Customer Reviews

Nothing (Bonus Dvd)

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

What a misunderstood album. Simple? Ha. Less complex than past Meshuggah albums? Um, no.

_Nothing_ is full of illusion. Things are not as they appear. Here, you will find rhythmic techniques never before applied to metal -- ideas likely to be seen in Indian classical music and African music, yes...not metal. For Meshuggah, the Rhythm is an entity on its own. The musicians are an extension of the rhythm. One must study the rhythms to see the light.

People complain that _Nothing_ is very slow. This is largely true, but maybe even Meshuggah would find it tough to play this music any faster. The rhythmic techniques implemented here are much easier to play at a slower tempo, and they are easier to hear for that matter. "Nebulous" is an slightly different example -- it's SLOW in quarter-note 45 bpm. And it is exactly for its dearth of speed that I figure it would be extremely challenging to play live. The polyrhythm is extra twisted at this laggard speed -- these drum parts are very tricky precisely because they are so slow.

_Nothing_'s music warps the mind. Rhythmic chimeras distort one's perception and confuse, until one deciphers the real technique involved. In many cases, Meshuggah makes groups of sixteenth notes sound like quarter-note triplets, and the feats they accomplish with this is remarkable. Apparent changes in meter are actually the same time signature. Sometimes a "new" riff appears when actually it is the same group of sixteenth notes.

Following the 16-beat cycle sometimes makes it easier to see what is happening. "Straws Pulled at Random" is a good example of this. The last riff of this song (you hear it before the solo at the end) is SO sick. While it sounds like it is based on subdivisions of quarter-note triplets, this is not actually the case. This creates a very strange effect, since these imaginary triplets are slower than real quarter-note triplets should be. Psychoacoustically speaking, this makes the riff sound like it is lagging behind until it comes together with the 16-beat cycle (it adds to 64 sixteenths, which equals 16 quarter notes). I was really confused about how this worked until I broke it all down. Very interesting stuff.

Another good example is "Nebulous", which I mentioned above. There is a riff that comes in at 1:58 that is very confusing. The riff (which presumably breaks down in short sets of eighth notes) doesn't fit with the 16-beat cycle, so the progression which *seems* obvious must logically be incorrect. The actual progression (in sixteenths notes) I can't quite figure out yet, but interestingly -- 20 seconds later -- the next riff kicks in and it appears to use the same primary units of sixteenth notes grouped in 3s -- 8(3+3+3+3+3)+(3+3+2) (in sixteenth notes). However, it sounds like a completely different riff.

Other people complain about a lack of structure on this album, and sometimes with Meshuggah's music in general. The songs are difficult and strange to a new listener, but to claim they have a lack of structure is just false. Plus, the structures are often very inventive and clever. "Closed Eye Visual" is one of my favorite songs on this album. The main riff's permutations of the phrase in relation to the 16-beat cycle is stunning. Even more interesting, one probably knows that Meshuggah had a knack for creating the illusion of playing in odd-times when they were not actually doing so. In "Closed Eye Visual", they expand this concept to other areas. During the soft part, as Fredrik plays a repetitive texture, the counter melody on the second guitar is derived from earlier measures (during the guitar solo, I'm quite certain). This is quite ingenious, in my opinion, because it makes one think that there has been a big change in the song when in fact the same musical elements are being applied.

To the folks who saw Meshuggah on tour with Tool and condemn the band as noise...well, they are partially right, although they display an unfortunate ignorance about what Meshuggah is doing. I love both Tool and Meshuggah, although they are quite different and fans of one are often antagonistic towards the other.

The REAMS AND REAMS of complexity in this album has made it not only my favorite Meshuggah album, but also one of my favorite albums ever. In fact, this album has inspired me to get back into studying rhythmic technique, because I can't live without understanding this more fully. While others wanted faster, more overtly technical songs, I value _Nothing_ for its deeper evolution.

