Mechanized Aural Mindf*ck

It would have been easier if music were to be labeled in a similar sense as history. Time and space has always moved a particular direction, which makes life events much more discernible. For instance, all your favorite flesh-ripping, carnage-wrecking dinosaurs are neatly placed in the annals of prehistory, while metallurgy, battleships, and other advanced equipments can be associated with the Machine Age. Simple, right?

However, when it comes to music, nobody really has any concrete idea how exceptional artists and bands come up with their mind-blowing compositions. Although some are just as easy to peg (contemporary ‘tweener songstress Britney Spears can be labeled as either pop or just pure shite), others hone their weirdness of thinking outside the music box by integrating elements that have yet to be used in a particular genre, thus creating indescribable and, in most cases, excellent requiems.

In this light, does that mean putting dinosaurs and metallurgy in the blender would give you one of the most compelling experimental metal outfits in the world? No, dinosaurs and metallurgy would actually give you Dinobots. However, Meshuggah may very well come close.

Crazy

This Swedish group, whose Yiddish name translates to “crazy” in English, have been fucking the world since ‘89. However, the band drew too much from the early thrash movement Metallica espoused, which is evident from their self-titled EP. However, their promise to deliver more technical and intricate stuff surfaced in Contradictions Collapse. Massive tracks “Abnegating Cecity” and “Cadeverous Mastication” clearly show their knack for coming up with challenging riffs laced in an even challenging rhythm section.

Their use of polyrhythms comes full circle with the release of Destroy Erase Improve, an obliterating mindfuck of industrial crushing heaviness and crazy-ass time signatures. No song here exemplifies these principles better than the opener “Future Breed Machine,” a heavy, anthemic masterpiece taking a “man versus machine” concept, albeit made ever grimmer for the apocalyptic effect.

Taking cue from their newfound success, Meshuggah followed their landmark album with Choasphere and Nothing, both of which elevated their attack into more massive heights. A personal favorite of mine, Chaossphere lives up to its name and may very well be their most emphatic and pulverizing effort yet, producing some of their brutalest riffs and the strangest time signature patterns. “New Millennium Cyanide Christ” and “The Mouth Licking What You’ve Bled” would attest to that. Of course, Nothing was responsible for bringing them to Ozzfest 2002, with songs like the crushingly groovy “Rational Gaze” and “Closed Eye Visuals” making their mark. 2005 saw the band upping the ante on complexity on their latest release, Catch Thirtythree, with songs like “In Death Is Death” and the visceral “Shed.”

However, still not comfortable resting on their laurels, Meshuggah will release their next album come March entitled ObZen. It will be interesting what more they could bring to the heavy metal table, but my guess is that they’ll continue to destroy.

Bring on the future.