NOTHING (2006)

Meshuggah's Nothing is difficult to describe if you've never heard their music before. And the description, on its face, doesn't sound that appealing. Who would want to listen to rhythmically-defined, almost entirely melody-depraved music that is difficult to follow and has death growling, to boot? Trust me on this one, it is a LOT greater than it sounds by its description alone.

The first thing you understand while listening to this album is the amount of technical and musical expertise needed to craft it. The proficiency needed to make this music coherent is awe-inspiring. The subtle masterpiece of each riff slowly makes itself apparent. The exact ways in which they manipulate time signature and rhythmic patterns and variation is ingenious and enrapturing in its own right.

Then comes the understanding of the music itself. What were once seemingly random, toneless guitar riffs become precise, staccato statements of powerful emotion. The growling only enhances your visceral response from this album. The intricate ways it plays around the riff and the timekeeping, seemingly in place with both, is amazing.

Finally comes your emotional reaction. If you've made it this far, your only recourse will be in drained catharsis, wondering how you could have let yourself been affected by such sublime music for the past hour.

I think the appropriate word for the feeling you get while listening to Nothing is "aurgasm."