Meshuggah at Myspace

Let’s face it the quality of Meshuggah’s material has been on a downward spiral since 1998’s “Chaosphere”. 2002’s “Nothing” was a mid paced boring trudge and 2005’s “Catch Thirty-Three” was an overly pretentious journey to the musical equivalent of the middle of nowhere with nothing to show for it. The problem with both of those releases is they were too obtuse and for want of a better term ‘mathematical’. You are probably saying “but the whole point behind Meshuggah’s music is their use of complex almost mathematical rhythms; how can their music be too mathematical!” The problem is when the mathematics overpowers all the other elements of the bands formula so that it becomes a staid series of theoretical musings in obscure time sequences and forgets the adrenalin rush and off kilter momentum that made songs such as “Future Breed Machine” and “New Millennium Cyanide Christ” so memorable.

The songs on “Nothing” and “Catch Thirty-Three” had the momentum of a bulldozer stuck in quicksand and instead of making you want hurl yourself around your room instead lulled one into a feeling of drowsiness. “ObZen” at first listen seems to have rectified this problem with the first song “Combustion” which is a full throttle poly-rhythm attack that engages the senses like having a hive full to the brim of hornets flung at you at top speed. In theory if there are a few fast songs on “ObZen” then that should allow the slow ones to be more memorable as they won’t blend into one featureless mid paced chug a la “Nothing”.

However, this is not the case as the next six songs are mid paced and whilst tracks such as “Lethargica” and “This Spiteful Snake” have unnerving yet atmospheric discordance that the material on “Catch Thirty-Three” could never hope to achieve. Unfortunately tracks two to seven to seem to blur into half an hour of mathematical chugging nearly always at the same tempo that betrays however unworldly and mind-blowing this material may appear to be at first listen, when presented like this with not enough fat cut away from the meat, the Meshuggah sound seems as formulaic as Cannibal Corpse or Dark Funeral.

“Pravus” is a faster paced and less samey track which helps to some degree to bring any listeners attention that may have wandered back to the fore. It’s too late though as it’s the penultimate track and its now the turn of the nine and half minute album closer “Dancers To A Discordant System” to finish off the job of disappointing us once more. A moment roughly around 5:45 is oddly reminiscent of Gojira which isn’t surprising given the influence Meshuggah have had upon them, but it further hammers it home that barring a surprise return to form, Meshuggah’s time as innovators and leader seems to be over. With one brilliant track with the rest ranging from “kinda alright” to “deserving to be on “nothing” ” this has proven to be a disappointing album.

Friday, December 19th, 2008 @ 9:13 pm Core, Progressive Metal, Technical Metal
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