Six years have ed since the Swedish blunt force trauma unit known as Meshuggah delivered their last new music with The Violent Sleep of Reason. Time may have ed, but the Swedes dynamic cutting edge has not been blunted one iota. Album number nine reignites any fires that had been dormant in dramatic style. 68 minutes of pulsating and devastatingly punishing music serve as a reminder that the iconic outfit remain a vital component of extreme music.
Beginning with the bruising “Broken Cog”, Immutable is an album full of contrasts, experiments and what is likely to be hailed as the band’s most creative release in their long and varied career. “Broken Cog” opens with the instantly recognisable low end of Dick Lövgren’s crushing bass and the pounding drums of Tomas Haake before the introduction of the guitars and sinister spoken word. It’s a huge opening, sonically massive with polyrhythmic movements and jarring, uncomfortable time changes.
Always innovative and inventive, Immutable is no different in the Meshuggah catalogue and demands the attention with a progressive and scintillating approach from start to finish. Jens Kidman’s roaring lead vocals are as savage as ever, harsh, and angry, full of brooding malevolence. The blistering syncopation that the band has established as their own is evident throughout, yet never repeated in an aural assault that rarely ceases its barrage. The explosive first release “The Abysmal Eye” features early, an onslaught of cosmic brutality, the soaring guitarwork hanging eerily in the ether as the punishing rhythmic attack continues below.
Some of the guitar work on Immutable is blistering. Often hidden beneath the barrage of riffs, here the shredding tears through with rapier precision. The relentless offensive that Meshuggah have long served is maintained throughout, with their unique form of progressive metal once more defying genres. The like of “Phantom”, with its underlying groove and addictive riff and the guttural insanity of “Ligature Marks” will delight those pit dwellers who wish to slam, for there is ample here to inflict maximum damage.
If you like what we do, consider ing us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Intelligent and complex, there remains a base level for Meshuggah, one that is often masked in the hugely developed and crafted pieces they create. But for all of that, they are still capable of lobbing in that change of pace and style, a true unexpected, curved ball likely to confuse yet delight those who have followed this dynamic and ever evolving outfit. This time it’s the ten-minute They Move Below, which begins with intricate and measured acoustic guitars for the first three minutes before those huge bass lines erupt and the band embarks on a journey of exploration via a mesmerising instrumental journey which jousts and provokes.
It may be a lengthy listen, but the addictive nature of those angular and crashing time changes continues to draw attention on each piece. The ripping “Kaleidoscope” maintains an Olympian energy level, with Kidman’s snarling delivery outstanding. There are dramatic short blasts too, with “Black Cathedral” a mere two-minute probing track which leads into one of the most desolate and despairing songs, the aural wire of “I Am That Thirst”, which stands alongside the band’s previous works.
If you can get to the concluding “Past Tense” then you genuinely feel like a reward is due. That prize falls in the shape of a song that is as obtuse and sinister as anything the Swedes have ever produced, such is the veil of horror that lurks above and beneath it.
Immutable moves Meshuggah forward another level, if one exists, for this is a band who truly place no limits on their explorative and expansive abilities. Always ahead of the game and their peers, it is a significant piece of work, which is likely to stand alongside other great records in years to come.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Immutable is out on April 1st
Check out all the bands we review in 2022 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
Meshuggah: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | youtube