Every now and then, a band comes along the scene that challenges, confuses, and to some extent, outrages many listeners with their controversial artistic output. When I say controversial, I don't necessarily mean offensive, but, to provoke very strong reactions: whether positive or negative. Meshuggah is a band that fits this description perfectly - at least in the metal community. Come to think of it, I may as well mean to outrage, as Meshuggah has seemed to garner some pretty strong reactions from listeners. The negatives would be along the lines of "this band has no talent, and just make noise like a bunch of children who don't know how to play their instruments," and the positives would be something like "these guys are geniuses."

I'll try to shed some light on Meshuggah's music, though many here have already done an excellent job on explaining what these guys are about. Meshuggah are a math-metal band, and what this means is that they make use of many odd time signatures, and use them in mathematical fashion, which will make the rhythms/tempos (or beats) sound really weird or "abnormal." Not only that, most of their music is atonal, or amelodic, which in sonic terms, seemingly eludes typical (and/or pleasant) melodies. This creates two strong possibilites: (1). Musicians will be the main people who will understand and appreciate this music. (2). Listeners who are only accustomed to standard rhythmic and tonal/melodic music will condemn this as pure "noise."

On 1995's _Destroy Erase Improve_, Meshuggah created a nice balance of standard, aggressive metal, intermingled with polymeters and odd-time signatures. That album was probably the most accessible of these. Their follow-up, 1998's _Chaosphere_ was a fast, monstrous, noisy, suffocating, ultra-heavy, ultra-complex mechanical cyber-grinder, with crazed use of polyrhythms and sonic extremities. So, what did the boys decide to do on 2002's _Nothing_?

Well, for starters, they slowed down the tempos considerably since _Chaosphere_, and the production on here seems much cleaner, as each instrument sounds up close and personal, as opposed to the chaotic, distant, machine-like production on the aforementioned disc. As a result, many of the subtleties are easier to detect, such as Tomas Haake's seemingly octopus-limbed, polymetric drumming. Also, there is use of an 8-string guitar, which produces a thick, beastly, darkly regal, searingly muscular tone full of white-hot passion, and seems like it's coming out of hell, but rising out of the ashes like a phoenix. All of this, combined with the odd rhythms, super-intelligent, enlightening lyrics give this album a strangely alluring, exotic, utter and inexplicable sensuality, which makes the thing not much short of a spiritual experience.

Technically speaking, the tempos on here are slower than usual, and the band uses mostly a 16-quarter beat cycle on the majority of these songs, which allow the band to squeeze in more odd, mathematical rhythms. Also, the band makes large use of what a friend of mine terms "revolving polymeter" (or revolving time signatures), which means that the band plays "time signatures within time signatures." It basically means that two (or more) different time signatures can be present at once, but they both have to "end" or "close" at the exact same time, which in the end (and on the surface), would appear as one time signature all by itself. For example, in the song "Spasm," the opening section seems to play two measures of 7/4, and one of 2/4 (e.g. 7+7+2 = 16 quarter notes/beats) -- or it could be four measures of 7/8, and one measure of 4/8 (7+7+7+7+4 = 32 eighths = 16 quarter notes) depending on how it's notated -- before the 4/4 crash cymbal of Tomas Haake appears. And all along, Tomas Haake is playing a steady 4/4 beat on his hi-hat (32 eighth beats, 4/4 crash on 33rd.) The majority of Tomas Haake's cymbals are in, and end in 4/4 for the duration of the album. This is pretty much how the entire album plays out: odd, mathematical rhythms run rampant throughout. This is pretty much what Meshuggah are about, musically speaking. They don't need to prove how many notes they can shred in five seconds, and they don't need to use blast beats to be brutal.

Elsewhere, "Strengah" is an addictive number with those one or two atonal notes blasting out a super-addictive monster crunch, while Haake, once again is using a 32-eighth beat pattern on the hi-hat, and employing mind-boggling things elsewhere. The ending of "Closed Eye Visuals" features vocalist Jens Kidman letting out what possibly may be his most enraged, ferocious, violent and intimidating growl thus far. And, if you want a slice of melody, check out that melancholic, ponderous, reflective and utterly poignant jazz-like guitar melody at the end of "Straws Pulled at Random."

I have basically lost interest in the majority of metal for the last decade or so, as I found it to become banal, unoriginal and stagnant. Now, that I've found Meshuggah (who are my favorite metal band), my outlook is a bit different. It's quite astonishing and exciting to find metal bands that push boundaries, and employ ideas into metal that others won't, or can't touch. Meshuggah's music is deep, hypnotic, esoteric, complex, cerebral, demanding, emotional and strangely transcendent. Not for everyone, but I highly recommend it to adventurous listeners. Also recommended: Tool and Mudvayne.

Nothing is definitively Meshuggah. The wonderful thing about being able to say that right up front is that it puts all fears at rest. It's a great feeling to know that when you are reviewing, analyzing and critiquing this album, you do so not from the perspective of asking, "is it any good or is it disappointing," but rather from the perspective of asking, "how does this god-awesome onslaught of music that so clearly once again leaves all other bands lying in the dirt compare to the other two albums of music that have left all other bands in the dirt?" In other words this review basically asks the question, "clearly it rules all other band's [expletive], so now let's compare it and contrast it to other Meshuggah and point out its high points (and if possible low points, but I'm having a hard time finding them)."

From my perspective, DEI was the band's first break from the ties of the generic to something really revolutionary. But DEI still held a clear tie into traditional Metal. One of the reasons why DEI is in some ways my favorite album is because it combined revolutionary technical skill and the absolutely unique uses of non-standard instrumentation, poly rhythms and bizarre phrasing and time signatures in about a 50% mix with traditional style, groove, flow and melody. In other words, Meshuggah keeps reminding you of all the familiar old sonic bastions of hard music that every enthusiast knows and loves while inviting and enticing the listener to take it to the next level - that next level being technical mastery and real food for the brain as well as the emotions. In fact, that may be way Meshuggah established themselves as my favorite band: they are the first and only band to offer and complete experiential package for me - food for the heart, mind and senses, as intellectually simulating as it is emotionally intense.

With Chaosphere, it was as if the band said, "Ok, we've enticed you in, now we are going to explore the limits of technical and intellectual mastery." I don't want to say that Chaosphere lost anything from DEI, nor do I want to say that it clearly surpassed DEI - but it does seem that there was a deliberate choice to push the envelope further into the realm of the new and unique. And the result is something that is not better, but a perfect and necessary compliment to DEI. A simple way to put this is to say that while both DEI and Chaosphere are literal masterpieces to the alert and informed listener, DEI is easily more approachable than its follow up. To me that seems to be by design. To me even the title of the album, Chaosphere give an indication of the theme for the album. It is a deeper exploration into the world of poly-rhythm and instrumental (and even vocal) complexity. And the entire album follows one consistent theme: full board assault on the senses. The words, fast, hard, and un-yielding can be described to the entire album. It borders on chaos without actually becoming chaos as the potential of poly-rhythmic complexity is pushed even further - I read that in some of the songs the play was really "a-rhythmic" meaning that the band had a basic lose structure but in certain places actually left behind all time signatures and meter for a nearly complete free-form approach.

Nothing continues this progression of sonic exploration. This listener will immediately feel that the entire album carries an overall slower, but in some ways even harder hitting tempo than Chaosphere. Again, this feels as though it is by design. I don't think it would be terribly inappropriate to suggest that one could think of Nothing as "Chaosphere Part 2." Of course one of the things we are all aware of is the bands continuing experimentation with instruments. The 8-string guitars are truly a sound to behold. They are without a doubt unique. Although bass playing on this album is still clearly distinguishable, it is a completely new experience to have guitars literally playing as low as the bass. My guitar in my room is currently tuned lower than D, and I sound like I'm playing a piccolo compared to what's on this album.

There is more variation of style in this album than in Chaosphere - again everything about this album seems very meticulously planned, so I would suggest that this too is by design. And yet, even though there is style variation, the over all tempo for the album maintains the same feel. If Chaosphere was fast and furious, Nothing is slow and brutal. On a personal note, though I love Chaosphere for what it was, I am in fact thrilled and excited by the return of tempo variations, and even some songs with beautiful clean passages which give Meshuggah that "complete" feel.


OVERALL IMPRESSION
This Album has strong Kung Fu.

Seriously, it will take its place perfectly next to DEI and Chaosphere. In fact, although I definitely want Meshuggah to keep making music, with the release of this album, it almost feels like the completing chapter of a trilogy - the story feels complete now. It also nice to have Fredrick (Lead Guitarist) having more of a role as he did in DEP. It is truly great.

Meshuggah did the right thing. Everyone expected another Chaosphere or DEI, but they did the unexpected with a hard left turn towards subltety (for them anyway). I have to admit, when I picked this cd up on the day of it's release and listened to it, I was honestly shocked, and a little dissapointed. I too was expecting the sheer insanity of Chaosphere eleveated to new heights along with classic guitar work of DEI. Now, it is with a better persepective that I review this album. Meshuggah proved their proficiency as artists and musicians by maintaining the disjointed and chaotic nature of their previous albums but with far less playing. They proved they could acheive the same effect and create what is definitely still a Meshuggah album in an entirely different manner than before. I'd call this mastery of the style. How many bands can maintain the essence of what they are all about but radically change the approach.

If you haven't yet heard this album, throw your preconceptions out the window and listen to it with a fresh set of ears. Don't listen for Chaosphere, listen for Meshuggah, and try to pick up on what they're laying down. It's good stuff.

Let me say that as a long time metalhead I've listened to hundreds upon hundreds of bands and own about 1000 metal albums. Yet despite how many I hear I have considered Meshuggah to be my favorite band for around several years now. Destroy Erase Improve to this day I feel is the single greatest metal album ever recorded. When Chaosphere was released it didn't click initially due to the seemingly monotonous nature of it and the greatly increased intensity. Numerous listens though revealed it to be a very calculated album which accomplished exactly what it set out to do, create a very hostile and machine-like sound. In that respect it has never been topped for being cold and foreign. Rare Trax was a nice treat but you can expect I was very very anxious to finally get my hands on the latest Meshuggah album. I resisted the temptation to download it and dutifully went out and purchased it the day it was released. I popped it in my car stereo and was taken back to put it mildly. All long time Meshuggah fans know the story on this one. It lacked that vicious edge that Meshuggah has become known for and the songs seemed very loose in structure and form. That night I went to bed sad that my favorite band had seemingly let me down. I didn't give up on Nothing though, after getting over the calmer nature of it I listened several more times to see if it would click, much like Chaosphere had years earlier. It took a while, longer then Chaosphere, but I feel that I've finally come to terms with Nothing, or maybe I finally 'get it'. Meshuggah were never a band who repeated themselves with each of their three previous albums (and None ep) having their own distinct sound. Consider also that Chaosphere was an extremely caustic album and it is quite likely that they simply didn't want to continue down the path of always getting more extreme as they had done until now.

Nothing certaintly isn't the best Meshuggah album and it's even a more difficult listen then their previous albums. Chaosphere at least had that relentless intensity which would attract those who were easily impressed by the sheer sonic violence of it all. Nothing lacks that though and those who might otherwise be lured in by the simple promise of some 'really crazy metal' won't find much here to interest them. I'm confident that with an open mind (thats asking a lot, too much at times it seems) the real Meshuggah fans out there who appreciate this fine band for more then their 'crazy technical insanity' (though that certaintly is one part of it) will take a liking to Nothing much like I did.

Give this album a good chance before tossing it off, this band certaintly isn't some simplistic Slipknot affair where a listen or two will tell you everything you need to know about them. Meshuggah is much much more then that

It takes about one minute to recognize "Nothing" as the handiwork of Sweden's one and only Meshuggah. All of the elements that made "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere" such triumphant albums are present once again in Meshuggah's latest effort. Vocalist Jens Kidman still wraps his fearsome growl around the thunderous, stuttering guitar riffs of Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom. Tomas Haake still brings the intricacy and precision of a jazz drummer to the kit. And the music is as jarring and irregular as ever, with time signatures that Nostradamus would have trouble predicting. Despite the fact that "Nothing" doesn't mark much of an evolution for Meshuggah, and despite the occasional negative comments this album has inspired, I find it to be a step up from its predecessors. Rather than changing their sound for "Nothing," Meshuggah have tweaked and refined their precision metal assault, trimming all excess to create a sound that is leaner and meaner than ever before. Aiding them is a crystal-clear production that enables the listener to hear every pounding riff, every nuance of the drumming, and even (gasp!) some bass. Meshuggah have long been at the vanguard of metal, so there was little room for improvement following "DEI" and "Chaosphere." However, they still managed to make some advancements on "Nothing," and that's truly impressive. This album should only serve to cement Meshuggah's place on the short list of the planet's best heavy bands.

In a world of countless imitators, Meshuggah are definitely doing something bold and different with the metal genre. Along with the insanely complex "chaos-core" stylings of the Dillinger Escape Plan, this cerebral Swedish outfit has helped rewrite the book on what it means to be "heavy."

After one spin of Nothing, the casual Meshuggah listener might be perplexed after coming off the faster-paced calculated mental invasion that was Chaosphere. "This is too slow," "Every song sounds the same," "Meshuggah has sold out to the nu-metal crowd," seem to be common complaints here. Don't believe the naysayers that have lowered this amazing release to a four-star average. Sure, the tempos are slower than Chaosphere, but to me that's actually a plus, because it gives the listener more of a chance to wrap his head around the complex, serpertine rhythms and Fredrik Thordendal's crazy jazz/fusion solo phrases, whereas some of the complexity was lost within Chaosphere's speed and fuzzier production values. If you want Chaosphere, listen to Chaosphere. Frankly though, I think Nothing shows the true extent of Meshuggah's progression and dedication to making challenging music. Every release from these guys sounds different, and that's a good thing in a genre where bands often settle for making the same album over and over.

Moreover, while initial listens may wear you down with the band's incredible heaviness (amplified with those ridiculously downtuned 8-string guitars), be patient. More careful listenings will expose complex differences between every track that were missed before. This album, and this band, are not dedicated to instant gratification. If this dissappoints you, go back to listening to your by-the-numbers metal. Nothing was not meant for you. Finally, this is emphatically not "nu-metal." Nor is it death metal or grindcore, despite the downtuned guitars and extreme vox. Meshuggah occupy their own niche, and do a great job of it.

Oh yeah, did I mention that this is HEAVY? As in rupture-your-internal-organs heavy? Jen Kidman's voice is a savage, robotic, raspy scream, while the dual 8-strings' nearly relentless assault waste no time beating you straight into the ground. The first time I listened to this was in a darkened room wearing headphones, and it quite literally scared the crap outta me. Easy listening this is not. Each track is full of amelodic, constantly shifting riffs and incredibly complex polyrhythmic drumming courtesy of Tomas Haake, who sounds like no other metal drummer out there (if you want a better explanation of what Haake is doing on the album, check out Samhot and Lord Chimp's excellent musical analyses below--my limited knowledge of musical theory can't do his performance justice).

Picking favorites on this album is tough, as each is incredible and worthy of deep listening. Stengah opens the album on a brutal note. Rational Gaze, Organic Shadows, Nebulous, and ESPECIALLY Straws Pulled At Random are home to some absolutely sick Thordendal solos. Spasm features a skin-crawling (in a good way) vocal turn by Haake, whose throaty snarl sounds like a human slowly being devoured by a machine. The lyrics are appropriately clinical and alien, and while I typically don't care much for extreme vox, Kidman's voice is absolutely appropriate for this onslaught.

I can't even begin to articulate how good Nothing is. If you're in the market for challenging, cerebral, and progressive metal I can't think of many albums that are better. Just be prepared for the crushing force that Meshuggah packs. You have been warned.

