate
Trembling with anger
This is the soundtrack to our hostility
A representation of our aggression
To our malicious intent
To our harmful intent
To the pointless grudge forever held
To the baseless resentment that never fades away
The callow dream, the dismal wish to harm
The feeble aspiration to cause harm
Animate now
Bring to life
The twisted sounds
Distorted noises
Of our disdain
From our contempt
Our rage
Our fury
The notations
The marks made to symbolize our emotions
To our contempt
To our hatred
To unforgiveness and loathing
To the refusal to forgive and strong hate
A sonic declaration of spite
An expression of maliciousness through sound
And resentment
And animosity
Its resonance grinding to dust our souls
Its reverberation destroying our spirits
The twine of revenge tightly strung
The bond of revenge firmly held
Its subharmonics
Its secondary vibrations
The undoing of all
The destruction of everything
So enticing
So tempting
The retaliation
The revenge
Chords of man
The collective desire for retribution
The all-deafening
The overwhelmingly loud
Oscillation of the damned
The fluctuation of the condemned
Let forth the hateful
Release the hateful
The murderous
The violent
Let their malignant prayers resound
Let their malicious wishes be heard
The reverbant
The echoing
Odious request
Hateful plea
The wish of death abound
The desire for death is abundant
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DICK AUGUST L�VGREN, DICK AUGUST LOEVGREN, FREDRIK THORDENDAL, JENS KIDMAN, MAARTEN HAGSTROEM, M�RTEN HAGSTR�M, TOMAS HAAKE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
QBits Con dias alterados
Tremors, reverberating frequency of doom
How strongly the violent thoughts of vengeance echo
Setting in motion the strings of hate
Shudder, shudder, vibrate
This is the soundtrack to our hostility, to our malicious intent
To the pointless grudge forever held
The callow dream, the dismal wish to harm
Animate now the twisted sounds of our disdain, our rage
The notations to our contempt, to unforgiveness and loathing
A sonic declaration of spite and resentment
Its resonance grinding to dust our souls
The twine of revenge tightly strung
Its subharmonics the undoing of all
So enticing the retaliation-chords of man
The all-deafening oscillation of the damned
Let forth the hateful, the murderous
Let their malignant prayers resound
The reverberant, odious request
The wish of death abound
So enticing the retalitation-chords of man
The all-deafening oscillation of the damned
StepMamad 69
Tremors, reverberating
Frequency of doom
How strongly the violent thoughts of vengeance echo
Setting in motion the strings of hate.
Shudder
Shudder
Vibrate
This is the soundtrack to our hostility
To our malicious intent
To the pointless grudge forever held
The callow dream
The dismal wish to harm
Animate now
The twisted sounds of our disdain
Our rage
The notations to our contempt
To unforgiveness and loathing
A sonic declaration of spite and resentment
Its resonance grinding to dust our souls
The twine of revenge tightly strung.
Its sub harmonics, the undoing of all
So enticing
The retaliation - chords of man
The all-deafening - Oscillation of the damned
Let forth the hateful, the murderous
Let their malignant prayers resound
The reverberant, odious request
The wish of death abound
So enticing
The retaliation - chords of man
The all-deafening - Oscillation of the damned
Fhxhjsj Bjdjdh
A great song to listen to while you’re eating pear slices
prod xzfit
Dude ahahah that was so fucking random hahaha. I was legit headbanging and then I stop to check the comments and this one pops up hahaha
Jordon McHugh
Ch a güzz
Penguinthulu
i had green apples
Mišomor
Can somebody take a moment and appreciate the walking monstrosity that this bass is?
sxrv svct
@Dr. Sauce yup and it sounds amazing. dark. reminds me of that level in Mario with the ghosts and the castle. dark. scary.
Dale'sBassCovers
@w w brilliant 👏 😂
Lorenzo Davis
@Dave Crupel meshuggah and gojira are some of the heaviest to walk this beautiful planet
Caleb Gesner
@Dr. Sauce It's funny that Google asks me if I want to translate this when this is the translation
bananaempijama
2 years ago my mom died with cancer and since then, I couldn't listen to this music because this was the song I remembered listening before she died.
But now I've made peace with myself and my grief :')
Metal will never die for me 🤘