Meshuggah: keepers of the flame, tweakers of your brain
PRESS
WHEN DEVIN TOWNSEND sang the words ‘We all rip off Meshuggah’, it was probably the most original instance of ripping off Meshuggah. Polyrhythms. Jazzy solos. Eightstring guitars with that tone. It’s been done to death since the Swedish tech metal kings blew the lid off with 2008’s obZen – new bands still pick that record’s carcass today, hoping for some leftovers. In that respect, it’s silly that Meshuggah’s ninth album is called Immutable. Because that word doesn’t mean what you think it means, to paraphrase the guy from The Princess Bride.
Immutable: ‘Unchanging over time or unable to be changed.’ This band have done nothing but change. From sounding like bargain-bin Metallica to aliens playing groove metal to redefining a genre, Meshuggah don’t stand still. obZen was the summit for onlookers, but to its creators, it was the foot of the mountain. Over their next two fulllengths, Meshuggah incrementally dug into a more organic sound, never losing that mechanical, lumbering dread. It just became more Alien than Terminator: a living, breathing beast that wants to do unpleasant things to your face and internal organs. Immutable drills deeper.