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.
Nebulous
Meshuggah Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Embraced by shadows, they tear me
The wormholes free my eyes
The blood boils - it knows
My thoughts burn as minds liquify, vaporize
Reality scorched by this fixed state
I seep down into the black to breathe
Drifting to merge with the past
My tongue licks the residue of the future
Bitter taste, the wombs of claws call me
Filth rips them open. The stillborn start to move
Lidless eyes twitching beneath a sheet of rot
They reach out, they want to kiss - It matters not
In dreams it speaks to me of the truth that means reality
The beginning of "Nebulous" is a powerful and intense portrayal of being consumed by silence and darkness. The first verse conveys a deep sense of isolation through metaphorical language that represents a decaying state of being. The second verse declares the boiling of blood within oneself that acknowledges the presence of a subconsciousness that is melting the listener's brain. The realization that this inner state of flight is quite real overwhelms the impending reality and scorches it into a fixed state of entropy. Once the song's light is extinguished, there is no hope of finding it again.
The perspective changes from the singer to the stillborn toward the end of the song, implying that time and death have no meaning. The ending appears to proclaim that reality is equaled by truth, regardless of the associated difficulty. The song's message is clear: sometimes the darkness is not a choice, but it can be endured through persevering through pain and accepting the truth.
Line by Line Meaning
Drowned in this screaming silence
Overwhelmed by the deafening absence of sound around me
Embraced by shadows, they tear me
The shadows hold me close, yet tear at my being
The wormholes free my eyes
Vision is granted through the portal of the unknown
The blood boils - it knows
My inner essence seethes with knowledge
My thoughts burn as minds liquify, vaporize
The disintegration of thought begins as my consciousness fades
Reality scorched by this fixed state
The present is consumed by an unchanging fate
All beginnings slain by ends
The cycle of creation and destruction is without mercy
I seep down into the black to breathe
I am drawn into the darkness to find release
Drifting to merge with the past
Becoming one with that which is gone forever
My tongue licks the residue of the future
I taste the remnants of that which has yet to come
Bitter taste, the wombs of claws call me
The cruel potential of destiny compels me forward
Filth rips them open. The stillborn start to move
Defilement reveals that which was thought inert
Lidless eyes twitching beneath a sheet of rot
Gazing into the abyss of absence
They reach out, they want to kiss - It matters not
The specters of the past cannot fulfill the present
In dreams it speaks to me of the truth that means reality
The interplay between the unreal and the tangible is the essence of life
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MAARTEN HAGSTROEM, MARTEN HAGSTROEM, M�RTEN HAGSTR�M
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind