November 9, 1998 - Chaosphere

Two weeks after my last release and three and a half years since their last album "Destroy Erase Improve", Meshuggah released their third album "Chaosphere" on November 9, 1998. Original bassist Peter Nordin is no longer with the band and he is replaced by Gustaf Hielm. Meshuggah have largely moved away from their thrash roots on this album and are fully embracing the groovy, polyrhythmic style of metal that started to show on their last album. Let's listen to the latest from these innovative metalheads!

The album begins with "Concatenation" and they dive right into a lightning fast main riff with some nice speedy playing from everyone. Hielm and Marten Hagstrom play an offbeat rhythm riff and Jens Kidman sounds really heavy screaming overtop of this chaotic music. Fredrik Thordendal gets a chance to do one of his atypical guitar solos and as usual he plays some pretty crazy-sounding stuff that is way higher than most of the very low guitar and bass, yet it somehow blends in with it really nicely. After this cool solo break they return to the super fast main riff and nicely jam things out until the end. They come bursting out of the gates on this album and I think it's a wonderful opener with solid contributions from everyone. Up next is "New Milennium Cyanide Christ" and Thordendal and Hagstrom sync up their guitars to make the stop-and-start main riff hit really hard and Kidman nicely yells overtop; not screams, but a nice and heavy yell that sounds pretty good. Thordendal's solo erupts out of nowhere and he just casually shreds it for a little bit, playing a ton of really cool guitar. There's a pretty sweet breakdown towards the end as well and Kidman holds a couple really long screams that sound pretty sweet. Eventually things fade out, but this was another real headbanger! Track 3 is "Corridor Of Chameleons" and it's got another pretty damn fast main riff with some nice guitars and bass and Kidman does a nice job of singing, but stretching some notes into heavier yells. Thordendal rips off another pretty sweet and unique guitar solo in his typical style and from there they move to a repetitive but fairly catchy new riff. Kidman does some nice faster yelling overtop this new part and then they jam things out for a little too long as things start to drag by the end of the song. The next track is "Neurotica" and Tomas Haake plays some cool drums to keep the beat while we hear a cool, very offbeat main riff that goes really low, and really high. Words don't do proper justice, it's a very unique and groovy riff and it sounds pretty cool, especially with Kidman screaming overtop. Thordendal's solo doesn't have any shredding, but he plays a nice melodic solo that fits the groovy riff perfectly. Kidman's screams continue to sound great throughout and this is probably my favourite so far, it's very interesting! Track 5 is called "The Mouth Licking What You've Bled" and they fire right into another fast-paced and plenty heavy riff with Hagstrom and Hielm keeping the frantic pace while Thordendal plays some high and crazy guitar almost in the background. Eventually it takes over center stage and Thordendal just unleashes an amazing solo that is all over the place! It rolls right into another nice heavy verse and Kidman holds some nice long yells. Everything sounds pretty epic and heavy and these guys just keep rolling out the headbanging hits with no let-up, and I love it! Up next is "Sane" and it has a typical Meshuggah main riff with some heavy and offbeat guitars, some cool drums from Haake, and some nice yelling by Kidman. Thordendal's solo is short but predictably pretty cool sounding and Kidman really gives it all with some nice long screams that sound great. They finish things off with a new offbeat riff that also sounds pretty good and there are just no weak points at all on this album! Track 7 is "The Exquisite Machinery Of Torture" and it has a slower main riff than most songs on this album, but Meshuggah use an odd time signature that keeps you on your toes even though things aren't as heavy as usual. Haake does some talking vocals that sound pretty creepy in the verse and then Kidman takes over for the heavier and more typical chorus. They don't stray far from these two parts, but the verse is interesting enough and the chorus sounds great as usual. If this is a weaker song, than I think we're doing pretty well here! The final track on the album is the fifteen and a half minute "Elastic" and they kick right into a solid main riff with some heavy bass and rhythm guitar while Thordendal plays some high, droning stuff in the background. Saying they nicely jam this out isn't proper justice as it's another headbanging and pretty cool riff and Thordendal does another one of his cool solos also isn't proper justice. They end the song with Thordendal playing a distorted lead riff while Hagstrom plays a nice stop-and-start heavy riff and the two go together interestingly. These two riffs continue for about a minute and then around the six minute mark the song ends and we now just hear some loud guitar feedback for several minutes, and it can get a little annoying! It's way worse than just having silence, it's like you're standing next to a rocket that's taking off! Eventually, after over five minutes, there is a bonus track for the final 4:10 and what it actually is is 4 of this album's tracks played at the same time. Yup, that's right, four songs being played simultaneously, and as you'd expect, it's very loud and very chaotic! There's several drum hits and guitar notes every single second, and this sounds just insane. You can kind of follow certain parts, but it's mostly just noise and not really worth the payoff of listening to feedback for five minutes. The actual song "Elastic" was solid though.

That is the end of "Chaosphere" and I thought it was a pretty sweet and very heavy album. I love this groovy style of metal and everyone plays together really well. Tomas Haake and Gustaf Hielm form a tight rhythm section and Marten Hagstrom is playing some pretty sweet rhythm guitar most of the time while Fredrik Thordendal continues to dazzle and amaze with his great playing. Jens Kidman really let loose on this album and I thought he sounded great throughout. This all adds up to a pretty sweet album and I think it's their best one yet, despite it's not-so-great ending. I look forward to hearing Meshuggah continue to evolve!