(BadWolf reviews KOLOSS. Need I say more?)
Meshuggah’s career boggles the mind. Now 30-plus years into their tenure, their ubiquitous style of polyrhythmic metal has crossed as many genre boundaries as it has informed — death, thrash, groove, industrial, ‘post-‘. . . Meshuggah fits all of these containers, but never completely.
If you never have, I dare you to listen to their discography front-to-back. Witness their awkward beginning in And Justice For All... worship; the solidifying identity of Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere; the cryogenic sound of Nothing (itself as far ahead of its time as AJFA was); the cybernetic experiments of I and Catch Thirtythree; and finally the culmination of all that experimenting with even tighter songwriting in ObZen.
ObZen. There’s the rub — or rather the rub lies in its tour. Meshuggah toured behind that album with Cynic and The Faceless. I predicted [here] just weeks after seeing it that the ObZen tour would spawn a new era of metal. As far as I’m concerned, I was right: Djent started its ascent shortly thereafter. Sure, Tesseract, Textures, and Periphery existed before, but their major breaks and endless legion of imitators followed after.
What was Meshuggah to do, having inadvertently created a new vision for what Heavy Metal could be?
They took the ball in the opposite direction, and created Koloss. Instead of a new vision of metal, these ten tracks aspire to the traditions of classic metal records—punchy riffs, structural songwriting. For the first time since Chaosphere, Meshuggah sound like five men in a room together, not disembodied entities conjuring sound from a digital hell.
The production on Koloss is red-hot — every bit as precise as Meshuggah have been, but more flesh than machine. Most of the odd synthesizer tracks and ambient jazz sections have been cut away almost completely. In addition, Koloss sports fewer riffs per capita (at least to these ears) but at a far greater hook-to-minute yield. There are a few more introspective tracks — “Behind the Sun” in particular is a standout, alongside closer “The Last Vigil” — but these tracks serve as pauses in the action or gracenotes, rather than random space-filling noodles.
For the first time ever, minimalism is the watchword. For example, Koloss launches right into the tank-tread chugging of “I Am Colossus,” with Kidman’s vocals following the rest of the music in short succession. Almost like hardcore punk, Meshuggah disregard the intro, and skip right to the meat of the music. Then, much like the one-two punch of the best heavy album openers (“Necrophobic” following “Angel of Death,” “Master of Puppets” following “Battery,” “Hourglass” following “Laid to Rest”) “The Demon’s Name Is Surveillance” launches into a more rapid attack, as if the engine of the band kicks up a gear and explodes from suburban street to highway. What does that mean? Moshing. Headbanging. They will happen with great frequency and at prodigious magnitude.
It also makes Koloss out to be a willing step away from Djent. If their followers have been adding more and more flourishes to their music, putting on fancier clothes if you will, Meshuggah have been lifting weights — exchanging aesthetics for killing capacity. The difference between Koloss and ObZen is like the difference between Chaosphere and Destroy Erase Improve.
In fact, the only real criticism I could level at the record on the first listen was the lack of a standout song. The album felt great, but I couldn’t find a “Bleed” or a “Rational Gaze.” Then I heard “Swarm” and had a conniption fit. Do you remember the Wildebeast scene in The Lion King, where baby Simba is threatened by a cavalcade of stampeding hooves? “Swarm” feels like that, except Meshuggah is the mass of animals trampling you. The song only feels sweeter when it gives way to the climax of “Demiurge,” where the ominous background noises finally return in a sweet, minimalist whiff of atmosphere before the record ends.
At this point I see no reason to rank albums or rate bests or worsts; I would settle with saying Koloss comes across as conservative compared to Nothing, Catch Thirtythree, or I. What Koloss adds to Meshuggah’s legacy — besides 10 killer tracks to supplement their already mosh-friendly live repertoire — is a movement away from the commercialized dross of their imitators, and toward consistent records that they can pull off on tours.
Or think of it this way: to borrow a christian metaphor, Meshuggah are watchmakers — frequently Rolexes. This one trades diamond studs for crystal panels — all the better to see the gears beneath, my dear. While it may not match your most cutting-edge fashion, it’s still going to look pimp around your wrist — and sound sick on your iPod.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Koloss will be released by Nuclear Blast in Europe on March 23rd and in North America on March 26th. The North American deluxe digi-pak version includes a bonus, hour-long DVD with studio footage taken during the making of the album. Pre-order options are available here. And Nuclear Blast has kindly provided a free download at this location of one song from the album — “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It motion”.
Meshuggah is headlining THE OPHIDIAN TOUR with support from Baroness and Decapitated. It begins April 29. Here are confirmed dates:
4/29/12 House of Blues – Houston, TX
4/30/12 House of Blues – Dallas, TX
5/01/12 Emo’s – Austin, TX
5/03/12 Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ
5/04/12 House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
5/05/12 House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
5/06/12 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
5/08/12 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA
5/09/12 Showbox Sodo – Seattle, WA
5/11/12 Odgen Theatre – Denver, CO
5/13/12 First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN
5/15/12 House of Blues – Chicago, IL
5/16/12 St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
5/17/12 Sound Academy – Toronto, ON – CANADA
5/18/12 Theatre of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
5/19/12 Palladium – Worcester, MA
5/20/12 Olympia de Montreal – Montreal, QUE – CANADA
5/22/12 The Fillmore – Silver Springs, MD
5/23/12 Terminal 5 – New York, NY
And here’s a Koloss album trailer released yesterday (you can also stream the two songs that have been released in full from the album in our previous Meshuggah features here and here):
30 Responses to “MESHUGGAH: “KOLOSS””
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When I got this to lsiten to, for some reason I decided to listen to it in an odd way, and jsut picked a song at random to start with. That song was “Swarm”. And “Swarm” was stunning. Then I was also floored by “The Demon’s Name Is Surveillance”.
I am enjoying this album so much more than I expected to.
“The Hurt That Finds You First” is also very refreshing. Been a long time since Meshuggah decided to fuck some shit up with speed.
The Hand That Hurts is fucking great.
SWARM!!!!!
My girl got us tix to that tour for V-day, and if they don;t play Swarm I WILL THROW HER AT THE STAGE LIKE A SEXY CANNONBALL!!!
Best comment ever! XD
Fans who’ve been whining about the slower pacing of the two songs publicly released so far are going to eat up those two tracks. They both sound like swarms — of giant ants or hornets. I’m loving the interplay on both tracks between the murderous riffs and the drum rhythms.
Your a genius throw Mushuggah on the I-pod when the kids make you watch the Lion King with them!
The song in the tailor sounds a HELL of a lot better than the two shit songs “released”/leaked so far, maybe this album won’t blow donkey cock after all and I can write a third review/retraction.
What an angry comment.
Aside from the fact I I typo’d “trailer” if you think that’s angry you should not meet me when I’m angry. That said the two previously “leaked” songs sucked flat out. This trailer gives me hope, it was a cautiously optimistic comment.
It’s ok, I don’t think I’ll meet you, angry or otherwise.
Really, the music in the trailer is fucking exciting. The other two songs, are just ok to me, but I’m not a big fan, just love some of the things they do, but don’t really enjoy full records, except maybe Catch-33.
what a shit review.
Thank you for your shit comment bob. But next time please don’t feel compelled to be so long-winded. Short, unexplained comments are just as welcome here as elaborate, analytical ones.
Some people just can’t be succinct can they? A simple “I’m a tool” would have sufficed.
Perfect illustration of my point. You’ve saved bob one whole word and achieved greater clarity at the same time.
Listening to it again as I type this, and I’m more and more starting to think that this is the sort of record that might bring in those from the death metal crowd who, up to now, haven’t really been able to “get into” Meshuggah.
It’s definitely more of a death metal record than I’ve heard from them in some time. Largely down to the drum + vocal combination.
I’m starting to feel sick with anticipation for this record, I get sweaty and cold at the artwork and I mechanically dry heave when I listen to Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion. Want.
Piece by Piece comes after Angel of Death on Reign In Blood. But other than that, good review.
I was already pretty excited for this album and now I just plain can’t fucking wait. God damn it, be March 26th already.
I’ve never been a huge Meshuggah fan, hype be damned, and so I wouldn’t say that I’ve been anticipating this album like a lot of people have been. Having heard it, I’m still just sort of “meh” over it. Obviously I need to listen more, but there are points where the album drags a bit.
I Meshuggah sort of drags by design. I got the sense that a certain element of being ‘lost’ in the music is part fo the reason their songs are all juuuuuuuuust a little too long.
It also makes Koloss out to be a willing step away from Djent. If their followers have been adding more and more flourishes to their music, putting on fancier clothes if you will, Meshuggah have been lifting weights — exchanging aesthetics for killing capacity.
This. I just wrote a long essay on this to post on my blog next week. Where the djent-scene seems to be all about the equivalent of a talented piano player doing pretty but wholly inoffensive and unnecessary trills or a good singer doing way too many wo-ohs/vibrato, Koloss has a twisted, yet straightforward muscularity that sounds/feels deeply connected to metal as a whole rather than as a scene “now”. Truly a work of remarkable, veteran musicians.
I can’t fucking wait. Meshuggah has had such an incredible influence on the direction of my musical tastes since 1998, and I’ve never stopped loving them. I can’t see that changing, ever.
I know a lot of you probably like djent, but I feel like djent is to Meshuggah as nu metal is to Pantera, i.e., the bastard child that is an abominable sacrilege of what its father stood for.
well, I couldn’t be more agree with a comment man…
Great review man! “…digital hell.” that’s a good one. It’s a long wait to march 23.
It was great seeing you guys quoted by Meshuggah on their Facebook page!
Thanks — that was damned sweet. This review has had a ton of visits since then.
Glad to hear it! You guys deserve the attention.
I really enjoyed this review, and came here from Facebook.
BTW, I was a bit worried by this sentence “The difference between Koloss and ObZen is like the difference between Chaosphere and Destroy Erase Improve.”, as Chaosphere is like too hard for me, but I don’t think you were refering to the level of “aggresion” of the music.