What do you think of Meshuggah?

[Kenneth R.]

Sorry, I really really don't like it. A step above radio...

you don't like much do you?

 

[guitarguru777]

I have a hard time deciding what I think about this band. I enjoy "Nothing" quite a bit. Lots of good riffs and patterns and, as always, some pretty impressive music theory.

My thing with this new album, "Catch Thirty Three", is that there is very little real music in it. The bulk of it consists of only a couple ostinato riffs with syncopatic variations for each verse... not all that much material in over 12 mins of music.

I went to the official Meshuggah forum to see what fans of the band were saying about it, and they were lining up to suck the albums proverbial d*ck! Words like "monumental", and "incomparable", and "cacaphonic symphony that will transcend time" were being applied to this album, and everyone was nodding in agreement.

Okay, so they can play in 5/8, then 7/8, then 1/4, then 3/4, then 11/2 without completely falling apart. Cool. So they can play whole tone and semitone scales, use tone clusters, and all kinds of instrument-specific tecnique. Cool. But how much actual music IS there in that album?

I feel like they are a band where if you sat down and transcribed what they were doing, or worked out the tabs, you would say "oh, that's cool!", but I mean at what point are you sacrificing music for musicianship?

Math metal has an appreciation for good technique and intelligent music, so I feel like it is a kindred spirit to prog. But at what point do you go too far?

Thoughts, comments?

Messuggah is Unique in that they are strictly Math Metal. hey dont go for the musicality thing at all. Its all about being EXTREME and always teedring on that limb as to wether they fall apart. Its an experience and a challenge to most listeners cause there is no musicality to it. Thats what it is, and nothing more.

I truely appreciate it and I am a big fan of the band. Just for the simple fact that its very hard to play in this way.

Da Fukn Guru

 

[Porksoda]

Lots of interesting opinions! Made me pop in Catch 33 again and give it a listen. More discussion, por favor! Any more thoughts on some of Meshuggah's back catalog? I busted out Destroy Erase Improve a while back on the recommendation of one of the people on their forum, and I definitely see the evolution through their catalog. It's funny; on the one hand I feel that they have definitely gotten better every album since their early releases, but on the other I am liking their newer stuff less and less.

I think Chaosphere and Nothing are my two favorites. Their development as a band is definitely showing, but they aren't quite so "out there". Chaosphere is frickin RAW! Makes me wanna put my fist through the wall! "Nothing" is a bit less brutal and chaotic, but things are clean, well organized, and intelligently put together. It establishes some good groves and then plays with those goves in a more straightforeward fashion than C33, so I would say I like it quite a bit more for that reason.

With regard to the comment that all their stuff is in 3/4 or 4/4, almost every piece can be broken down into sets of duples and triples, but that does not mean that everything is as simple as 3/4 or 4/4. Stravinsky's Firebird has a section that CAN be broken into 2, 2, and 3, (and sometimes 3,2,2 I think) but that is not the way it is intended. The PHRASING makes it 7. The "heavy accents" as you call them are what determine the phrase beginnings and endings. What makes meshuggah so frickin inaccessible is that even while they are using crazy time signatures (13 and 11 being some of their favorites) they also play around with phrasing by delaying or anticipating downbeats, and heavily syncopating, throwing the listener off even further. Cutting through all of that to find the underlying pattern is the challenge of listening to them

Also, as far as solos go, Meshuggah does not have solos in the sense of traditional heavy metal. The ostinato will stop, and their guitarist will do a lot of crazy atonal patterns and stuff. Personally, don't like most of the solos. I feel like he tries so hard to be "wierd" and atonal that it loses direction, and ends up leaving you right back where you were in the song before he started. But, that's just my opinion

 

[Thraxz]

you don't like much do you?

Not much that'd ever admit to you.

Even so, I have discerning tastes.

 

[Porksoda]

There's a difference between discerning and ignorant

 

[Noble Viking]

I think of "Nothing" as "mechanical" I feel like I'm part of some pounding machine or some pissed off robot on the fritz! If you hear "rare trax" you'll be suprised how much they've evolved. The songs do sound like Metallica a little bit, but some of the more "death metalish" songs will make your jaw drop because the drummer sounds like a drum Machine!

 

[Strychnos]

I have a profound appreciation of what they can do, and I loved the uber-technicality of "Nothing". That said, I prefer to listen to Meshuggah at times like when I'm in Muay Thai practice.