July 13, 2004 - I

On the same day as my last release and two years since their last album "Nothing", Meshuggah released an EP titled "I" on July 13, 2004. This EP is just one song, and it's exactly 21 minutes long! It's in the same organized chaotic style that Meshuggah are known for, but they've never recorded a song this long before. Let's see how prog-y Meshuggah can be!

The only song on the EP is the 21 minute title track "I" and they dive right into a super speedy, almost thrash-y riff with Tomas Haake playing some sweet fast drums and Fredrik Thordendal and Marten Hagstrom syncing up for some slightly offbeat guitar that is pretty impressive that the two of them can stay synchronized in this odd time signature. Jens Kidman eventually comes in with one hell of a long, high scream that sounds super impressive! Then they snap into a "typical" Meshuggah main riff with Kidman yelling overtop of some hard-hitting and heavy guitars. They shift smoothly into a few different-yet-similar other riffs, showing off some excellent prgressiveness, and everything sounds super heavy the whole time! Thordendal delivers one hell of a solo in this earlier section where he is just shredding it unbelievably fast! It sounds so fucking amazing! He follows this solo with a new riff that is also super fast and cool and Thordendal is playing the bass as well, and he is playing some super fast and wicked bass as well! Almost eight minutes in the heaviness suddenly comes to a halt as they move into a super slow and trippy part that acts as a nice interlude into the next "typical" riff. Words don't do proper justice at all to not just all the awesome metal but all the smooth segues that keep things sounding like one fluid song still! There's so much headbangingly awesome guitar I couldn't possibly describe it all! Thordendal plays another solo that isn't nearly as glassy as the first one but is still good, then they slow it down again with another nice transition to a quiet and trippy new riff with some super low bass and trippy guitars coming in and out. Eventually this leads into a heavy, but still trippy part and somehow this leads smoothly into another verse with Kidman sounding as epic as ever. This riff lasts for the final few minutes until things devolve into static noise at the end.

That is the end of "I" and I thought it was a pretty wicked EP by Meshuggah! They did a fantastic job of making this 21 minute epic flow like a smooth metal river and it's just filled with great heavy music the whole way through, with a few key slower parts at well-timed spots. I can't rank this against their albums and it's the only EP I have by Meshuggah, but it was a pretty awesome one for sure!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 28, 2001 - Puddle Of Mudd and Come Clean

On the same day as my last release a new band briefly joins my library when Puddle of Mudd released their debut album "Come Clean" on August 28, 2001. But who is Puddle of Mudd? They are a four-piece post-grunge band from Kansas City, Missouri consisting of lead singer/guitarist Wes Scantlin, guitarist Paul Phillips, bassist Doug Ardito and drummer Greg Upchurch. I'm not a huge Puddle of Mudd fan, I only have two songs by them in my library, but they are both off this album and were both succesful singles. The first one is called "Blurry" and it's got a smooth and catchy light guitar riff that drives the song and Scantlin sings in a solid grunge-y voice overtop. They ramp nicely from the verse to the chorus and it's a nice heavy chorus with some louder guitars and a solid chorus sung by Scantlin. It's a little repetitive, but things still sound pretty smooth and solid and I think it's a good but not great song. The only other song I have is ...
Read more

October 4, 1994 - Awake

A week after my last release and two years since "Images And Words", Dream Theater released their third album "Awake" on October 4, 1994. Their last album did very well commercially and Dream Theater were under a lot of pressure to produce another hit album. There were tensions during the recording sessions and after all the recording but before the release of the album keyboardist Kevin Moore quit the band. This is a sad development, as Moore is an excellent keyboardist but he wanted to focus on his own music and felt he needed to leave. Let's check out the last album with this line-up then! The album begins with "6:00" and Mike Portnoy opens tbings with a nice drum fill and beat and then Moore comes in with a cool keyboard riff. John Petrucci joins next with some guitar and then when John Myung finally enters on bass they shift to a new heavier riff that sounds pretty good. We then hear a voice repeat "six o' clock on a Christmas morning...
Read more

July 24, 2001 - Avenged Sevenfold and Sounding The Seventh Trumpet

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release another new band joins my library when Avenged Sevenfold released their debut album "Sounding The Seventh Trumpet" on July 24, 2001. But who are Avenged Sevenfold? They are a four-piece metalcore band from Huntington Beach, California consisting of Justin Sane (bass, piano), James "The Rev" Sullivan (drums, percussion), Zacky Vengeance (guitars, backing vocals) and M. Shadows (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards). Avenged play an interesting mix of heavy metalcore with screaming vocals, but also a very accesible style of metal with singing at others. Let's see what Avenged Sevenfold are all about! The album kicks off with a short intro called "To End The Rapture" and Vengeance plays a nice heavy rhythm guitar riff before coming right in with some soloing! He is just shredding it right from the get-go with some really wicked stuff and then we hear Shadows for the first time in his uni...
Read more