IMMUTABLE

A product of the 1980s, Sweden's MESHUGGAH may have started out as a mere Metallica clone but didn't take long after its lackluster debut "Contradictions Collapse" to launch out into a new musical world of its own making. With the 1994 EP "None" MESHUGGAH single-handedly steered the world of thrash metal into what would be deemed djent, a knotty syncopated form of progressive metal that features angular melodies, dissonant chord stomps and polyrhythms on steroids sounding something like death metal in cahoots with math rock.

Having caught the world off guard with its violent new concoction of metal madness MESHUGGAH has sailed through the decades with one album after another showcasing its bizarre and surreal form of musical aggression abut hasn't been heard from for six years. Following in the footsteps of 2016's "The Violent Sleep of Reason," longterm members guitarist Fredrik Thordendal and head screamer Jens Kidman are back the band's tenth studio album IMMUTABLE which showcases yet another chapter of this unique band's idiosyncratic approach to some of the most demanding metal music there is to be experienced.

It's been almost twenty years now that the band has featured the same stable lineup since bassist Dick Lövgren joined ranks in 2004 therefore it's fair to say that MESHUGGAH has become a well-oiled machine of metal in how it continues to craft variations on its crushing caustic technical workouts and with IMMUTABLE the band offers a slightly more refined and dare i say even accessible step with its progressively infused groovy djent metal. With 13 tracks including three instrumentals, IMMUTABLE is a lengthy beast of an album coming close to 67 minutes of MESHUGGAH madness that features all those classic musical traits and a few surprises.

It doesn't take long for the band to offer something new as the mechanical atonalities of guitar stomps jackhammer their way into your consciousness and then without warning Jens Kidman eschews the screaming until your lungs fall out but rather offers a spoken word intro that slowly brings in the more familiar uncompromising technical workouts of the MESHUGGAH machine. With many of the tracks written by drummer Tomas Haake, IMMUTABLE features a thundering roar of crazy technical percussive gymnastics as the primary instrumentation that the guitars and bass find themselves performing circus acts around. To smooth things out there are plenty of ghostly atmospheric moments to act a touch of eeriness to the brutal crushing percussion-rich rampages. Only Thordendal seems to be missing from the songwriting credits as all the other members contributed.

For a 67-minute album MESHUGGAH has taken a huge risk by offering too much of a good thing (or bad for those who haven't acquired a taste for this eclectic avant-metal) however the band cleverly inserts the 9 1/2 minute instrumental "They Move Below" which is probably the most accessible thing the band has ever released after its Metallica worship early years. This lengthy track pretty much jettisons the bizarre technicalities and syncopations from hell in order to craft an atmospheric grunge styled instrument that features melodic guitar counterpoints sailing away into the skies. Of course it's followed by the business-as-usual furor of "Kaleidoscope" but curiously that is followed by yet another instrumental in the form of "Black Cathedral" but this lil shorty is more of an aggressive tribute to reverb and feedback.

As "I Am That Thirst" gets back to chugging duties the album continues in a familiar comfort zone before the album ends with the final instrumental "Past Tense," another atmospheric chill out number that features clean guitars, slow tempos and absolutely no percussion to be heard. Overall MESHUGGAH has delivered another competent slice of djent infused avant-metal and are in no danger of burning out any time soon but having said that despite the small shifts away from their established stylistic approach, this is a MESHUGGAH album through and through and the album sort of fizzles out by the eighth track as the it all starts to sound as if it's on auto-pilot. The instrumentals offer a respite from the otherwise frenetic pace of the album but as i suspected, a 67-minute album of this intensity is a lot to swallow. Basically those already indoctrinated into the cult will find plenty to love on IMMUTABLE but for all the haters out there, there is nothing on this one that will win you over. While MESSHUGAH has found new elements to stitch into its musical fabric, in the end IMMUTABLE sounds like just another MESHUGGAH album for most of its run.

3.5 rounded down

There are few metal bands who are as instantly recognisable as Meshuggah whose devotion to djent, eclectic and esoteric time signatures and styles are something to be admired. However, they are not exactly the most prolific of outfits and this 2022 album is the first in six years, following on from 2016's 'The Violent Sleep of Reason' while that in itself was the first in four years. It is also somewhat lengthy, at 66 minutes, which is both a blessing and a curse. I really enjoyed the last album, but I have had real issues getting my head around this one, and I am unable to understand exactly why. Possibly I would have liked them to have moved further away from the repeated crunch we have come to expect, or possibly it is just too long, but I did find that after a while I was not getting the overall feeling I would expect from Meshuggah, the drama and intensity which only comes from a metal band pushing the limits.

They have been following this particular style for some time now, and the question must be asked are they now solely going through the motions? Their wall of sound approach has been perfected, they have had remarkable consistency in their line-up (their last change was in 2004 when bassist Dick Lövgren joined), with the result being they are an incredibly tight outfit. However, this also means they can come across as almost mechanical as opposed to being delivered by sweaty humans as there are times when it feels quite metronomical and artificial. Certainly, this album has not had nearly the same impact on me as their last one, and by the end I was looking for something with more heart and soul.

"Immutable" is the 10th full-length studio album by Swedish technical extreme metal act Meshuggah. The album was released through Atomic Fire Records in April 2022. It's the successor to "The Violent Sleep of Reason" from 2016. Recorded at Sweetspot Studios, Halmsted, Sweden, "Immutable" is a self-produced affair. Guitarist Mårten Hagström is credited for most of the songwriting, although bassist Dick Lövgren also has a few secondary songwriting credits and a primary songwriting credit on "The Abysmal Eye". Drummer Tomas Haake is credited for writing most of the lyrics. But that's more or less been the songwriting constellation in Meshuggah since "Koloss" (2012), which was the last album where lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal contributed to the songwriting.

Although Meshuggah have a core sound that they haven't deviated much from since "Chaosphere" (1998), they have always challenged themselves and their audience with little changes and experiments on each new release and that trend is continued on "Immutable". "Immutable" however presents one of the more significant changes in sound Meshuggah have produced in a number of years incorporating more atmospheric sections, more melody, an element of minimalism, and even an acoustic intro to the 9:35 minutes long instrumental centerpiece track "They Move Below". Parts of the album are even bordering accessible, which is a word I have never before used to describe Meshuggah. So while "Immutable" certainly still features its fair share of odd-metered heavy riffs and rhythms, alien sounding jazz/fusion influenced leads, and Jens Kidman's angry shouting vocals in front, the album is ultimately not quite as relentlessly uncompromising as their last many preceding releases. While I have always hailed the uncompromising nature of their past releases, it's actually nice to hear Meshuggah deliver a more accessible and compositionally varied release.

Other than "They Move Below", Meshuggah have opted to put two more instrumentals on "Immutable". "Black Cathedral" is a mid-album breather track (not that it's a mellow track), which is quite different from the tracks surrounding it, and then "Past Tense" which closes the album. "Past Tense" is a beautiful, minimalistic, atmospheric, and melancholic clean guitar track, which closes the album in great style. After being pummeled and beaten by Meshuggah for over an hour before that (with only a few atmospheric and melodic moments to break the violent and relentless heaviness and aggression), it's perfect with a mellow, atmospheric, and melancholic sounding closing track.

The remaining part of the album is a punishing and demanding listen (which isn't surprising considering the sound and style of the previous releases by Meshuggah), and like on most preceding releases not all tracks stand out equally much, but I'll mention "Broken Cog" and "Ligature Marks" as some of the standout tracks on the album. They are both some of the tracks on the album where you can hear that Meshuggah have evolved and that they are still willing to try new things. Listen to the last minute of "Ligature Marks" for proof of that...eh there's even a harmony guitar part...

"Immutable" is packed in a clear, heavy, meaty, and detailed sounding production, which suits the material perfectly and upon conclusion it is another high quality release from Meshuggah. I'd even go as far as to call the album a standout release in the band's discography. Like most Meshuggah releases, the relentless aggression and the difficulty to tell songs apart are also minor issues on "Immutable", but that's nothing new in the world of Meshuggah, and if you haven't gotten used to it by now, chances are you never well. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)