Metal and bland should be something of an oxymoron, yet as I've got older I've found myself increasingly bored with a lot of the scene. Perhaps it's my aging, or that I have honed my tastes...whatever reason, a lot has just become insipid. Thank f**k for Meshuggah then. Along with a small bunch of contemporaries these guys blow the field out of the water, and "Nothing" might just be my favourite of theirs.

"Nothing" has everything I want from a metal album. I won't go through song by song as the album is very consistent in approach; instead I will talk about the overall sound. Firstly, there's a wonderful sense of groove throughout (as a side not, notably slower than earlier releases), thanks to the sublime relationship between Thomas Haake's drumming and Fredrik Thordendal's leads. They carve huge grooves throughout, inter-twining through vast polyrhythmic shapes and syncopated rhythms- the sound is brutally heavy yet oddly hypnotic and trance-inducing. Thordendal's soloing is even more mesmerising, often a wild flurry of seemingly a-tonal tapping, or a jazzy rhythmic attack, or simple eerie atmospheric tones, whatever it may be it is always fresh and compelling. Jens Kidman's vocals are quite behind in the mix, and their short, sharp and gutteral delivery tends to forge more of a rythmic attribute than melodic, further emphasising the wondrous grooves.

While this unique sound requires an extremely refined technical proficiency, one can never accuse Meshuggah of self-indulging. This is a special thing in metal - far too many bands fashion leads who can shred at lightning pace, or drummers who sound multi-limbed etc etc, but it can easily sound pretentious and w**k. Meshuggah tread the fine line brilliantly, simultaneously keeping me in the groove and feel of the song while stunning me with technical precision.

"Nothing" is one of Meshuggah's slowest and heaviest releases, so for those new to the band I would think about what sound you would tend to prefer - "Chaosphere" would be my pick from the more up-tempo releases. For fans of the metal scene that want something wonderfully unique and brutally heavy. A must-have.

Honestly, I was completely against this re-recording at first, that was until I my curiosity got the best of me. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. I now understand why Meshuggah went to the trouble re-recording the guitars and re-mixing the album. Clarity. Clarity is the key to this re-recording and I say that because for the first time (without headphones) all of the dissonant intervals come out so much cleaner as they were intended to be heard. In fact, there's more clarity in all of the rhythms and the drums seem to be a little more distant which is not a bad change. There are several areas where the guitars use different punctuation/accents to shorten/lengthen notes or phrasing. This is a GREAT IMPROVEMENT on an already great album!!!!

The people who have written reviews of this album saying that "Nothing" doesn't constitute anything new for Meshuggah need to listen more closely. Meshuggah's rhythmic approach on "Nothing" attains an unprecedented level of complexity. In fact, the record is so sophisticated and subtle that the complexity is easy to overlook, for a casual listener. The band has started to experiment with expanding and contracting the length of a basic riff over the course of a 16 or 32-beat pattern, so that there are several different versions of a given riff that are stated over a particular cycle--many of the riffs are not symmetrical, rhythmically speaking (see the solo section in "Organic Shadows", among other examples). This technique is easy to miss at first, but it is really shocking once you hear it. In addition, they are stretching the phrases of riffs across consecutive 16-beat cycles in a way that they haven't done before (see "Closed Eye Visuals")...

"Nothing" stands as a strong indication of how deep these guys really are. In this kind of music, most bands only progress in terms of getting louder/faster/heavier/more technical solo-wise, etc., but Meshuggah defies expectations with "Nothing". Fans who are expecting them simply to go further in the directions that they explored on albums like DEI and Chaosphere are going to be dissapointed. "Nothing", like all of their other albums, constitutes a new direction, and a complete world unto itself. For those reviewers (who are also musicians) who think that "Nothing" is nothing new, I would encourage you to do a rhythmic analysis of some of the songs--you'll be in for a BIG surprise. "Nothing" is brilliant--I highly recommend it.