Meshuggah

Have you ever wondered, in your sadistic mind, what it would be like to receive a series of punches in the face, kicks to the neck, and knees to the groin from, say, mixed martial arts champ Chuck Liddell? Maybe you haven't, or maybe you have. But whatever the case, you probably don't have the necessary set of cajones to go toe-to-toe with Mr. Liddell. Well, if you want to listen to a piece of art that mimics what it would feel like to do battle with a martial artist, then crank the knobs on Meshuggah’s uber-mathematical obZen. This album isn't a dirty, short 'n sloppy street fight; it's a lengthy, careful, and calculated mixed martial arts bout. Over the course of their career, these Swedes have continued to manufacture mind-numbing, brain-teasing, highly intelligent metal, and the mechanical, well-oiled obZen is no different. Here, "Bleed," "Letherargica," and "obZen" aren't merely songs. They are like impenetrable walls of sound that are erected around your ears. But Meshuggah don't just make noise for the sake of making noise.

Marten Hagstrom's riffs are so resonate that you can feel his guitar strings vibrating from the top of your scalp, to the soles of your feet with their intensity, while vocalist Jens Kidman barks as though someone has taken a cheese grater to this vocal chords, despite the fact that he doesn’t have a vast arsenal of vocal techniques or tricks. "Pineal Gland Optics" is the closest thing to being "structured" on the album, and it’s a success, thanks to the thunderous, repetitive riff that is woven throughout. There's a reason that musicians like Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones outwardly admit in interviews that they revere Meshuggah to the point of wishing they could play in the band! ObZen is definitely musician’s metal, thanks to the stringent time signatures and skillful, measured playing. Thankfully, this band keeps its horns held high, and never wanders into self-indulgent, pat-ourselves-on-the-back-for-being-difficult-to-listen-to hipster territory. —Amy Sciarretto
02.22.08

On first listen, the sound on Obzen, Meshuggah's sixth full-length, is startling, not for its trademark rapid-fire key and tempo changes, or for the intricate, insanely knotty riffs that careened over 2002's Nothing or 2005's Catch Thirty-Three. Instead, it is the rampaging charge that leads off the set on "Combustion," a balls-out sprint that recalls the band's earlier catalog albums like Contradictions Collapse, Destroy Erase Improve, and even Chaosphere. Power, focus and attention to the bone-crushing power are at the center of Obzen. That said, it loses nothing in terms of the band's keen focus of musical or technical innovation or drummer Tomas Haake's songwriting. What it does leave behind is some of the mathy quick-change-for-the-sake-of-it annoyances that were more a show-off of athletic prowess than actual compositional tropes. The melodic orchestration of Catch Thirty-Three has all but disappeared, and in its place is a direct, almost machine-like sense of communication. What's most remarkable is the live drum kit work by Haake. He's constant and startling -- the completely crazy bass pedal work on "Bleed" would leave most drummers in the dust. You have to wonder, since the last album featured so many triggered laptop tooled drums. Again: power, compositional ethics, and musical acumen are all tied to one thing, building a foundation that just gets wider, deeper, and more intense as the album wears on. Check the frenetic slash and burn ethos in "Pineal Gland Optics," where both guitars stagger their rhythmic attack keeping vocalist Jens Kidman on the money the whole time. It gives way to the unwound pummeling drum and guitar solo riff that introduces "Pravus," with its sense of taut dynamics, hair-trigger tensions, and an explosiveness that is literally unequaled. This is sheer attack metal, played by a band that has run from simplicity to excess and incorporated them both into a record that is on a level with anything else they've done, even if not all the elements marry perfectly yet. Just get it. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide