Meshuggah

Meshuggah is a Swedish five-piece experimental metal band formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1993. The band has gone through a number of bassists, but the position has been held by Dick Lövgren since 2004.

Meshuggah first attracted international attention with the 1995 release Destroy Erase Improve for its fusion of fast-tempo death metal, thrash metal and progressive metal. Since its 2002 album Nothing, Meshuggah has used eight-string guitars and downtuned, groovy riffs. Meshuggah has become known for innovative musical style, complex, polyrhythmic song structures and precise musicianship. It was labeled as one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands by Rolling Stone and as the most important band in metal by Alternative Press. Meshuggah has found little mainstream success as yet, but is a significant act in extreme underground music.

Nothing and the albums that followed have all charted on the Billboard 200. In 2006 and 2009, the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award. Meshuggah's most commercially successful album, 2008's obZen, peaked at No. 59 and sold 11,400 copies in the first week and 50,000 copies six months after its release in the United States. Since its formation, Meshuggah has released six studio albums, five EPs and eight music videos. The band has performed in various international festivals, including Ozzfest and Download, and embarked on the obZen world tour in 2008.

History

Formation and Contradictions Collapse (1987–1994)

In 1985, guitarist Fredrik Thordendal formed a band in Umeå,publisher = Allmusic a college town in northern Sweden with a population of 105,000.title=Cover History: Meshuggah The band, originally named Metallien, recorded a number of demo tapes, after which it disbanded

. Thordendal, however, continued playing under a different name with new band members.

Meshuggah was formed in 1987publisher = Revolver by vocalist and guitarist Jens Kidman, and took the name Meshuggah from the Yiddish word for "crazy".publisher = MTV.com The band recorded several demos before Kidman left, which prompted the remaining members to disband. Kidman then formed a new band, Calipash, with guitarist Thordendal, bassist Peter Nordin and drummer Niclas Lundgren. Kidman, who also played guitar,url = which is commonly known as Psykisk Testbildpublisher = Blabbermouth.net and a headlining tour of its own.

I and Catch Thirtythree (2003–2006)

In 2003, Hagström hinted at the direction of the band's next album by saying, "There's only one thing I really feel that is important. We've never measured our success in terms of sales, because we're quite an extreme band. It's more that people understand where we're coming from. I get more out of a fan coming up and saying that we've totally changed their way of looking on metal music, than having like 200 kids buy it. I mean, it would be nice for the money, but that's not why we're in it. So what I'd like to see is that we keep progressing. Keeping the core of what Meshuggah has always been, but exploring the bar, so to speak. Destroy Erase Improve was like exploring the dynamics of the band, Chaosphere was exploring the aggressiveness, the all-out side, and Nothing is more of a sinister, dark, pretty slow album, actually. So honestly, now I don't know where we're going. It might be a mix of all of them."

In February 2004, bassist Dick Lövgren joined Meshuggah.

A remixed and remastered version of Nothing with rerecorded guitars was released in a custom-shaped slipcase featuring a three-dimensional hologram card on October 31, 2006, via Nuclear Blast Records. The release also includes a bonus DVD featuring the band's appearance at the Download 2005 festival and the official music videos of "Rational Gaze", "Shed" and "New Millennium Cyanide Christ".[1]"/>

obZen (2007–present)

Meshuggah returned to the studio to record obZen, which was released in March 2008. The band spent almost a year on the album, its longest recording session yet. A significant portion of the year was spent learning to perform the songs they wrote; the recording itself took six months. obZen reached No. 59 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 11,400 U.S. copies in its first week of release and 50,000 copies after six months. With obZen, Meshuggah received more media attention and attracted new fans. The release was followed by a world tour, which started in the U.S. and proceeded to Europe, Asia and Australia.

In May 2008, Meshuggah published a music video for the song "Bleed", which was produced by Ian McFarland and was written, directed and edited by Mike Pecci and Ian McFarland. Killswitch Productions said: "It's extremely cool to work with a band who is willing to allow the music and imagery to speak for itself and who does not insist on themselves being the prominent focus of the video." Haake later underwent a surgery and recovered for European summer festivals. In October, the release date of the concert DVD was set to be released on the February 5, 2010 in Europe and February, 9 in the U.S.

Musical style

Genre and typical traits

When describing Meshuggah's experimentation, stylistic variation and changes during its career, journalists have categorized its sound within several musical subgenres. Heavy metal subgenres avant-garde metal or experimental metal are umbrella terms that enable description of the career of the band in general.a Extreme metal crosses both thrash metal (or post-thrash metal) and death metal (or technical death metal), which are at root of the sound of Meshuggah's music.b The band is often labelled as math metal (for using elements of math rock) and progressive metal.c The music of the band has also been described as grindcore, a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk.d Meshuggah also incorporates elements of experimental jazz. Rockdetector uses the term hi-tech metal to describe their style. In its review of Nothing, Allmusic describes Meshuggah as "masterminds of cosmic calculus metal—call it Einstein metal if you want". Meshuggah creates a recognizable sonic imprintpublisher = Allmusic and distinct style.

