Nothing [Enhanced]

Meshuggah | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 6, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
• ASIN: B000069ATO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,035 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sweden's Meshuggah have come up with their most unrelenting and unpredictable barrage of punishment since forming in 1987. Imagine the most thunderous elements of Slipknot set loose in an ever-changing landscape of riffs. Not that Meshuggah take much from their masked colleagues; the roots of Nothing lie in the technical thrash of lauded 1980s French-Canadian bands Voivod and DBC. Where past albums have seen the group smirking through the good-natured wittiness of their baffling instrumental changeups, Nothing is a grueling, spiral slam, spring-loaded with eight-string guitars and plenty of surprises. Meshuggah's message? Evolve or be left behind. --Ian Christe

Product Description

Meshuggah's amazing evolution from a quirky metal band into a full-blown hard rock juggernaut with release of their 2002 opus, Nothing. It's been four long years since we last saw a release from these crazy Swedes. Includes bonus CD-Rom material. Nuclear Blast.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing is better., January 14, 2003

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing (Audio CD)

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.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hyper-intelligent, hyper-complex metal, August 2, 2003

By 

Samhot (Star Land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing (Audio CD)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A natural next step in genius, August 6, 2002

By 

"captainbloodloss" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothing (Audio CD)

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.