Search - Meshuggah :: Chaosphere

One five-star review isn't enough!

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 09/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I worship Meshuggah with a devotion usually reserved for one's deity of choice, and I am firmly convinced that "Chaosphere" is not only their best album but the single finest sound recording in the history of this or any other planet. Here are ten reasons why they should be your favorite band as well:1. I know metal, and I have yet to hear a band that sounds like Meshuggah. Sure, the Dillinger Escape Plan (my second favorite band) demonstrate equal levels of insanity and virtuosity, but Meshuggah still occupy their very own niche in the metal universe. From the moment I heard "Future Breed Machine" (from "Destroy Erase Improve," I know), all of my preconceptions about what heavy music could and couldn't be were thrown right out the window. 2. If you like it heavy, you need to add every Meshuggah album to your collection immediately. These guys set a new standard for what it means to be heavy.3. The band's indescribable polyrhythmic attack. "Harsh," "brutal," and "intense" are all fitting adjectives, but mere words can't do justice to Meshuggah's unbelievably precise and complex sound. You really can't tell what's coming next, as the band unleashes a non-stop barrage of shifting time signatures and arrangements that's about as easy to figure out as a calculus problem. And they're robotically efficient and single-minded in their destruction, with not a single wasted second to be found anywhere.4. I have never, EVER heard any music that demands as much intellectual engagement as Meshuggah's. They never slow down or let up, and trying to figure out their uber-complex rhythms at high speed actually forces the listener to do things like pay attention and think in order to appreciate what's going on. Now THERE'S a novel concept!5. Jens Kidman is a monster of a vocalist, with throat control that can only be described as inhuman. On track after track he delivers a vicious, scathing growl with a level of clarity that continues to amaze me no matter how many times I hear it. It truly needs to be heard to be believed.6. Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom are a guitar duo for the ages. I have much respect for great duos like Hanneman/King, Mustaine/Friedman, Smith/Murray, and so on, but the boys from Meshuggah make the above pairings sound almost troglodytic by comparison. On every song they manage come up with a main riff that is intricate, memorable, and pulverizing in its brutality. And Thordendal's jazzy, mathematically precise guitar solos make him my favorite lead man ever. 7. Tomas Haake assaults his kit with all the precision and variety of a jazz drummer, but he does it a lot harder.8. Gustaf Hielm's giga-heavy basslines are like the extra kick to the head after you've already been knocked to the ground.9. In spite of everything I've written above, Meshuggah's songs (especially on this album, IMO) are rather catchy. Go ahead, sit still while listening to songs like "New Milleniun Cyanide Christ" (best...song...ever!), "Neurotica," (second best song ever), and "Concatenation" (third). I dare you.10. If you don't like this band and album, you are a complete lame-o, and you will never be cool like me. Go listen to some Kenny G, ya wuss!"

I smell ozone.

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 12/27/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Melody? Nyet. Emotion? Zero. Meshuggah is an inhuman assault, opaque and austere without remorse. They evoke a band of Terminators -- music so harsh, mechanical and precise it could only be executed by cyborgs. Unusual articulations, strange numbered repetitions, labyrinthine polymeters and polyrhythms...but this is more than just left-brained number crunching. Meshuggah's ability to fuse their tempestuous concepts into intelligent songs is remarkable to me as well. _Chaosphere_ jacks the speed and intensity making some of the music's subtleties difficult to detect, although this is a more fulfilling album than _Destroy Erase Improve_, in my opinion. Jens Kidman's abrasive vocals are even less melodic than on DEI, unleashed solely for rhythmic effect, with only the slightest changes in tone for dynamics. Thomas Haake's drumming evolves further, diversifying his polymetric playing by doing more with his hands and trickier things with his feet. The guitars are a flurry of blaring distortion. Collectively, they are terrifying machine of staccato cacophony."Concatenation" is about as pleasant as trying to swallow that spiky ball on the cover art (in a good way, really), a barrage of instruments that beats you into the ground -- remember to breathe. At the other end of the album, "Elastic" is a deadly, nightmarish machine trying to kill you, eventually discorporating into brain-melting noise. If you survive this excruciating five minutes, the band returns with a shrieking black hurricane of death for the grand finale. "The Exquisite Machinery of Torture" works off a thorny grooves in four and drummer Haake's robotic vocal. Then there is "New Millennium Cyanide Christ", quite possibly the single greatest song ever. Opening with a thrashing riff in 23/16, the escalating metallic venom carries on through series of 16th notes (the 23 becomes 13, then 24, then 21, and so on). It finally culminates in a ruinous riff that actually breaks down to 4/4, a finale more devastating than being alone in the darkness while the nightmares eat your soul and kill you. Fredrik Thordendal's makes me feel like wires are passing through my flesh and reprogramming my body.Listening to Meshuggah, one really gets a sense of how pedestrian metal is as a whole. Thank goodness there are a few important artists who push boundaries in this way. Buy it or be lame forever."

Extreme Metal For The Musical Mind

Marktallica | Rota, Spain | 02/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Before you pop this album in, be warned: this band is in a class of it's own. Meshuggah's "Tempo Metal" will have you lost in seconds if you are unfamiliar with their songs! That's why you need to let this album grow on you. One listen will not do the trick. So do not buy this and expect to be singing along the first minute u pop it in. Once it sinks in, you will realize this band is among the most talented of today. Any drummer (or anybody with any knowledge of polyrhythms) will be blown away by this stuff! I'd have to say my favorite two tracks are "New Millenium Cyanide Christ" and "Corridor of Chameleons" because they have u lost in the first part of the song, but they both climax with monstrous 4/4 (straight) jams that even Pantera would appreciate. So even though these guys are throwing in all those rhythmic curveballs, keep in mind: these guys KNOW how to thrash skulls. The reason I gave this album a 4 (and not a 5) is because of the vocals. Jens Kidman's vocals could be much more aggressive if he barked less on some tracks. Although, his voice DOES grow on you as well. There are some parts of the album where his vocals are placed perfectly. Needless to say, the rhythm section is monstrous! I don't know how these guys play this material live! So if your looking for metal that will pound your head into submission, yet still compel you with it's rhythmic complexity, this is the perfect album for you!"