May 1, 1991 - Meshuggah and Contradictions Collapse

Two weeks after my last release a new band joins my library when Meshuggah released their debut album "Contradictions Collapse" on May 1, 1991. But who are Meshuggah? They are a four-piece metal band from Umeå, Sweden consisting of drummer Tomas Haake and original members Peter Nordin (bass), Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Jens Kidman (rhythm guitar, lead vocals). This album is definitely influenced by the thrash metal of the 80s, but Meshuggah impart their own style and play almost an entirely new genre of metal. Let's check it out!

The album begins with "Paralyzing Ignorance" and it opens with some slow droning guitars before Haake enters with a nice drum beat and they morph into a nice thrash-y main riff that sounds quite heavy, although also a little unpolished. This raw style of metal is what Meshuggah is all about and raw seems like a good word to describe Kidman's vocals as well: he yells all his vocals (a bit like Slayer's Tom Araya) but he has a pretty low voice and some of the lyrics are difficult to understand. The lyrics of this song are actually an early call to stop killing our planet and Kidman delivers them in a police metal fashion overtop the fast thrash-y music. Thordendal yells backing vocals as well during the chorus and while I'm sure to some this music sounds disorganized and messy, I love that it's unpredictable and could seemingly jut out in a new direction at any second. After another solid verse and chorus we hear our first Thordendal guitar solo and he has a very cool sound for his guitar when he goes into solo mode. It's quieter than the thrashing backing riff, but it's all played high up the fretboard and Fredrik plays a pretty damn fast and cool guitar solo before they close out this opener with a final chorus. Meshuggah love using long words in their song titles, and "Erroneous Manipulation" fits the bill there. It begins with Thordendal playing a nice lead guitar riff while Kidman and Nordin play a slower and heavier rhythm section and this mix of slow, dark backing riffs with fast thrashing lead guitar definitely reminds me of Slayer (a great comparison). Kidman yells a verse overtop that fits the mood of the song nicely, even though his voice sounds a little strained at times. Thordendal adds backing yells in the chorus once again that emphasize the anger of both of them yelling "everybody dies!" and this sets the stage for the solo. I think anything played in this particular guitar tone would sound super epic, but Thordendal plays some awesome shredding guitar that sounds like it's perfectly melting your face off slowly. After the solo they quiet things down briefly before everyone nicely thunders back in for another verse and chorus. They change to a new riff for the final 30 seconds of this six-plus minute song, and it's a heavy hitter as they very nicely finish off this song. Track 3 is called "Abnegating Cecity" and they kick right into another fast-paced thrash-inspired main riff with Haake playing some nice drums and Thordendal then erupts into an early solo! He uses the same epic guitar sound for every solo it seems, and once again Fredrik is shredding his guitar with seemingly no effort in a great early solo. They shift into a different riff for the verse as Kidman yells nicely overtop a bass-heavy riff. You can tell when the solo is about to start because Thordendal plays one or two notes in the epic guitar tone before blasting off on a fantastic solo. He can really shred and all the notes seem to flow beautifully together despite the insane speeds. Kidman and Thordendal then do a nice back-and-forth bit where every time Jens stops yelling Fredrik fills the gap and vice-versa. I love the constant angry yelling and this devolves nicely into just a slow bass riff that very progressively leads perfectly into a new riff. It's a slow but very heavy, crunching riff that I think sounds pretty gnarly. Then they smoothly speed things up to thrash levels again for another verse before slowing it down once more as Haake plays a few pretty sweet drum fills as they slowly fade out. The next song is "Internal Evidence" and Nordin opens the song with some cool low bass before the rest of the band completes another solid, offbeat main riff. Kidman does some decent yelling vocals and Thordendal periodically adds his yelling backing vocals for extra effect. Haake plays some nice drums as they segue into a cool new riff and Thordendal doesn't solo but he plays woke nice lead guitar. They break things down nicely to a slow new riff and after a brief verse Thordendal turns on "the tone" and we know it's solo time. He starts slow but work his way up to some cool fast guitar and even when the backing riff picks up speed, Fredrik just keeps doing his thing, soloing nicely over that as well. They play a final verse before nicely ending the song as it