Meshuggah Starts to Step Outside Their Box

No one really likes to say it out loud, but Meshuggah has gotten a little boring. Their last album, Koloss, received a lot of critical acclaim, but didn’t seem to receive the same kind of hype and fan enthusiasm that previous albums had in the past. The problem came down to one simple issue: it was more of the same.

Meshuggah is a metal juggernaut, and they’ve certainly never released anything that’s below par musically. But their formula for the most part has stayed the same since 1998’s Chaosphere. It’s always groovy, low-end metal that stands out for its rhythmic complexity, either via complex groupings, syncopation or hemiolas. That isn’t to say they haven’t made any musical progress since then. Nothing was the first record to introduce 8-string guitars (which have since become incredibly popular), and Catch Thirtythree was an ambitious and highly revered concept album.

It was probably after Catch Thirtythree that the monotony started. Though it still holds up as a modern masterpiece of progressive music, it was also the moment when Meshuggah took a completely different approach to their songwriting. The album is one long song split into 13 tracks, composed using a drum machine and a lot of copy and pasting. There isn’t anything really wrong with this (even if some of the more elitist types have taken issue with it), but after this album and then into obZen, it seemed that Meshuggah’s production values had gotten very clean and overly precise. The human quality felt like it was disappearing, though it carried itself very well on the strength of songs like “Combustion” and “Bleed,” which were catchy singles that spawned an unseemly amount of YouTube covers.

Then Koloss came along and it started to feel a little stale. The music was good, but nothing that hadn’t been heard before. There weren’t any standout tracks that made for good singles and Meshuggah’s brand of rhythmic progressiveness can only make so much of an impact after it’s been heard so many times.

After four years, the band is following it up with The Violent Sleep of Reason, and this time there’s one very significant difference: Meshuggah chose to record all of the songs live. This might not seem meaningful to a lot of listeners, but it does make a drastic difference in the sound. The whole album has a much more human and organic quality, lacking the overproduced and robotic tone of their previous few albums. The albums vibe summons up feelings similar to their Chaosphere days, where they were still a little dirty and rougher around the edges. The tempo sways a little bit here and there, but now you’re getting to see the band hold down all of the musical complexity without the aid of post-production editing.

However, The Violent Sleep of Reason hasn’t totally removed itself from Meshuggah’s trend of monotony. It is in many ways still more of the same sound that the band has been pushing out for years. However, there are moments sprinkled throughout the record that show the band experimenting with new musical ideas. They’re not exactly easy to describe or directly point out, but any long-time Meshuggah fan will listen to the record and notice slight intricacies that feel like Meshuggah is starting to step outside their self-imposed box a little bit. It’s a great sign that shows that Meshuggah has not completely backed themselves into a corner.

Don’t let fear of monotony be a deterrent that keeps you from checking out this album. Meshuggah have rightfully earned their place among the metal elite, and their influence on metal and progressive music in general is far-reaching. Their music is studied and hailed by composers from many different genres. With the djent movement in full force, there’s a lot of imitators out there, yet still no one does it quite like they do. Even if it gets a little stale at times, any Meshuggah record is worth at least a couple of listens. The Violent Sleep of Reason might not be the most standout record in their catalog, but it still has plenty of musical value. Hopefully it also represents a shift in their creative process that might prove to be very beneficial to their music in the future.