Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
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Music CD Cover
Artist: MeshuggahEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
CD Release Date: 1995-07-25
Music Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
Soundtracks:
- Future Breed Machine
- Beneath
- Soul Burn
- Transfixion
- Vanished
- Acrid Placidity
- Inside What's Behind
- Terminal Illusions
- Suffer In Truth
- Sublevels
Free Music Notes for Destroy Erase Improve
Free Music Review: Metal has evolved... and the results are astonishing!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Destroy Erase Improve(1995). Meshuggah's second studio album.
(This review is mainly for anyone new to Meshuggah, like I am.)
A year ago, when I first heard of Meshuggah, I initially wrote them off as a "wall of noise, toneless band with crappy death vocals". Needless to say, I wasn't quite ready for them yet. Over the year though, I began to develop an ear for much heavier and often deathier bands like Opeth, Strapping Young Lad, and several others. No matter where I looked, I saw tons of praising reviews hailing Meshuggah as "the most progressive and jawdroppingly evolved metal band of our generation". Eventually, my curiosity sparked and I thought I should give them another try. Many have stated that DEI is the best place for people to start with Meshuggah, so I bought this release and proceeded with caution.
Then after the first listen, it finally clicked with me... This album is a METAL MASTERPIECE in every sense of the word! The reason why I didn't appreciate Meshuggah before was because my dislike towards death-styled vocals prevented me from enjoying the music. Ego and pre-perception can get in the way of enjoyment and is usually the source of close-mindedness. Thankfully, I've made it past that. The other mistake that close-minded people will make often is that they will approach Meshuggah expecting there to be melody to the music and end up sloughing them off when they find none. I've learned that melody is one approach, but not the only way to hear music. With Meshuggah, most melody is compromised in exchange for intensely complex, lush, and machine-like rhythmic songstructures. I repeat: MESHUGGAH SPECIALIZES IN RHYTHMIC SONGSTRUCTURES. Both rhythm guitars stay within the same general range throughout the disc, so for first-timers it may sound all the same. Once in a while, a lead solo is played by Fredrik Thordendal, though the melodies are very cool and unique, yet strangely indiscernible (it's difficult to describe, you'd have to hear them).
Like the band Spiral Architect, there is so many time changes that your brain is likely to twist into 14 different knots. However, one way that Meshuggah has surpassed the aformentioned band is in their ability to play in polyrhythms/polymeters. For those who don't know, the way it works is by each bandmember playing separate rhythms, yet at the same time managing to stay as a whole cohesive unit. Each time you listen, you can follow one bandmember and come up with a different tempo and rhythm from the others, though somehow it all comes together. People often dismiss this aspect as "off-time and unorganized" but with proper inspection, you can see that this couldn't be further from the truth. This must be very difficult to play live for the band, let alone follow along. As for the deathy vocals, I'm still not a big fan of them, but with Meshuggah that doesn't really seem to be a problem for me. I'd say now that Jens Kidman's vocals resemble more of a powerful throaty toneless roar as opposed to the cookie monster style that Opeth employs. It fits with the intensity of the music perfectly, and quite frankly I think that melodic singing would seem out of place here. Not to mention, that the music is just plain HEAVY! All these factors come into the success of DEI, as Meshuggah managed to finally craft their own unique sound. Other bands may share similar characteristics, but overall there's no one out there quite like them.
The songs all have a similar tone from one another, but they're by no means identical. Each one has its own subtle identity which comes off as thought-provoking, contemplative, and more important than anything else.... memorable. The album kicks off with a bang in the opener 'Future Breed Machine'. The song pulsates and pounds like an ever-changing row of thunderous hammers, topped off with an eerie bleep pattern that starts and ends the song. There are places in many of the tracks where the vocals have a shouty quality, faintly reminding me of early Anthrax. `Beneath' has a nice lead melody that sticks in your brain long after you turn the cd off. `Soul Burn' slows things down a bit, yet the music remains equally complex (they would further explore the slower realm on Nothing(2002)). I love the intro of `Transfixion' where you can slowly hear the music fading in and halfway through the process the music suddenly jumps to full volume! It gets me every time. `Vanished' continues the sheer speed and intensity while `Acrid Placidity' is more of a short melodic instrumental, serving as a nice quiet break from all the chaos. `Inside What's Within Behind' is as mind-bending as its title implies. In `Terminal Illusions', the track starts out with a really awesome industrialized guitar melody followed with an interesting speed-fest. `Suffering Truth' prolongs the metal assault, but perhaps the best track on here besides `FBM' is the album closer `Sublevels'. It's got one of the most unique song structures that I've ever heard in any song to date.
Replayability: Often. Perfect for when you're in the mood to challenge yourself with a rhythmic brutal metal assault.
Well this review has gone on way too long, but I'll just say that DEI is the perfect starting point for anyone new to Meshuggah. Believe it or not, they only get more intense and complex on the newer releases such as Chaosphere(1997), Nothing, and I(2004). DEI is still a milestone masterpiece in the context of the others. Meshuggah is certainly not for everyone, but for those who can get into this kind of stuff you'll be pleasantly surprised. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Recommendations:
-Any of Meshuggah's other albums: _ALL_ are excellent.
-`A Skeptic's Universe' by Spiral Architect (much more melody, but similar in song-structure composition)
-Any Opeth release (Another awesome heavy death metal band)
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