Meshuggah - Obzen
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Free Music Notes for Obzen
Free Music Review: A potent display of pure musicianship. A prayer in madness this is.
Hit: 5 Stars
If you've never heard Meshuggah before, and haven't experienced their unique style, my first recommendation is this: don't start your experience with this album. Go with Destroy, Erase, Improve or Chaosphere first.
I assume that if you are here that you desire brutal heavy metal. Meshuggah definitely delivers that, but it is a niche style that requires a will to accept bent convention, because Metallica they are not. In fact, if you are a Metallica fan looking for something akin to them then you are firmly in the wrong place altogether, because Meshuggah does little with their music that even is remotely similar to Metallica.
Now, having said that, I must say that Obzen is a firm departure from Meshuggah's previous efforts. It seems to be the most atmospheric of all their albums, if indeed that word could describe the work of this band. If you are familiar with the band the best thing I can say is that this album appears to take the complexity of Catch Thirty-Three and breed it to the potency of Nothing. It's a slant somewhere between those two albums, and yet it also has it's own particular uniqueness. What we end up with is an album that is clearly a break with previous Meshuggah creations. Within Meshuggah's insanity, Obzen becomes a unique madness, a startling new break with reality. The album cover perfectly portrays this.
If you are new to this band, and are willing to experiment with your listening pleasure, then consider carefully what album(s) by this band you are going to buy first. Obzen is certainly a wonderful album, but for new Meshuggah listeners it might be hard to understand the appeal. Don't rush the experience, either. Niche metal bands take time to absorb. The same would be true of Opeth, Neurosis, My Dying Bride, or even Mastodon. Especially for long time Metallica listeners. Give the music time to capture you, instead of you attempting to capture it aggressively. If you will allow the music to grow on you the day will come when you are pleasantly surprised at just how much you truly like it.
Free Music Review: Quite possibly their most outstanding release
Hit: 5 Stars
Well, Meshuggah has done it again. They've been my favorite act for some time now, but I never thought they could surpass their brutal Chaosphere album. After tons of listens to Obzen, I think they've surpassed it - and this is coming from someone who loves every last one of their releases.
What makes this album so interesting is how distinctive each of its songs are. Every track has a feature that is unique and immediately identifiable. The songs themselves are incredibly dense, but some tracks are actually more accessible than in the past. Take Combustion, the album opener - it is very different than anything Meshuggah has done since, well, Contradictions Collapse. It is as straightforward as they come, but devastatingly heavy. Electric Red is the perfect contrast to this song, which features all the things that we've come to know and love from Meshuggah - parts of it towards the end are reminiscent of Thordenthal's Sol Niger Within album (and yes, this is a very, very good thing).
I could write pages about each individual song, but there are some obvious highlights. The twisted, subtly changing but impossible to play rhythms from Bleed (possibly the greatest display of musical stamina in the history of metal). The absolutely skull-crushing opening of the title track. Pineal gland Optics' Chaosphere-esque breakdown 2 minutes into the song. The furious, pseudo-triple-meter, demonic dance of "Dancers to a Discordant System," and Thordenthal's guitar solo in it.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to hear some of the most crushingly heavy and rhythmically difficult music in metal history, you need to pick this album up. If you're a Meshuggah fan, doesn't matter what era or album you like the best - you'll find many things to like on Obzen. Get it and listen, now.
Free Music Review: A great album that tell's a story but not a story for everyone to hear.
Hit: 5 Stars
Most people's attention span can't keep up with a band like Meshuggah. For the most part they are a musician's band. I love this album all the way through. Every song has something to say. Every rhythm is truly unique. Nobody is doing what this band does. They are in their own. I started out listening to this band by being introduced to Destroy Erase Improve. If you listen closely to the songs on that album you can hear what is to come with this band. On Obzen they take every awesome aspect of their old records and mix it into one on this cd. Meshuggah are definitely not for everyone. Most people can't handle this band because of their use of repetitiveness. I feel like when I'm listening to meshuggah, that I'm listening to some kind of tribal ritual. Its like the music is building up the atmosphere for something amazing to happen, which is the feeling you get after hearing this amazing band. Finally my favorite songs on this album but def have to be the crushing sonic fury of "bleed." This song has riffs and drums that will make your head explode! I love the build up in the first song "combustion". Very fast and heavy. Then the guitar riff has this clean but with a hint of gain to it and then it lets loose again and the song is awesome. "Pravus" has a riff in the intro that sounds like a soundtrack to the apocalypse! Then the last song "Dancers to a Discordant System" is the perfect closer to this crushing story. I recommend this album to anyone that loves the sound of extended range instruments and has an open mind. Meshuggah are making the music they want. They aren't trying to get rich doing this music. It's pure creativeness. This band has no hidden agenda or fashion statement to make. So in closing if your looking for something easy to listen to or something that has millions of melodic hooks this is not your cup of tea.Free Music Review: Dancers to a Cordant Metal
Hit: 5 Stars
Meshuggah are not only masters of extremely dense and technical metal, they're one of the few acts in that category with some real personality and a sense of dynamics. Sure they would never touch unmanly things like melodies or feelings with a ten-foot drumstick, but Meshuggah's crushing displays of technical power actually sound like they were created by humans rather than robots. Meanwhile, occasional breakdowns and quiet passages (like in "Electric Red" and "Lethargica") make the heaviness seem even heavier. And while they surely deliver dark metal's typically brutal riffs and grim lyrics, Meshuggah's secret weapon is rhythm - especially as delivered by stupendous drummer Tomas Hakke, whose tightly controlled polyrhythmic attack makes him a million times heavier than your standard ADHD'ed nu-metal drum hack.
This album might sound like a monotonous jackbooted deathmarch at first, but after many listens the songs start to differentiate themselves, as the technical workouts resolve into distinct grooves populated by surprisingly nuanced guitar solos and all sorts of bizarre but curiously swinging time signatures. Granted, the band does occasionally get stuck in their own technical chops and have to force their way back to reality, as can be heard in the abrupt and awkward conclusion to "This Spiteful Snake" and in a few other places on the album. But believe it or not, the groove's the thing, topping out in the neckbreaking "obZen" (the title track), in which the band actually swings as readily as it chops. This extreme technical metal is technically extreme and heavily fascinating. [~doomsdayer520~]
Free Music Review: Quantum Mechanical Musicianship
Hit: 5 Stars
Similar to any masterful piece of art, whether it be painted, sculpted, written or composed-a true appreciation for that particular subject matter, is rarely achieved following first contact.
So to, does the above apply to the staggeringly complex, yet surprisingly accessible "oBzen".
To concur with a previous reviewers remark-I must say this sounds like an album that Meshuggah really enjoyed making. I find oBzen to be a true amalgamation of their sound, representing both the old (from the thrashy opener "Combustion") and the new (to the insanely complex "Electric Red") to essentially everything in between. The thing is though, they've accomplished the above and packaged it into such a tight and finely arranged production, that the end result remains sounding fresh and new, even though these are many of the waters they have tread in the past. For me, the return to a regular song structured album was not a welcome one, being that I so enjoyed what I consider their crowning achievements, "I" and "Catch 33". This concern, coupled with what at first listen seemed like a return to the sound of old, seemed like the perfect formula for what on my part would have likely been a very hasty review. However, I am glad to say I chose to take the road less traveled by me in the past, that of patience and discipline. As a result, I have been rewarded with a perfectly precise auditory experience; an album layered with such precision and technical prowess, that it simply defies the musical boundaries established by nearly all other musicians, both present and past.