Meshuggah
obZen
Nuclear Blast
Everything Zen? Meshuggah don't think so
And so, like a monstrous Swedish cicada, Meshuggah re-emerge from hibernation to bring us the latest installment in what is now a 20-year musical life-cycle. That the Umeå five-piece has evolved over that time goes without saying. If it took them a while to reach maturity with 1995’s Destroy Erase Improve, then the subsequent outings have all become classics. The last time we heard from Meshuggah, they surprised us by avoiding the chaotic compression of their late ’90s heyday, and instead offered a much more composed, even orchestrated album in Catch 33. Three years on, and we have a new reference point to chart Meshuggah’s musical evolution. And yeah, things are evolving nicely.
obZen may well disappoint some of the old-timers among the Meshuggah fanbase; the changeability and choppiness that appealed to many has largely been smoothed out. Next to the deliberately symphonic Catch 33, this is perhaps Meshuggah’s most consistent sounding album. As before, obZen is a team effort; there’s really no one member whose contributions stand out more than those of any other musician. Instead of its predecessor’s ProTooled drums, the kit is live; yet just as Catch 33’s programming sounded virtually live, so does obZen sound sufficiently machinelike that you may not necessarily notice the rougher edges, fuzzes and rawness on first listen.
Technicality takes a relative backseat to building up momentum in almost all of these songs. In many ways, the bass riff that opens first track “Combustion” sets the tone for what is to follow; lifted almost wholesale from Tool’s “Lateralus,” the bassline weaves in and out of what by Meshuggah standards is a relatively conventional, but utterly blistering opener. A great many bands have tried to write a thrash song this meaty and bruising; Meshuggah pull it off almost effortlessly. “Bleed,” a few tracks later, returns to this thrash approach with a polished Metallica gallop, but builds this to a delayed-gratification chorus three minutes in, then follows with a typically sublime solo offset against a discordant rhythm line. In between, “Electric Red” showcases the more bass-driven approach that typifies many tracks on the album, once again recalling Tool for the depth-charge heaviness and slow arcing outros. “Lethargica” and the title track continue in this vein, flaring into slower or faster tempos as the need dictates.
“This Spiteful Snake” doesn’t only nod to the stage name of Voivod’s frontman, but perhaps unsurprisingly recalls the Canadian legends as well, beginning as a perfect mid-point between Dimension Hätross and Nothingface, before slamming on the bass-brakes, to the point where you’re reminded more of Swans or Neurosis than anything within thrash metal’s legacy. “Pineal Optic Glands” continues the Voivod space-thrash mood, before “Pravus” explodes to bring this particular phase of the album to an end. The best track for this listener, it arcs beautifully and compactly to set up closer “Dancers to a Discordant System,” a nine-minute epic that weaves together almost every mood and quirk that made the previous eight tracks already more than satisfying enough. —Nick Terry
