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Meshuggah is a Swedish five-piece experimental metal band formed in 1987. The band comprises founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström and bassist Dick Lövgren. 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 their 2002 album Nothing, Meshuggah uses eight-string guitars and downtuned, groovy riffs.
Nothing and the following albums charted on the Billboard 200. 2008's album obZen reached No. 59 and sold 11,400 copies in the first week and 50,000 copies six months after its release. In 2006, the band was nominated for a Swedish Grammy Award. Since its formation, Meshuggah has released six studio albums, five EPs and eight music videos. Meshuggah has performed in various international festivals, including Ozzfest and Download, and embarked on a world tour in 2008.
Meshuggah has become renowned for its complex, innovative and precise musicianship and songwriting, polyrhythmic song structures and technical prowess. It has been 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. In spite of its critical acclaim, Meshuggah has found little mainstream success but is a significant act in extreme underground music.
History Formation and early years (1987–1989)
Meshuggah began in Umeå,[publisher = Allmusic] a college town in northern Sweden with a population of 105,000,[first=Rod ] where the band Metallien formed in 1985 with frontman Roger Olofsson, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal, Peder Gustafsson, bassist Janne Wiklund and drummer Örjan Lundmark. Following the recording of a number of demo tapes, Metallien disbanded, while Thordendal continued under a different name with new band members.
Meshuggah was formed in 1987,[publisher = Revolver] by vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarist Johan Sjögren, bassist Jörgen Lindmark and drummer Per Sjögren,[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 Torbjörn Granström, bassist Peter Nordin and drummer Niclas Lundgren. Granström was replaced by guitarist Fredrik Thordendal.[url = www.meshuggah.net/bio/] and Thordendal decided to restore the name Meshuggah for the new band.
In 1989, Meshuggah released the self-titled, three-song EP Meshuggah,[publisher = Blabbermouth.net] and a headlining tour of its own.
Catch Thirtythree and obZen (2003–present) 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."
Bassist Dick Lövgren, who joined Meshuggah in February 2004
In February 2004, bassist Dick Lövgren joined Meshuggah.
A remixed and remastered version of Nothing with re-recorded guitars was released in a custom-shaped slipcase featuring a three-dimentional 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]"/>]
That year, Meshuggah recorded obZen, which was released in March 2008.
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."[publisher = Revolver]
Musical style Music genre and typical traits Fredrik Thordendal performing in 2008 in Prague with an eight-string guitar.
When describing Meshuggah's level of 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. Extreme metal crosses both thrash metal (or post-thrash metal) and death metal; which are at root of the sound of Meshuggah's music. The band is often labelled as math metal (for using elements of math rock) and progressive metal. The music of the band has also been described as grindcore, a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk. 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".a Meshuggah creates a unique and recognizable sonic imprint[publisher = Allmusic] and distinct style.
Trademarks and characteristics that define Meshuggah's sound include complex metal with mathematical-like songwriting, odd riff cycles, polyrhythmic structure, complex "rotating" time signatures and rhythmic syncopation, rapid key and tempo changes and neo-jazz chromatics.b 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?"
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.
Early work, Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere
The early work of Meshuggah, influenced mainly by Metallica, is "simpler and more straight-forward 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".[publisher = Blabbermouth.net]
Kidman in 2007.
With the groundbreaking Destroy Erase Improve, Meshuggah showed accurate fusion of death metal, thrash metal, progressive metal and technical polyrhythmic math metal.
Chaosphere incorporates typically fast,
Rolling Stone labeled Meshuggah as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands",[publisher = Revolver]
Lyrics, songwriting and recording In addition to playing drums, Haake also writes most of the band's lyrics.
Hagström says about the songwriting: "I sit down and program the drums, record the guitar and record the bass in the computer, so when I present an idea to the other guys it's presented in band form pretty much the way I want it to be. So at one point or another, we might change out the arrangements over a fill or maybe a choice of cymbal or maybe moving something a little bit but we stick true to the general idea pretty much; it's not a lot different. On some songs we actually restructure a lot but it's rare." He also explains: "Everybody in the band has a pretty good idea of what everybody else is doing conceptually, and nobody thinks exclusively in terms of a particular instrument. We have this symbiosis thing; we’re kind of a single-celled organism climbing up the evolutionary ladder. But Jens has the biggest challenge: taking Tomas’ lyrics and somehow making them his own."
Except when Hagström needs a soloist, he and Thordendal rarely record together. Both play guitar and bass while composing (touring bassist Lövgren doesn’t record with the band). Haake says, "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."
Meshuggah's songs often have esoteric[publisher = Blabbermouth.net]
The
b. bTrademarks and characteristics that define Meshuggah's sound include complex metal[publisher = Blender] complex "rotating" time signatures
c. cA trademark of Thordendal is free jazz-like soloing and lead guitar.
d. dMeshuggah has become renowned for its technical prowess
e. eMeshuggah have also been described as highly skilled,[[3]"/> or genius-bordering]
f. fHaake is considered to be one of the most technically skilled drummers in today's heavy metal;
Copyright Citations
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