begun. Track 5 is "Qualms Of Reality" and it has a pretty slow pace compared to what we've heard so far, but that doesn't mean it's not still a nice, heavy riff with some low, chugging guitars. Thordendal's lead guitar is a little faster and slightly erratic and it makes for a pretty sweet main riff as Kidman nicely yells overtop. Right after the first chorus we're treated to an early solo and although it's short it sounds great. They fire right into a fast new riff after the solo and everything sounds pretty heavy, I like it! They start to slowly break things down and we then see a lighter side of Meshuggah for the first time as Kidman alone plays an acoustic guitar riff. This is certainly very different from anything we've heard thus far, but it sounds pretty good, and Kidman's acoustic becomes the backdrop for another Thordendal solo. He does a great job slowing down and speeding up at the perfect moments and it's another great solo, only this time with a lighter backdrop to it. After the solo they come blasting back into the fast-paced thrash riff and play a final verse before heavily smashing it out to it's finish. The next song is "We'll Never See The Day" and it has a medium pace: not too slow or fast, but a nice heavy riff that keeps chugging along. Kidman does some singing as well as yelling in this song, but his singing voice isn't that great. Of course there's another epicly awesome solo from Thordendal and this really reminds me of "South of Heaven", Slayer's slowed down album. It's got a dark feel and a slow burn with snippets of cool fast guitar. Thordendal plays a second solo that might be even better than the first, and then they return to the chugging main riff for a final verse before out of nowhere everything stops and we hear a sitar! That was unexpected, but pretty cool and then they go right back to playing thrash metal to finish things off. Track 7 is the only short song name on the album, titled "Greed", and it begins like most of the tracks on this album: with a cool metal riff that's not Slayer-fast but not slow either. Thordendal and Kidman both play some solid guitar and Haake keeps the beat with some nice drumming. Kidman yells the verse in his usual voice and Thordendal chimes in with his own yelling backing vocals that he likes to do. They shift nicely to a new riff and this sets the stage for a brief but always epic guitar solo. After the solo this riff seamlessly connects back to the original one before Thordendal takes off on a solo overtop this as well! It's another speedy and wicked solo and afterwards they take the main riff to another gear before nicely breaking it down again to close things out. The next song is the shortest on the album at four minutes and it's called "Choirs Of Devastation". Kidman opens the song by himself with a light acoustic guitar riff and Thordendal then plays some electric guitar overtop that is somehow both quiet and epic! This opening lasts one of the four minutes before the heavy bass from Nordin kicks in and Haake plays some cool fast cymbals. Kidman simply speaks the lyrics and he has a mouthful to say as he quickly says a lot of stuff before they nicely shift into a cool new riff. This part is instrumental and it's a solid metal riff, and they change back and forth between this and the other riff that Kidman talks over until the song kind of abruptly ends. A strange song indeed but it had it's moments. The shortest song on the album is followed by the longest as they close the album out with the seven and a half minute "Cadaverous Mastication". Haake plays another sweet drum beat to get us started and everyone quickly joins in to form another heavy main riff that chugs along quite nicely. Kidman's vocals are nice and low on this one and I think it's one of his better songs as he sings nicely overtop this headbanger of a main riff. Thordendal comes out of nowhere with a pretty crazy solo and the end of it flows beautifully into a slow new part before they suddenly jump into an erratic and bass-heavy new riff. Kidman and Thordendal do some nice rapid fire vocals together before they quiet things right down and set the stage wonderfully for another solo. Thordendal plays a great solo that starts out slower and speeds up as it goes along and it leads perfectly back into the toe-tapping main riff. They begin a very slow fade and jam things out as this album slowly and quietly reaches it's end.

That is the end of "Contradictions Collapse" and I thought it was a pretty good debut album from these new Swedish metalheads. Jens Kidman's vocals are not the best, but all four members play some great music throughout this album. I think the final song was my favourite but Meshuggah do an awesome job of blending really low, heavy metal with some extremely high solos by Fredrik Thordendal. It's a solid if not spectacular debut but I can't wait to see where these guys will go in the future!