Trademarks and characteristics that define Meshuggah's sound and complex songwriting include polyrhythmic structure, odd riff cycles, complex "rotating" time signatures, rhythmic syncopation, rapid key and tempo changes and neo-jazz chromatics.e Hagström notes that "it doesn’t really matter if something is hard to play or not. The thing is, what does it do to your mind when you listen to it? Where does it take you?" A trademark of Thordendal is free jazz-like soloing and lead guitar. He is also known for the usage of a "breath controller" device. Haake is known for his precise cross-rhythm drumming with "jazzlike cadence".f The vocal style of Jens Kidman varies between hardcore-style shouts and "robotic" death metal vocals.

In a typical polyrhythm by Meshuggah, the guitars might play in odd meters such as 5/16 or 17/16, while drums play in normal 4/4. An example of Haake's dual rhythms is a 4/4 and 23/16 rhythm. He keeps the hi-hat and ride cymbal in simple 4/4 time but uses the snare and double bass drums for 23/16 rhythm. On "Rational Gaze" (from Nothing), Haake plays simple 4/4 time, hitting the snare on each third beat, for 16 bars. At the same time, the guitars and bass are playing the same quarter notes, albeit in a different time signature, and eventually both sides meet up again at the 64th beat. Hagström notes about the polyrhythms, "We’ve never really been into the odd time signatures we get accused of using. Everything we do is based around a 4/4 core. It’s just that we arrange parts differently around that center to make it seem like something else is going on."

Early work, Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere

The early work of Meshuggah, influenced mainly by Metallica, is "simpler and more straightforward than their more recent material, but some of their more progressive elements are present in the form of time-changes and polyrhythmics, and Fredrik Thordendal's lead playing stands out". According to Allmusic, the debut album is a relatively immature, but original, release. Double bass drums and "angular" riffing also defined the early work of Meshuggah.publisher = Blabbermouth.net

With the groundbreaking Destroy Erase Improve, Meshuggah showed accurate fusion of death metal, thrash metal, progressive metal and technical polyrhythmic math metal. Allmusic describes the style as "weaving hardcore-style shouts amongst deceptively (and deviously) simple staccato guitar riffs and insanely precise drumming—often with all three components acting in different time signatures". Thordendal adds the melodic element with his typical lead guitar and uses his "breath controller" device most famously on the opening track "Future Breed Machine".

Chaosphere incorporates typically fast, still tempo changing death metal. Allmusic compares the genre also with grindcore fathers Napalm Death.

Rolling Stone labeled Meshuggah as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands", In 2007, Meshuggah earned an in-depth analysis by the academic journal Music Theory Spectrum. Meshuggah has found little mainstream success but is a significant act in extreme underground musicpublisher = Revolver and an influence for many modern metal bands.

Songwriting, recording and lyrics

Meshuggah's music is written by Thordendal, Hagström and Haake with assistance from Kidman. During songwriting, Hagström programs the drums, and records the guitar and bass via computer. He presents his idea to the other members as a finished work. Meshuggah typically adheres to Hagström's general idea and rarely changes the song afterwards. Hagström explains that each member has an idea of what the others are doing conceptually, and nobody thinks exclusively in terms of a particular instrument. Kidman does not play guitar in the band anymore, but he is involved in writing riffs.

Except for when Hagström needs a soloist, he and Thordendal rarely record together. Both play guitar and bass while composing. Haake says about his songwriting, "Sometimes I’ll sample guitar parts, cut them up, pitch-shift and tweak them until I’ve built the riffs I want, just for demoing purposes. But most of the time I’ll just present the drums, and explain my ideas for the rest of the song, sing some riffs."

Approximately once a year, Haake writes most of the band's lyrics, with the exception of finished tracks. His lyrical inspirations are derived from books and films. Although Meshuggah does not record concept albums, the band prefers strong conceptual underpinnings in the background.

Often esoteric and conceptual, Meshuggah's lyrics explore philosophic themes such as existentialism. Allmusic describes Destroy Erase Improve's lyrical focus as "the integration of machines with organisms as humanity's next logical evolutionary step". PopMatters' review of Nothing singles out the lyrics from "Rational Gaze": "Our light-induced image of truth—filtered blank of its substance / As our eyes won’t adhere to intuitive lines / Everything examined. Separated, one thing at a time / The harder we stare the more complete the disintegration." Haake explains that Catch Thirtythree's cover, title and lyrics deal with "the paradoxes /negations /contradictions of life and death (as we see it in our finest moments of unrestrained metaphoric interpretation)".publisher = Blabbermouth.net

The

b. bExtreme metal[3]"> covers both thrash metal (or post-thrash metal) and death metal (or technical death metal), which also form the sound of Meshuggah's music.

c. cThe band is also often labelled as math metalfirst=Aaron (for using elements of math rock) and progressive metal.

d. dThe music of the band has also been described as grindcore,publisher = Rolling Stone a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk.

e. eTrademarks and characteristics that define Meshuggah's sound and complex songwritingpublisher = Blender include polyrhythmic structure, odd riff cycles, complex "rotating" time signatures and rhythmic syncopation, rapid key and tempo changes and neo-jazz chromatics.

f. fA trademark of Thordendal is free jazz-like soloing and lead guitar. He is also known for the usage of a "breath controller" device. Haake is known for his precise cross-rhythm drumming with "jazz-like cadence".

g. gMeshuggah has become known for its technical prowess and innovative style that evolves between each release[3]"/> or genius-bordering musicians.

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