Meshuggah - Obzen

Very Impressive!

This is a must have for any death metal collection. This album has it all. However, it's not very fast, but has angry grooves. The musicians are amazing and the album is quite unique from anything else out there. If I had to compare it to any other band, it would be Rage Against the Machine. September 26, 2008

My first Meshuggah album

I've browsed their reviews in guitar mags. Something intigued me. So I bought their newest album. As you can tell, I'm coming to this review without any knowledge of previous output or fan favourites. But I have been listening to Opeth, Tool, Mastodon, The Fall Of Troy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Mars Volta, Joy Division very recently.

First impressions? A dense record, full-on all the way through. A bit of a cacophony.

Later impressions? It's a grower. I'm getting to understand the seperate songs. Getting to hum along to the riffs and bits. It's still an awful racket, though! But I like that.

I'm an older music fan, and have been listening to King Crimson since they started (well, second album). And I'm amazed how influential their sound and playing has been on new metal music. I thought I was the only person listening to KC as they continually reinvented themselves. Evidently not.

This album has some blistering guitar playing on it that clearly owes an influence to KC's duo of Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp who were making new sonic worlds in the 90s and Naughties.

I like it! As Mr. Belew once said.



August 27, 2008

What is the big fuss?

I don't know guys. This is my first experience with this band. I have heard that they were this phenomenal metal band, so I bought this when it first came out for $9. My first listen, I was disappointed. There are no real songs...it just seems like wankin'. And the production was terrible. So I put it on my shelf for a few months and just tried to listen to it again a week ago. Yeah, it still sucks. August 27, 2008

Now this truly is a classic.

I'm a brand new fan of this band so I admit that they may have released some better records prior to this...I wouldn't know. All I know is that this is the absolute best death metal record I have ever heard asside from maybe only one other (by the band Death). I love this album...it is so dark, serious, and genuinely technical. These guys are real muscians. Wow!!!! I'm addicted to this album. Incredible muscianship!!!! August 13, 2008

Meshuggah out does them-selves yet again

This record it the most brutal thing i have ever heard in my life. Most reviews say it's a step backwards to Meshuggah's old sounds and they are kinda right, but more wrong lol. Let me explain, upon first listen it feels like Chaosphere or Destroy Erase Improve, but after each listen you realize this is the most interesting, challenging and heaviest record they have ever made. Imagine taking Destroy Erase Improve and multiplying it by Catch 33 and that's kinda what you have, but with a pinch of something new.

Combustion and Pravus are the heaviest songs on the record, and the song Bleed makes my feet hurt just thinking about being able to keep up with the double bass of drummer Tomas Haake, who also provides all of the amazing lyrics to the record, "Ripples ascend to the surface of my eyes; their red pens drawing at random, at will; a myriad pain begotten in their wake; the bastard spawn of a mutinous self.

Overall, this record is Meshuggah at their finest. Where in the past their music seems to attack you on three dimensions, Obzen adds a fourth. It may take a listen or two to grasp the full concept being that there is just so much happening at all times, but trust me, this record is worth it. July 28, 2008

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