A Meshuggah discussion

Conor Fynes wrote: Meshuggah personally, are a band I can appreciate for up to two minutes at a time, before it starts to hurt my brain. :)

heheheheh

I've heard the same thing from a few people.

For sure...it is not easy listening, but heavy metal never is.
As I said, and I'm sure a lot of people would agree...it truly is a matter of taste.

As musicians, they are incredible...forging their own style and utterly destroying all preconceptions of how 'metal' should be played...yet, I can appreciate to the average listener that it is a bunch of noise.

It's like marmite...you either love it...or you don't!


Personally, I adore them...they have constantly destroyed convention within a specific realm of 'metal' music...and will continue to do so.

Yes, Fredrik worships at the throne of Allan Holdsworth...but let's face it, I had never heard of Allan until I heard Meshuggah and I can thank the nutty Swedes for introducing me to his work.
If you came out the other way...then yes...Meshuggah would be a total headf**k for you...

Everything leads from and to someting else...we have all enjoyed finding bands that have influenced our hero's, yes?
And I think that is the true excellence of any band worth their salt.

Ben Enochian wrote: Conor Fynes wrote: Meshuggah personally, are a band I can appreciate for up to two minutes at a time, before it starts to hurt my brain. :) heheheheh I've heard the same thing from a few people. For sure...it is not easy listening, but heavy metal never is. As I said, and I'm sure a lot of people would agree...it truly is a matter of taste. As musicians, they are incredible...forging their own style and utterly destroying all preconceptions of how 'metal' should be played...yet, I can appreciate to the average listener that it is a bunch of noise. It's like marmite...you either love it...or you don't! Personally, I adore them...they have constantly destroyed convention within a specific realm of 'metal' music...and will continue to do so. Yes, Fredrik worships at the throne of Allan Holdsworth...but let's face it, I had never heard of Allan until I heard Meshuggah and I can thank the nutty Swedes for introducing me to his work. If you came out the other way...then yes...Meshuggah would be a total headf**k for you... Everything leads from and to someting else...we have all enjoyed finding bands that have influenced our hero's, yes? And I think that is the true excellence of any band worth their salt.

yep.  pretty much says it all.  However, I came upon Holdsworth in my jazz fusion exploring independently of Meshuggah, whom I had heard before Holdsworth.  But isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery?  Obviously Thordendahl loves Allan.... Meshuggah has inspired so many clones that it is ridiculous!  when that many bands imitate the originator of a style, you know they have taken giant steps in the evolution of Metal....

Ok, so we all agree then.
Lovely.
We can lock this thread.
hahaha

avalanchemaster wrote: Petrovsk Mizinski wrote: I look at things this way. You had Sabbath. You had the NWOBHM bands. You had thrash metal pioneers like Dave Mustaine and Metallica. You had Pantera who were hugely responsible for bringing groove metal to the world and have influenced sh*t tons of bands. Then you have Meshuggah, a band that like the aforementioned, totally f**ked with convention and brought something totally new to the table. Possibly one of most inventive metal bands ever and their influence on other bands is truly noticeable now. Yep.  I just said that.....

Yeah I know, but I said it better.

I´ve listened to Meshuggah since Contradictions Collapse was released and I remember being rather impressed by that one but even more by Destroy Erase Improve. I wasn´t a real fan at the time though. When Chaosphere were released I couldn´t get into it and I actually didn´t listen to Meshuggah for a couple of years after that. But when they were touring for Catch 33 I went to see them live. Just to see the beast in action and that was my eye opener. Seing them live totally blew me away. Brutal, technical, intense and hypnotic. After that concert I went back and began listening to all of their albums from an end and today Chaosphere and Nothing are probably my favorites. Chaosphere is just as structured as Nothing IMO but much faster paced and more inaccessible. I love that Meshuggah´s music are as inaccessble as it is. It means that the music is everlasting. There´s nothing worse than an album I can hum along to after having listened to it only once ( with exceptions of course I love Motörhead and AC/DC type of hardrock/ heavy metal too).

Yes lets get back to talking about Meshuggah. Much more fun to be had there.

Tony, you've linked to files in your C:, were you supposed to? 

Yes they are amazing to see live... they are tribal and their rhythms. I remember being almost literally hypnotized and by the end not realizing what had just happened. They are less brutal, but yet more brutal live... I can't describe. Their music doesn't feel as punishing. You just have to submit to it and let it do to you what it wishes. You can't listen to Meshuggah like you may other music or you certainly won't be able to appreciate it. Truly they are not evil or even brutal like other metal groups may be. Actually, to me they are not metal but rather in a genre of their own... like they have stated they are a mechanical execution of inhuman stretches of time signatures. They are a rhythm exercise, and should be regarded as such. 

A great starting point I believe is the Selfcaged EP and then from there to None EP and then Destroy Erase Improve which is freakin awesome and powerful. It is revolutionary to me, very deconstructionist, a slap in the face to the conventional metal norm. Chaosphere is easier to appreciate if you skip the first track, starting with "New Millennium Cyanide Christ" and stopping at "Sane" . The True Human Design EP has a better version of "Sane" to me. After that they slowed down a bit and the songs have been hit or miss. Every album has great songs on it though.

Sorry chaps...CHAOSPHERE is my fave record...but that's just my opinion.
It's hectic, layered and above all a massive rhythmic amalgamation of hellish noise!
HURRAH!
Sound the trumpets!


This is all opinion really anyway, so no-one is right or wrong...
I think we can all agree that they are great at what they do and created a sub-genre in which they are the only fish in the sea...or rather a giant cybernetic octopus floundering in a bath-tub!
There's an analogy for you kiddies...
hahahah