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.
Glints Collide
Meshuggah Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Kerosene flames so cold they crack
Suns that blow becalmed twisters
Ferocity sleeping, nothingness stacked
Intestines worn to shield the inward limbs
Screams unheard, deafening thoughts
Levitating ground, the solid water burns
Liquid stone, the immobile turns
Corrosion soothing the hurt within
Surroundings reaching to touch your skin
Progress in stalemate, death is alive
Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
Pains sending shivers of wellbeing down your spine
Sounds of healing crack your bones
Lamentation carving into smiling faces
Surrounded by everyone, still you're all alone
Wormholes set as halos over sinners' skulls
Leaves chasing the fallen air away
A lifetime of needle-eyes too wide to escape
Where honesty lies and angels betray
Incisions mending the wounds within
Surroundings breach the surface of your skin
Progress in static, life has died
Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
Disorder putting everything back in place
Chaos the obtainer of lucidity
Tranquility created by raging turbulence
Your solid note frequency out of phase
The fractals of your soul by symmetry abandoned
Confusion calms your overheating mind
You're the memory no one ever had
You're the one thing you will never find
Reincarnation trapped in a life span
Corpses bolted to the ground arise
Omnilights flooding your world with their darkness
As your reflection turns its back to your eyes
You've entered your self-created antiparadise
Your universe processed and tapped in jars
Neverending insanity
Down in the hell of mind, where glints collide
Meshuggah's song Glints Collide consists of complex and dense lyrics that are open to various interpretations. The song's themes revolve around the idea of the paradoxical nature of existence, the duality between order and chaos, and the vital spiritual conflicts that reside in people's psyches. The lyrics paint a picture of a universe that is polarizing, with winds that shine a bright, blinding dark, and kerosene flames that are so cold that they crack. The song's themes move from esoteric revelations of the universe's nature to the individual experience of disorder and chaos.
The first verse describes the universe's paradoxical nature while also alluding to how the mind perceives reality. Through the description of the intestines worn to shield the inward limbs and screams unheard, Meshuggah presents the idea that the universe is hostile to its inhabitants. The fourth line "levitating ground, the solid water burns, liquid stone, immobile turns" further emphasizes the contrast and paradox.
In the second verse, the lyrics describe the individual experience of internal turmoil and chaos, the seemingly endless search for truth and meaning trying to reconcile the various contradictions, leading to both psychological pleasure and pain. The third verse is characterized by the power of transformation, showing how people can change and become something else, as represented by the phrase "chaos, the obtainer of lucidity." The last verse mentions the idea of self-made paradises leading to madness or self-destruction, suggesting how people's illusions can lead to despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Winds that shine a bright, blinding dark
Powerful forces that are simultaneously brilliant and blindingly dark.
Kerosene flames so cold they crack
Burns that are so cold, they have the potential to cause physical cracking and substantial pain.
Suns that blow becalmed twisters
Celestial bodies that generate wind storms but remain calm and serene throughout.
Ferocity sleeping, nothingness stacked
An underlying menace that appears tame, but leads to the accumulation of emptiness and nothingness.
Intestines worn to shield the inward limbs
Internal organs employed to protect vital, fragile components within the body.
Screams unheard, deafening thoughts
Internalized anguish that is not voiced but resonates powerfully within one's psyche.
Levitating ground, the solid water burns
An environment that is ungrounded and disorienting, where even solid objects burn like liquid.
Liquid stone, the immobile turns
A contradiction in states of matter, where fluid substances take on the properties of motionless stone.
Corrosion soothing the hurt within
A process of self-destruction that can paradoxically bring solace to internal pain.
Surroundings reaching to touch your skin
Environmental components that encroach upon personal space and attempt to make contact at the physical level.
Progress in stalemate, death is alive
The stagnation of personal growth, where death and decay become more prominent than progress.
Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
A collision of powerful ideas and concentrated thought, capable of sparking and generating tremendous mental energy.
Pains sending shivers of wellbeing down your spine
The perversion of physical pain that paradoxically provides an intense pleasurable sensation when felt within one's nervous system.
Sounds of healing crack your bones
Mental stimuli that cause a physical reaction, resulting in the sensation of bones cracking - with the overall effect of healing or rejuvenation.
Lamentation carving into smiling faces
A profound sense of grief that can result in facial expressions that outwardly appear joyful, but upon closer inspection reveal the marks of profound sadness.
Surrounded by everyone, still you're all alone
Even in the presence of others, feelings of isolation and loneliness persist.
Wormholes set as halos over sinners' skulls
A distorted perception of those who are perceived as fallen or guilty, marked by an unconventional and misleading form of enlightenment.
Leaves chasing the fallen air away
The natural displacement of force in the face of environmental shifts and changing conditions.
A lifetime of needle-eyes too wide to escape
A prolonged experience of being trapped in narrow spaces, with no apparent way to escape from one's difficulties or limitations.
Where honesty lies and angels betray
A world of contradictions and hidden truths, where even the most trusted figures are capable of deceit and deception.
Incisions mending the wounds within
Surgical procedures that attempt to bring about emotional or psychological healing by treating root causes of internal pain.
Surroundings breach the surface of your skin
The environment intruding and penetrating the skin barrier, creating a coalescence of the self and surroundings.
Progress in static, life has died
A never-ending cycle of repetition and stasis, where any progress that may occur is often short-lived or insignificant.
Eyes and mind glint, glints collide
The collision of powerful ideas, conflicts, and stimuli that generate tremendous mental energy and propel movement forward.
Disorder putting everything back in place
A sense of unpredictability and entropy that manages to restore balance and stability to a system that is otherwise chaotic and potentially destructive.
Chaos the obtainer of lucidity
The paradoxical realization that chaos and confusion can at times bring a lucid clarity to a situation or a system.
Tranquility created by raging turbulence
A peaceful inner state that is generated amidst the turmoil of external pandemonium.
Your solid note frequency out of phase
The contradiction of being stationary, yet out of sync with the immediate environment.
The fractals of your soul by symmetry abandoned
The soulful aspects of oneself that lack balance and equilibrium, as though they have been wholly disavowed in favor of conflicting emotional states.
Confusion calms your overheating mind
A state of mental disarray has a paradoxical and positive impact on one's mental and emotional wellbeing, helping to assuage extreme feelings of distress.
You're the memory no one ever had
A sense of perpetual nonexistence, a life that was lived but has been forgotten or ignored by others.
You're the one thing you will never find
The eternal mystery and perplexity of the self, and the ongoing quest to comprehend one's own identity and purpose in life.
Reincarnation trapped in a life span
The process of rebirth and renewal, yet still being constrained by the limitations of one's body and existing lifetime.
Corpses bolted to ground arise
The dead being physically immovable, yet still rising to face and confront those who remain living.
Omnilights flooding your world with their darkness
The overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair that can result from a world that is relentlessly bleak and inimical.
As your reflection turns its back to your eyes
A sense of personal betrayal and disloyalty, where even one's own sense of self has turned away or abandoned the individual.
You've entered your self-created antiparadise
A place of one's own making that is the antithesis of paradise, made up of personal struggles, emotional conflict, and inner turmoil.
Your universe processed and tapped in jars
One's subjective experience of reality and how it is perceived, controlled, and manipulated by external factors.
Neverending insanity
A sense of psychological madness that is perpetual and never-ending, with no apparent solution or escape.
Down in the hell of mind, where glints collide
The innermost workings of one's own thought processes and mental landscape, where the collision of powerful ideas and conflicts is ongoing and ever-present.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: FREDRIK THORDENDAL, TOMAS HAAKE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind