I only just recently discovered this channel, and I do the same thing - it's a great motivator for pulling out specific CD's from the collection, or buy the missing albums, for sure! (This is the reason I am listening to Bonded by Blood as we speak)
Meshuggah is so awesome, One of the heaviest bands ever 11: The Violent Sleep of Reason 10: Catch 33 9: Immutable 8: Contradictions Collapse 7: Nothing 6: I 5: None 4: Obzen 3: Destroy Erase Improve 2: Koloss 1: Chaosphere
This is still one of the best series on metal UA-cam period These are always such a good way to learn about the bands and get a bit of context behind everything. And another great installment
@@thrallsofmetal I agree with the distinguished gentleman Tapwater56766 - also, the fact there are three to five of you means there's a lot room for different perspectives. Something which is almost never present with solo reviewer videos, even if they can be really great, too! Just would prefer more friends gathering together for these things. Keep'em coming, if you don't mind, good sirs!
Love these album rankings because it forces me to revisit albums I haven’t heard in a while, or ones I haven’t heard altogether. Thank you all for putting in the time to do these, look forward to the next one!
Meshuggah are definitely one of the most influential bands in metal with their polyrhythmic riffs and drumming. Many modern metal bands all owe their influence to Meshuggah. I think all albums are good but these top 5 are amazing. Here is my ranking: 11. Contradictions Collapse 10. I EP 9. Immutable 8. The Violent Sleep of Reason 7. None EP 6. Koloss 5. Catch Thirtythree 4. ObZen 3. Chaosphere 2. Destroy Erase Improve 1. Nothing
Thanks for not ranking The Violent Sleep Of Reason lower. Other people shit on that album and that's my main go to and my dog loves to listen to it on our walks. I'm so glad you guys finally did this ranking
Ah man! Y’all did my fav catch 33 dirty ;-;. It’s my personal favorite Meshuggah record. Once I thought of the record more like a Stoner Doom or Sludge metal record like Sleep’s Dopesmoker it clicked into place for me. The slower tempo, the fact it’s based on one riff that evolves over the course of the record makes it so trippy to me. It feels like entering into a void of rusty pipes, crumbling brick walls and no light to be found.
MESSHHUUUUUUGGGAAAAHHHHHHHHH! 1.ObZen 2. Destroy Erase, Improve, 3.Contradictions Collapse 4. Chaosphere 5. Nothing 6. The Violent Sleep Of Reason 7. Koloss 8. Immutable 9. Catch 33 Good to see the rest of the gang get together at the same time. Well done guys. Keep the content coming.
I was waiting for this one. I saw that you included "None" and "I", so: 11- Contradictions Colapse 10- Immutable 9- Catch Thirty Three 8- None 7- ObZen 6- Destroy Erase Improve 5- I 4- The Violent Sleep of Reason 3- Chaosphere 2- Koloss 1- Nothing Meshuggah is my favourite metal band, so the lowest ranking for me would've been something like 3C or 3D, but like you gentlemen say, you have to put numbers on things. I also wish the other EPs were included, but I understand that in most of them, many songs were demos that ended up being songs in full length albums. That being said, there are a lot of good stuff coming from their EPs, like their self titled, "Rare Trax" or "Pitch Black", so if anyone reading this hasn't explored Meshuggah EPs, they go recommended!
Necrotic Nick- Well, I don't want to spoil anything but we might have some overlap here. I've been listening to Meshuggah since I saw them open for Tool in 2001 and I've been a fan ever since so I was looking forward to this one. We just added None and I because they're a bit more landmark than their other EPs and they showed some evolution in their sound.
I had a rough time ranking these as they shift around a lot in my mind based on my mood and what I'm feeling in that moment, and honestly I love them all, but here's my try at it: 1. Obzen 2. Catch 33 3. Nothing 4. Destroy Erase Improve 5. Chaosphere 6. Koloss 7. The Violent Sleep of Reason 8. Immutable 9. I 10. None 11. Contradictions Collapse I got into the band about 5-6 years ago when I first heard Bleed, which I sort of bounced off of the first few times, but kept coming back to it and eventually started diving into different songs here and there, and eventually dove headfirst into their entire discography about 3 years ago and I've been hooked ever since. They're my favourite band, and I finally got the chance to see them live on the Immutable tour back in December and they were amazing!
Necrotic Nick- I'll be honest, all of these rankings are tough and I reorder stuff all the time on my lists. I genuinely think that Bleed spawned a legion of fans with that monstrous single and it's a great starter song. The song that probably really clicked with me first was New Millennium Cyanide Christ. When I finally got the groove to that song I was hooked and everything fell into place. I still love the hell out of this band I'll probably be a fan for life.
Meshuggah are reinventive in a industry fully satured.They were able to self-labelled by creating and smarten up a style in heavy metal music,which is approached by them only. I believe that Meshuggah are among a fewer of bands whose the main stand-out is being a band with its own identity without ripping off others from the same ilk.
Necrotic Nick- Their originality at the time and then how they went from being on an island musically to being a band with it's own subset of metal. It reminds me of how Carcass constantly shifted and with almost every shift for awhile they had bands that emulated their sound.
@@thrallsofmetal Perfectly statement,Carcass is a classic example of how to make a sucessful transition without vanishing as a band.Also Death was able to manage it very well by itself way then changing the manner of working and creative process as well.Another stance I can cite is Sepultura whose the innovative scheme was the game-changing in their carriers as well as surviving as a band.Elsewhere,for all those stubborn to turn the game around and improving themselves as a truly product to be showed to the public beautifully and spellbindingly to consuming as a flawless merch if they don't do it or cannot see it like business to be worked out constantly by them,they will fade in oblivion.
Let's be real, the top half of my list is so close that they might as well be all the same rank, but here goes: 1. Obzen - My first Meshuggah album, and boy what an introduction. There's like only one track I'm meh on, rest is gold. 2. Chaosphere - Lives up to the name, love the energy on it. Just wish the production had the meatier sound the later albums have, then it'd be perfect in my eyes. 3. Nothing - This and Obzen are what I consider quintessential Meshuggah. You wanna know what they're about, you'll want this. 4. Catch 33 - Wow, I did not expect my opinion and the Thralls' to be so different, but that's how it goes I guess. Probably helps in my case that I'm also a Dream Theater fan and have a taste for these kinds of sprawling multi-track concepts with a two-digit minute count, but yeah, I love how many places this goes musically, "In Death - Is Life/Death" works as a great song on its own that I'm glad gets live play, and holy heck do the concluding tracks hit hard. 5. Destroy Erase Improve - Again, first half of my list might as well be all the same rank. Catch 33 edged out due to it hitting me harder, but if I was being more objective this could have taken a higher spot due to its sheer quality. "Future Breed Machine" remains untouchable. 6. Koloss - No shortage of bangers, "Demiurge" is a fave, but I didn't feel like I needed this one as much as the above entries. I'm also a bit less into Jens' vocals from here onward in their discography. 7. None - No complaints, and I like "Aztec Two-Step," it's just clearly a step on the way to the gold they would make later on. 8. Contradictions Collapse - For what it is, decent thrash album. Just not what I listen to these guys for. 9. The Violent Sleep of Reason - Honestly I need more spins with this one before I can give it a fair ranking, but after Koloss I haven't been in a hurry for some reason. Haven't checked out I or Immutable, definitely should at least do the former considering my liking of Catch 33.
It's very cool that Wolfgang Van Halen is a big fan of them. I still remember on how I discover Meshuggah, they played at a festival in my hometown in 2010 and a friend of mine at the time who's a big fan of them told me he and some other friends they were going to see this awesome band and I followed along and I became a fan instantly after the performance. ObZen, Koloss and Contradictions Collapse is my very favorites by them. Please add Hypocrisy to the voting, they deserve a ranking.
Necrotic Nick- Wolfgang's got some good taste then. Yeah, I saw them for the first time opening for Tool and I had no idea what to make of them but I was intrigued. That got the ball rolling and I've been a fan pretty much ever since.
Enjoyed this so much, always great seeing all the boys in on one video. Excited for the glam metal ranking despite not listening to any glam at all, would also love for Watain or Behemoth to be a voteable band in the BM category, they're probably my all-time #1 and 2 in the genre. Can't wait to vote regardless. Thank you guys so much for the entertainment you provide!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I'll probably have the voting up for glam metal up at some point tonight or tomorrow. I think I have my 4 bands. Who knows, that one might be fun regardless of which band gets picked.
Seven minutes in, and I'm already super happy to see some love for Contradictions Collapse! It's crazy underrated, I go back to it more than some of the newer stuff.
Necrotic Nick- I dig that album but oddly it's not the album I reach for when I want to listen to Meshuggah since it's such a different one. I'd go for that one when I'm looking for stuff like Coroner or Sadus... if I wasn't already listening to Coroner or Sadus.
These rankings are always entertaining. Meshuggah is tough for me, because I really dig almost everything they've done. I also agree that Catch 33 was a misfire. I go back and forth on my #1 and #2 all the time. Well, I guess I go back and forth with all these albums over time. Incredible band. 1. Koloss 2. Obzen 3. Nothing 4. Destroy Erase Improve 5. Immutable 6. The Violent Sleep of Reason 7. Chaosphere 8. Contradictions Collapse 9. Catch 33 Here are some bands I would love to see you guys rank: Behemoth, Dying Fetus, Lamb of God, King Diamond, Nile, Goatwhore, Deicide.
I actually loved catch 33 when I first heard it. I had Future Breed Machine downloaded on Limewire! I loved some parts of the song but back then, the vocals at the end made me laugh. Years later, I 'm at a friends house and the last three songs from Catch 33 played and wow, it sounded so much better to me at the time. I couldn't believe it was the same vocalist. Today, I actually love the older style of Jens and sometimes even prefer it, especially on None. Jens sounds so good on that EP. He's slightly more dynamic then today but his level of consistency is unmatched in the more modern albums. 33 would still fall at like 7 or 8 but it would be slightly higher. The re release of Nothing is probably number one and then Obzen. Koloss and Violent Sleep of Reason are BANGERS! They would both be top 5. I'm glad Miller mentioned the rhythm guitar in Sleep of Reason. They do that a few times on the album and they are my fav parts. The drum fill/breakdown part in Monstrosity literally MAKES the song. They could have dragged that part out for even longer to help that track out a bit because the drum audio sounds weak when the first verse starts.
It's always interesting to hear a discussion on a top3 band of mine. To me their golden period was from None to Catch with a few highlights afterwards which is reflected in my ranking. 1. Catch Thirtythree 2. Chaosphere 3. Nothing 4. Destroy Erase Improve 5. I 6. None 7. Koloss 8. Immutable 9. Obzen 10. Contradictions Collapse 11. Violent Sleep of Reason
Necrotic Nick- Yeah, Catch 33 didn't age very well for me. I still feel like they got kinda lost in the concept on that one and it just never gelled with me. Still, this band was tough to rank as I pretty much dig all their albums.
Damn dude!! I didn't realize Meshuggah had this many albums. I've only heard about four of these and have never purchased a Meshuggah album. Always enjoyed what I've heard. Thanks guys for the eye opener, cheers 🍻
Nice, I was waiting for this ranking. Saw Meshuggah live back in December, and it was a face-melting experience. My ranking would probably be something like this, but some these albums I have to listen to more admittedly so it would probably change around in the future: 1. Destroy, Erase, Improve 2. Chaosphere 3. ObZen 4. I EP 5. Koloss 6. Contradictions Collapse 7. Nothing 8. Immutable 9. The Violent Sleep of Reason 10. None EP 11. Catch Thirtythree (Was never able to get into this one like you guys, but interestingly a lot of people seem to think this is their best album or one of their best and I never really understood why)
Necrotic Nick- I was excited to get this one out. I've been a fan of this band for awhile and it was just fun to go through all of this stuff. Our top 3 are pretty close and yeah I'm with you on Catch 33. I just see that as a oddity in the discography but I guess it has it's fans for sure.
1.Obzen 2.Chaospshere 3.Koloss(probably the album that i listen to the most this year, it has so many banger songs) 4.The Immutable 5.Nothing 6.Catch thirtythree 7.Violent sleep of reason 8.destroy erase imrpove 9.None and Contradictions Collapse
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man. I come back to Koloss for a lot of specific tracks like Demiurge, Swarm and Marrow and particular. Those songs still hard as fuck.
I cant give a whole list but catch 33 is one of the greatest things ever. That's some serious serious songwriting skills. The way riffs keep popping back up but altered ever so slightly or new riffs are just a reworking of things that have appeared before is absolute genius. I love that album so much and between c33 and I is my favorite era. They were absolutely on another level
Necrotic Nick- I still can't get into Catch 33. It does a lot of cool things but for me it kinda drags and the way it's tracked is still annoying. If I want that giant song effect with Meshuggah I just put on the I EP.
Catch Thirty-three is *the* progressive music nerd's album. It has polyrythmic odd-time signatures throughout it, which is why they said they wouldn't ever play it live. Yet they have played "In Death - Is Death" live, which I think just proves how technically mind-f*ckingly good this band is. Anyway, the space works well because it creates a perfect contrast from the complete insanity elsewhere. And I noticed that it sounds very similar to the soundtrack from David Cronenberg's film Crash, which is a mad film. It's spacey in such a sonically dark and disturbing way that it's beautiful... beauty in darkness... and isn't that metal as f*ck?! Overall, with the lumbering heaviness and compositional wizardry and the beauty in darkness combined, it really is the perfect sound for their name: Meshuggah... insanity. It sounds like what I'd imagine it feels like to actually be insane. \m/\m/
This is toughest Ranking ever. The Ranking of the first Album shows it perfectly. Every album is great! So Here is my try: 11:Contradictions collapse 10: Destroy erase improve 9: Immutable 8:Chaosphere 7:None 6:Catch 33 5:Koloss 4:I 3:Violent sleep of reason 2:Obzen 1:Nothing
Exquisite Machinery and Spasm vocals are by Tomas actually, as well as the quiet verses in Dancers, and Broken Cog too. Outro of Broken Cog is surprisingly Marten, if I'm not mistaken, and he's in Faultless as well. Also Meshuggah use polymeters, not polyrhythms. Measures of 7/8 against 4/4, not 16th notes against 8th triplets, to distinguish the two.
Necrotic Nick- Wow. I always assumed it was Jens since the intonation sounded so similar. I'm not a musician (and it shows) so I don't fully understand the difference but I've always heard their sound described as polyrhythmic so I figured that was accurate.
Nice. Been waiting a while for this one. Looking forward to what band rankings are chosen in the future. Including the EP’s, my ranking would be as follows: 1: obZen 2: Destroy, Erase, Improve 3: Chaosphere 4: Contradictions Collapse 5: The Violent Sleep of Reason 6: I 7: Nothing (original version) 8: Koloss 9: Immutable 10: Catch 33 11: None
Necrotic Nick- I hope you dug it, man. Man, that is probably the lowest I've seen Nothing on anyone's list but I get it with this band and some of their eras being very different.
🎵The boys are back in town🎵 Tough ranking but all I know is Nothing is my number 1. No skips, saw them live during this release. Just a timeless, easy listen for me.
NONE EP is hands down my favorite MESHUGGAH release, bought it when it came out and at the time nothing came even close to the sound of this and it completely blew my socks off. And now I'm 11 minutes in to this video and so hyped up that it's included and moments later 3 out of the 4 of you basically take a dump on it. Boggles my mind, but I guess it depends on when you got into the band so I'm gonna keep watching just to get that info. Perfect release in my eyes.
Well, guess what I'm watching at least 3 times this week.. . Easily in my top 10 bands of all time! Was very fun to watch the premiere for this! \m/ My list: 11) I EP 10) Contradictions Collapse 9) Catch 33 8) None EP 7) Violent Sleep of Reason 6) Immutable 5) Destroy Erase Improve 4) Koloss 3) Nothing 2) Chaosphere 1) Obzen
Great video gentlemen. Destroy Erase Improve is number 1 for me, it's a classic. I remember reading the review in Metal Maniacs Magazine, which they declared it was a groundbreaking masterpiece. Other favorites are None EP, Nothing, and I EP.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I'd say DEI changed the metal landscape forever and Meshuggah just kept pushing boundaries after that. Honestly, I love pretty much this entire discography except Catch 33. I still struggle with that one.
Amazing band. I disagree with some of your thoughts on these albums, but that's okay. :) My ranking after giving it little thought: 10. Contradictions Collapse 9. Koloss 8. I 7. Destroy Erase Improve 6. ObZen 5. The Violent Sleep of Reason 4. Nothing 3. Immutable 2. Chaosphere 1. Catch 33
@@thrallsofmetal that's cool man. I think I like it because it's so different and oddball. I think the fact that there's so many differing opinions on what the best album is encapsulates how good Meshuggah really is.
@@thrallsofmetal Early Meshuggah is best Meshuggah imo! Although leaving personal tastes/sentimental value aside, I’d have to say Catch Thirtythree is their greatest artistic achievement.
I admit I don't have anything to say about Meshuggah (other than I know "Bleed" is dang cool), but the segment where they drew the subgenres from a hat, that was pretty entertaining. I wonder what four glam metal bands Nick is going to choose? 😆😆😆
Excluding Immutable which I have yet to listen to (I've only heard one single and I was feeling.... meh), here's my personal ranking: 1. Catch Thirty-Three 2. Nothing 3. Destroy Erase Improve 4. I 5. Obzen 6. Chaosphere 7. None 8. The Violent Sleep of Reason 9. Contradictions Collapse 10. Koloss
42:01 so the more likely reason they went with a drum machine is to save money on drum sessions in the studio, not to mention every member is credited with the drum programming. They've also pulled out Mind's Mirrors/In Death Is Life/In Death Is Death from the middle section of the album several times throughout the past 10 years or so as an encore, which has been killer to witness. That, plus Shed until the end of the record slaps for me.
Necrotic Nick- It also might have been a good way to show off the program which to be fair was pretty top notch at the time. I love Shed but I really can't get into much on Catch 33 because of all the odd track breaks. It's not bad but it's set up so oddly. Speaking for me here, I've never heard them pull any tracks off that album live outside maybe Shed once. I'm sure they've played them live before but I've not seen it.
I'm on par with you, Nick. 👍 To me, 'Destroy, Erase, Improve' will probably forever remain my favorite Meshuggah release; perhaps in no small part for nostalgic reasons, because that album changed the way I thought heavy music could sound back in 1995. A total mindf*ck of an album! Objectively they have arguably become even better musicians since then, but still I will always have a special soft spot for that sophomore album. 👌 I was lucky enough to witness Meshuggah live on the European Tour for that album, and that was also a life altering experience; holy shit, I had not seen anything thighter, more technical and crushingly heavy up to that point! 😱
Necrotic Nick- Yeah, there's something about that album that stands out for me. Nothing in the mid 90's sounded like that and I think they made a huge statement with that album. I would argue they've all become better musicians but DEI might be them at their most fearless and creative though. I didn't get to see Meshuggah until they toured with Tool but they played stuff off of DEI, Chaosphere and None when I saw them that time and it was killer.
Great ranking as always. Personally, I love to see what Nick comes up for glam metal. Not all glam bands are bad. Dokken or Ratt has some killer albums, although entertainment-wise, I would love to see you guys suffer through Bon Jovi or Poison. 😂
Cool video guys! I love Meshuggah and it's difficult to pick a favourite. Probably Obzen or Koloss for me. Obzen is an amazing album as a whole and Koloss just has an awesomely creepy atmosphere. Seeing Meshuggah live in Helsinki the coming Saturday.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! yeah, this one was tough. I've been a fan of this band for years and pretty much they always deliver. Have fun at the show, man! Meshuggah kills live!
1. Chaosphere 2. Obzen 3. D.E.I. 4. Nothing 5. V.S.R. 6. Koloss 7. Immutable 8. I 9. Catch 33 10. None 11. C.C. No bad releases. Tied with Slayer for best metal band of all time for me.
For me 9 - Contradictions Collapse 8 - Immutable 7 - Catch Thirty-Three 6 - The Violent Sleep of Reason 5 - Destroy Erase Improve 4 - Chaosphere 3 - Nothing 2 - Koloss 1 - obZen 8 through 4 are super hard to rank
Necrotic Nick- Hey! Not a problem, man! Yeah, Catch33 didn't age that well for me honestly. I know Miller really wants to do that band so it'll probably happen in the future.
I’m so stoked. I will be wearing my catch 33 merch for the premiere, and a day before my birthday too! Hope all is well with you guys! Keep up the great work! 1. Catch 33 2. Obzen 3. DEI 4. Nothing 5. Chaosphere 6. Koloss 7. VSoR 8. Immutable
Man seeing those C33 rankings hurts Entrapment is CRAZY groovy and that solo is just insanity Minds Mirrors - ID-Is Life - ID- Is Death trio is absolute mastery, seen it live too! Shed and Sum are great also
Just albums wise, I’d go (even tho my ranking changes a lot, lol): 1. The Violent Sleep of Reason 2. ObZen 3. Koloss 4. Nothing 5. Chaosphere 6. Catch 33 7. Immutable 8. Destroy Erase Improve 9. Contradictions Collapse Still love every album to death, and they don’t have a bad one imo. Surprised none of you guys brought up Dehumanization and the first few minutes of Sum (Catch 33). I personally think that’s one of their heaviest songs. That long Scream Jens pulls off is insane. It’s like over 30 seconds long
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man. Admittedly most of my notes were my complaints about Catch 33 but it does have some cool moments. How it's tracked and set up is just annoying. I almost wish there were no track breaks at all honestly.
I don’t think you can miss with any of this band’s work except for Catch 33. I agree Obzen is objectively the best but I always loved that simplistic heaviness of Koloss more than most. It always feels like I woke up a massive lumbering beast when I hit play on that album
That was a blast. It hasn't helped though. I still don't know which Meshuggah album is my no.1. It could change on a daily basis. I don't own the first one, so that's at the bottom of the pile for me. Catch 33 I'd have up quite high, in my top 4, but uh... Dunno, it's tricky. Is Miller turning into Paul Rudd?
First Meshuggah record I ever bought was theI EP. Love the extreme experimental approach to this day, which is why my favorite album is still Catch-33. And my two other go-tos are Chaosphere and Nothing. (I was introduced to this band, and thus extreme metal, by seeing them open for Tool back in 2002). As for the rest...if you like, you like. To this day, I can't understand the ObZen hype....just too mechanical for me. Regardless, been waiting for this ranking for a while, a great watch. Thralls rocks. \m/
And I didn't mean to 'shit on' ObZen completely...stand outs Bleed (Hey Nick...they retired it live cuz sadly Thomas himself says he just can't physically endure it anymore....the same reason they don't perform Chaosphere songs live, they've taken their toll on him), Lethargica, and Pravus kick ass.
Necrotic Nick- I got into them with DEI and Chaosphere after I too saw them open for Tool so those albums are still huge for me. Yeah, I still can't get into Catch 33 as much as the others. It has it's moments but I hate the seemingly random track breaks on the CD and while it's dark and heavy I feel like I can get that on a lot of Meshuggah's albums. Either way it was awesome to jam all these albums again and I'm glad you dug the video, man. It sucks they had to retire Bleed but I can understand the reasoning. It sucks getting old lol.
1. Obzen 2. Chaosphere 3. Nothing 4. Koloss 5. The Violent Sleep of Reason 6. I 7. Destroy Erase Improve 8. Catch Thirtythree 9. Immutable 10. None 11. Contradictions Collapse It's hard to rank these great albums though, probably different day I would change the list somehow except number 1 and 2 which are just 2 fucking masterpieces for me. Also they play live songs from Catch Thirtythree, In Death - Is Life and In Death - Is Death and it's fucking amazing really.
Necrotic Nick- I agree. This was tougher than I thought it would be honestly. Revisiting albums I hadn't listened to in awhile really changed stuff. I've seen Meshuggah like 8 times and I think I heard them play Shed once. Outside of that I don't think they played anything else off of Catch 33 that I remember.
@@thrallsofmetal I did and agreed on almost everything apart from Catch 33, which I jammed intensely when it came out back then. Used to play it to techno heads on LSD parties and some of them became metalheads shortly.
Ivory Tower is oddly one of my fav Meshuggah tracks ever. Does it drag? Maybe they could have chopped 30 seconds off but that breakdown section.... my god! That song is so noisy that the stops in the rhythm guitar really help it to stand out when they get past the three minute mark. I think it's groovy though in terms of Meshuggah, maybe the timing is pretty simple.
Shame the rambunctious 23 year old Rin couldn’t be on the video. Probably off doing young people things. But seriously you guys killed it again with this ranking video. Definitely my favourite types of content
been waiting for this one, really tough choices, before watching heres my picks 11 - violent sleep of reason 10 - catch 33 9 - immutable 8 - koloss 7 - contradictions collapse 6 - none 5 - obzen 4 - nothing 3 - chaosphere 2 - destroy erase improve 1 - I in my opinion the epic 21 minutes of I is the most accurate reflection of pure Meshuggah, everything you need to know is in there :-) edit: i need to listen to violent sleep of reason again
Necrotic Nick- I is s damn good. I only wish that ambition translated over to Catch 33 a bit better. Yeah, I think Violent Sleep is a killer album but I can see where some people wouldn't like it as much. Still, never hurts to spin it again.
I prefer their older 7 string stuff now, and Nothing is prob my #1. By the way, you guys should do a Fear Factory ranking. Definitely deserves it imo 🤘🤘
Necrotic Nick- I tend to gravitate to the older stuff because that's where I got into them but generally if Meshuggah comes on at random I'm rarely if ever skipping it. I'd love to rank Fear Factory some time in the future for sure.
For glam metal, I'm hoping you do Dokken. Dokken is one of the best hair metal bands of all time! George Lynch is a guitar god. Kinda of like the Jeff Beck of hair metal. I'm hoping for black metal it's either Venom or Bathory. Those 2 have a lot of albums in their catalogue. Bathory stopped unfortunately due to Quorthon's death in 2004. Immortal would be interesting to see as well. For death metal, I would love to see Deicide, Obituary, or Vader. It John had technical death metal, I would love to see Dying Fetus or Cattle Decapitation.
First three albums are just great, Contradictions Collapse has definitely Metallica touches :D in very good way Destroy is definitely more meshu and Soul burn is their best catchy song :D and Chaosphere, I agree with Shredlord best sound, performance and.... and rest is not far behind Great review as always one more: in my opinion Meshuggah do not have bad album
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I've been a fan of this band for years and all of their albums bring something to the table I enjoy even if I'm not as big a fan of them in comparison to other albums by them.
Djent is a odd subgenre of metal for me, while i appreciate the technicality and the skill of musicianship, especially rythmically and as being a guitarist myself, i find that alot of the time technicality can take a touch more focus than the songwriting coherancy, alot of the time it can like you say sound very challenging and to me that doesnt always line up with being a pleasurable listen, however i will say from all those bands, meshuggah and animal as leaders are the 2 bands there that when it does hit it hits pretty hard, but ultimately there both more bands i would listen to afew tracks here and there or have on a playlist. I've never really been blown away on a i cant stop listening to this album sense. The first meshuggah album i picked up was contradictions collapse and i'm a massive thrash fan so that was pretty cool but at the same time i dont think it really holds up against alot of the better thrash albums of the 80's and what i was listening too at the time so after a afew listens i was kinda done with it, still i respect the hell out of them as a band and as musicians even if its something i dont really gravitate too massively.
Necrotic Nick- I'd have to agree. Defining a subgenre on a particular riff style always seemed strange but the name just kinda stuck and it is kinda accurate. When someone says a band is a "djent band" I instantly know what they're talking about. The style is hit or miss with me but Meshuggah will always be a stand out namely because they created it and continued to evolve the style. Even amongst all the Meshuggah clones out there I still know when I'm jamming Meshuggah.
Amazing band I've been following since Destroy Erase Improve. Here is my rank (original albums only) with some not that short explanations :P : Part I: Meh to Ok. 9. Catch 33: I'll say from the get go: this is a copycat of Nothing yet way less brilliant. Now, more than a single song this record only makes "sense" to me if I listen to the songs in batches of 3 (perhaps the album's name is not solely a spin on Catch 22 but a key to group all the stuff). And it makes a lot of sense: IMO there's a main common pattern from Autonomy Lost to Disenchantment and other from The Paradoxical Spiral to entrapment. Mind's Mirrors and both In Death parts is easily my favorite batch here (really trippy and features the only thing that doesn't sounds like a poor man's Nothing. Curiously enough, the last batch is of four songs but then again, it's really derivative. A fine way to promote Drum Kit From Hell, a great 3 song section and the rest, well... if you like it listen to Nothing. IMO is way, way better. 8. Contradictions Collapse: Well, I couldn't put it better than you guys. It's true that Frederik already does his jazz fusion leads yet the main mix here getting some Voivod, some And Justice For All, some Pantera (although this sounds way more with raspier chugs from Vulgar, which, to be fair, was only released one year after) and let it roll. Now this would be a greaaaaaaaaaaaat record for any other band. But I was introduced to Meshuggah with Destroy Erase Improve. And to be fair this is still a sketch of what was to be their signature sound (properly blueprinted in the aforementioned Destroy Erase Improve). Yet Paralyzing Ignorance, Abnegating Cecity and Internal Evidence are some great cuts. In the end, while contradictions Collapse is already a good record, it's basically a necessary passage, a means to build what would be the first truly "Meshuggah sounding" record. 7. Koloss: When Koloss came out, Meshuggah came to a stalemate for me. I mean, there are still things here I really dig like that eerie melody over the dragging monster that is Behind The Sun (great track), the refreshing upbeat rhythm and strum guitars on The Hurt That Finds You First, the crushing slow tempo claustrophobia of Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion or the cool somewhat Post Rock influenced closer. But when it comes to the remainder of the album it all sounds more of the same, like an Obzen pat 2 yet much less achieved (not in the volume that Catch 33 is to Nothing but still considerably derivative). It really didn't ring with me and disconnected me from the band somehow, to a point I've only listened to their following album during the pandemic. 6. Chaosphere: Another album that IMO is a less achieved version of its predecessor. Still, it features some great tracks: The Exquisite Machinery Of Torture is sick, Concatenation is pure Meshuggah overload and The Mouth Licking What You Bled is easily the best from the pack as far as I'm concerned: a total assault to the listener's senses. But then again, I really can't relate with the rest of the tunes (and some are fan favorites like Elastic, Sane or Cyanide Christ). Yet those three tracks are blistering stuff. 5. The Violent Sleep Of Reason: As I stated before I only managed to listen to this album several years after its release. And while once again the majority of stuff here has already been done, one thing caught my attention from the get go: this is easily Meshuggah's heaviest release. Man, these guys sound PISSED here! And it's dark as hell. Another cool reprise here is the return of dragged and pulverizing songs: By The Ton, Into Decay, Nostrum, Stifled or the title track reinforces my take that the slower their labyrinthine polyrhythmic beating is executed the more chaotic and impactful it gets to my years. And impressive too. Overall, this is a really good album, yet dense as black hole... too dense even to Meshuggah's brain melting standards.
The only one I'd really disagree with here is Chaosphere. For me this is where they found a formula for making their style just slightly more accessible without sacrificing their identity which is a slippery slope.
@@thrallsofmetal Yup, I must admit my comment on Chaosphere is a bit off. Yes, most of the base is the same of Destroy Erase Improve, but indeed there are some differences, one of them is their riffs became more... "organic" for lack of a better term. I also spot another added detail, yet I don't think they've become more accessible. Instead, there's an increase in saturation, density and... well... chaos. :P Nonetheless I think you're right: despite not being a major shift, Chaosphere was yet another necessary step in their career. Still not one of my favorites. That being said I'm due to give my two cents on the remainder of the discography. And let me start by saying that, while presenting different nuances, these top four albums are basically a tied #1 for me. As far as I'm concerned, the difference in quality is so minimal that I must say I love all the same for different reasons. 1a. Destroy Erase Improve: My first contact with the band in 95 and to say this was a shock is an understatement. Future Breed Machine is IMO one of the best songs these guys have ever done (if not the best). Meshuggah still retain that more mechanized attack (still an atavism from their debut) yet the polyrhythms are way more complex, the leads are even more experimental, riffs lost thrash influences and the overall ambiance is much more unsteady, even uncomfortable at times. In other words, this is the record where Meshuggah started to sound like Meshuggah. And a good example is Beneath, something that seems so linear yet at the same time has this utterly off-putting ambiance. Another standout for me is Transfixion: both this tune and Terminal Illusions present the band's new brand in an up-tempo suit and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. Vanished is another excellent track, especially the passage from the staccato verses to the double kick part and the following sections are nuts... that ambiance Fred lends to more melodic pause, the cutting riffage that follows and the insane soloing action is a must. Acrid Placidity is a testimony to Fred and the awkwardly addictive ambiances this man can create. Speaking of ambiance, Sublevels is a superb closer: if it's true it lacks density and even some complexity, no one can deny its immersive nature complemented with bitter sweet experimental candies (mainly another excellent Thordendal solo). To sum it up, I believe this is one of the most original and revolutionary records of the 90's. Add that to the material's quality and it is only fair to state this is nothing short of a classic. 1b. Nothing: I must admit this one is that kind of record that for me was an acquired taste. Perhaps due to its slow tempos and low tunning I didn't buy it at all during the first spins. Until one day it got me and when Nothing gets you, it really sticks to your head. It's funny how some records can make us radically change our take on them and this is a fine example. I must admit I prefer the 8 string (the Nevborns!) and bass including remaster but to be fair the original version already sounded menacing and competent enough. Stengah gives the moto and man... that guitar tone is deeeeense... just like penicillin injected into one's eardrums. These are megalithic complex anthems that grind your brain at a really slow speed, as if it's the acute work of an acoustic sadist who enjoys the steamroll leveling his victims at one-meter per hour. And this is a common trait to almost every track here. Rational Gaze adds a truck full of groove to the whole thing and it sounds marvelous, yet my favorite cut from the album is Perpetual Black Second. Despite featuring a fair share of syncopations this monument's bounce is the acoustical equivalent to the fucking gravitational pull of a black hole. Other superb slo-mo mind fuckers I truly love here are Organic Shadows and the super heavy Nebulous yet I must single out the excellent buildup of Straws Pulled At Random: the way this track starts and how effortlessly it flows into the closing nerve wrecking melody is something only these guys could pull. The minimalist closer is also a great feature, marking the end of Nothing in a mysterious way only comparable in cinema to the monolith of 2001. I really love this record and I think that, along with Destroy Erase Improve, this was the most influential album the band has ever released. 1c. Obzen: You press play and the first thing you listen to is something that could be the first notes of a Tool song... WTF? Then the same riff quickly escalates into a non-streamlined thrashy up tempo groove. It's basically based upon open chords, yet its pace gives it a thrashy flavor that simply knocked me to the floor. And how about that variation starting at 2m25? The accentuation Thomas gives is so simple for the band's standards yet it produces a major f'd up effect. Monster of an opener! Skipping one track we reach Bleed and... Well, it's Bleed so I rest my case. Lethargica kicks down the door and I must underline how I love when the guys write super heavy and slow polyrhythm fuckery and how much more hallucinating it sounds than when they go some BPM's faster. Speaking of heavy, these dudes were really angry when they wrote the title track. The way the triplets of Thomas and Frederik meet for a portion of each bar on this trademark Meshuggah crusher pushes it forward like a lumbering million-ton monolith. Next standout IMO is Pravus, which kickstarts with a creepy like up-tempo unsettling guitar lead that gives the moto to the ensuing madness and dominating rhythmic pattern. And while this is a faster version of the band, I totally dig this song. To wrap things up on a huge note, Dancers To A Discordant System has a bit of the slow structures of Nothing, those hushed claustrophobic nuances similar to The Exquisite Machinery Of Torture, all peppered with one of the more experimental arrays of leads Frederik has ever composed. To sum things up: a state-of-the-art release that is revered worldwide and rightfully so. 1d. Immutable: When this album came out, I must admit I wasn't expecting much since Koloss was a real turn off when it comes to my Meshuggah fandom. Fortunately, I spotted the UA-cam video for Broken Cog. And all I can say is that I was truly impressed. There was this monstrously tense ambiance that transpired from each note. And what's more notable: this effect hit me in a level I Meshuggah never did before (and bear in mind... these guys made some great stuff in this department in the past). So, I went and listened to the remainder of the album and my jaw fell to the floor. Let's get one thing out of the way: this is one of the band's least complex albums (yet bearing enough complexity to not pale in comparison to its predecessors) yet, composition wise, it's masterful as ever (perhaps even more, but we'll get there). Then the guys open up the book: there are so many nuances and different approaches here that, IMO, this is by far their most diverse offering to date. The combination of both these traits leads to another aspect of Immutable: almost every single song here is easily memorable and unmistakable from each other. Finally, let me elaborate on the ambiance this bad boy wraps around us. Each time I listen to this I feel like I'm watching a psychological horror movie, I mean... There are parts so well designes that, despite already knowing what comes next, I always feel that "on the edge of my seat" knot on my guts. Broken Cog is indeed one of the best examples of this effect, a proper introduction to the bleak beast we're about to tackle. And if it's true it lacks a bit on the groove department, The Abysmal Eye is mainly focused on compensating this aspect and propelling the whole thing onwards while Light The Shortening Fuse lends another level of density and intensity. The next standout for me is Ligature Marks, and man the creepy guitar work of Fred on this one is nothing short of cinematic (as the majority of the album is). Speaking of which, my next highlight is They Move Below, a 9-minute plus masterpiece that once again could be featured in a score. Utter masterpiece! Black Cathedral is also an odd take: a 100% death metal (guitar only) track and works wonders as a weird interlude. I Am The Thirst dwells in similar ground to The Abysmal Eye and then a megaton stomping sinister groove filled behemoth kicks down the door in the form of The Faultless. The whole album closes softly in the mysterious epilogue that is Past Tense, reinforcing the sensorial and ambiance focused journey Immutable truly is. To sum things up, I believe Meshuggah sacrificed some of its "virtuoso" vein on this one and focused much more on building dynamic ambiances. If that's true, they achieved it fully. IMO this album is composition (borderline perfect, if you ask me) over execution, a fine balance that makes almost every note sound twice as intense despite less of them being played, and something most bands (even some big names) aren't able to achieve. I'd even say Immutable is my favorite album but I don't want to be a victim of recency biased and unfair to the other releases. One thing's certain: as of now it's my favorite and the one I listen to the most.
Whenever Thralls releases a ranking video, it’s like one of my favourite bands release an album. I end up watching them over and over again as well.
same here, just wish they were more frequent haha
same 😂
I only just recently discovered this channel, and I do the same thing - it's a great motivator for pulling out specific CD's from the collection, or buy the missing albums, for sure! (This is the reason I am listening to Bonded by Blood as we speak)
woah, Miller's hair got me by surprise
Thought my man was bald for the longest time lol
@@BATS33 Yea, finally he doesn't look like an Amish outcast...
Looks like Dave Ghrol
Meshuggah is so awesome, One of the heaviest bands ever
11: The Violent Sleep of Reason
10: Catch 33
9: Immutable
8: Contradictions Collapse
7: Nothing
6: I
5: None
4: Obzen
3: Destroy Erase Improve
2: Koloss
1: Chaosphere
This is still one of the best series on metal UA-cam period
These are always such a good way to learn about the bands and get a bit of context behind everything. And another great installment
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! We really appreciated that.
@@thrallsofmetal I agree with the distinguished gentleman Tapwater56766 - also, the fact there are three to five of you means there's a lot room for different perspectives. Something which is almost never present with solo reviewer videos, even if they can be really great, too! Just would prefer more friends gathering together for these things. Keep'em coming, if you don't mind, good sirs!
1. ObZen
2. Nothing
3. Chaosphere
4. Catch 33
5. Destroy erase improve
6. Koloss
7. Immutable
8. Violent sleep of reason
9. Contradictions collapse
I second the top 3! \m/
YESSSS! Literally waited like 2 years for this! One of my favorite bands ever can’t wait!
Necrotic Nick- See you tomorrow, man!
Love these album rankings because it forces me to revisit albums I haven’t heard in a while, or ones I haven’t heard altogether. Thank you all for putting in the time to do these, look forward to the next one!
Necrotic Nick- Hey! Thanks, man! I hope your dive into Meshuggah's stuff was as fun as ours after this one.
Meshuggah are definitely one of the most influential bands in metal with their polyrhythmic riffs and drumming. Many modern metal bands all owe their influence to Meshuggah. I think all albums are good but these top 5 are amazing. Here is my ranking:
11. Contradictions Collapse
10. I EP
9. Immutable
8. The Violent Sleep of Reason
7. None EP
6. Koloss
5. Catch Thirtythree
4. ObZen
3. Chaosphere
2. Destroy Erase Improve
1. Nothing
I completely agree that contradictions collapse is their worst, i had such a hard time getting through that
But I at 10?
That’s my personal favorite
Can't wait! My personal ranking goes as such:
9. The Violent Sleep of Reason
8. Immutable
7. Contradictions Collapse
6. Koloss
5. Obzen
4. Chaosphere
3. Catch 33
2. Destroy Erase Improve
1. Nothing
Necrotic Nick- Nice, man! We even threw in None and I as well to spice it up.
Thanks for not ranking The Violent Sleep Of Reason lower. Other people shit on that album and that's my main go to and my dog loves to listen to it on our walks. I'm so glad you guys finally did this ranking
The Violent Sleep of Reason is their most aggressive album since Chaosphere imo. It's so good.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I love that album. While it doesn't do much different than much of the post Obzen stuff it's still a beast of an album.
Glad you guys got around to this. I look forward to it along with all future rankings and content.
Ah man! Y’all did my fav catch 33 dirty ;-;. It’s my personal favorite Meshuggah record. Once I thought of the record more like a Stoner Doom or Sludge metal record like Sleep’s Dopesmoker it clicked into place for me. The slower tempo, the fact it’s based on one riff that evolves over the course of the record makes it so trippy to me. It feels like entering into a void of rusty pipes, crumbling brick walls and no light to be found.
MESSHHUUUUUUGGGAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
1.ObZen
2. Destroy Erase, Improve,
3.Contradictions Collapse
4. Chaosphere
5. Nothing
6. The Violent Sleep Of Reason
7. Koloss
8. Immutable
9. Catch 33
Good to see the rest of the gang get together at the same time.
Well done guys.
Keep the content coming.
I was waiting for this one. I saw that you included "None" and "I", so:
11- Contradictions Colapse
10- Immutable
9- Catch Thirty Three
8- None
7- ObZen
6- Destroy Erase Improve
5- I
4- The Violent Sleep of Reason
3- Chaosphere
2- Koloss
1- Nothing
Meshuggah is my favourite metal band, so the lowest ranking for me would've been something like 3C or 3D, but like you gentlemen say, you have to put numbers on things.
I also wish the other EPs were included, but I understand that in most of them, many songs were demos that ended up being songs in full length albums. That being said, there are a lot of good stuff coming from their EPs, like their self titled, "Rare Trax" or "Pitch Black", so if anyone reading this hasn't explored Meshuggah EPs, they go recommended!
Necrotic Nick- Well, I don't want to spoil anything but we might have some overlap here. I've been listening to Meshuggah since I saw them open for Tool in 2001 and I've been a fan ever since so I was looking forward to this one. We just added None and I because they're a bit more landmark than their other EPs and they showed some evolution in their sound.
Let’s go🔥 band ranking vids are my favourite. Always posting great metal content absolute legends 🤘
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I hope you dug it!
Great ranking guys. Looking forward to the choices you come up with on the next ranking. It’s hilarious that Nick pulled glam!! lol
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Well, the voting is up for my Glam Metal picks so if you haven't voted yet get on there.
I had a rough time ranking these as they shift around a lot in my mind based on my mood and what I'm feeling in that moment, and honestly I love them all, but here's my try at it:
1. Obzen
2. Catch 33
3. Nothing
4. Destroy Erase Improve
5. Chaosphere
6. Koloss
7. The Violent Sleep of Reason
8. Immutable
9. I
10. None
11. Contradictions Collapse
I got into the band about 5-6 years ago when I first heard Bleed, which I sort of bounced off of the first few times, but kept coming back to it and eventually started diving into different songs here and there, and eventually dove headfirst into their entire discography about 3 years ago and I've been hooked ever since. They're my favourite band, and I finally got the chance to see them live on the Immutable tour back in December and they were amazing!
Necrotic Nick- I'll be honest, all of these rankings are tough and I reorder stuff all the time on my lists. I genuinely think that Bleed spawned a legion of fans with that monstrous single and it's a great starter song. The song that probably really clicked with me first was New Millennium Cyanide Christ. When I finally got the groove to that song I was hooked and everything fell into place. I still love the hell out of this band I'll probably be a fan for life.
Man it was great seeing the gang back together! Been a along time and LOVE the new name logos!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Loving these new logos! Lee did such a good job on them.
Meshuggah are reinventive in a industry fully satured.They were able to self-labelled by creating and smarten up a style in heavy metal music,which is approached by them only.
I believe that Meshuggah are among a fewer of bands whose the main stand-out is being a band with its own identity without ripping off others from the same ilk.
Necrotic Nick- Their originality at the time and then how they went from being on an island musically to being a band with it's own subset of metal. It reminds me of how Carcass constantly shifted and with almost every shift for awhile they had bands that emulated their sound.
@@thrallsofmetal Perfectly statement,Carcass is a classic example of how to make a sucessful transition without vanishing as a band.Also Death was able to manage it very well by itself way then changing the manner of working and creative process as well.Another stance I can cite is Sepultura whose the innovative scheme was the game-changing in their carriers as well as surviving as a band.Elsewhere,for all those stubborn to turn the game around and improving themselves as a truly product to be showed to the public beautifully and spellbindingly to consuming as a flawless merch if they don't do it or cannot see it like business to be worked out constantly by them,they will fade in oblivion.
Let's be real, the top half of my list is so close that they might as well be all the same rank, but here goes:
1. Obzen - My first Meshuggah album, and boy what an introduction. There's like only one track I'm meh on, rest is gold.
2. Chaosphere - Lives up to the name, love the energy on it. Just wish the production had the meatier sound the later albums have, then it'd be perfect in my eyes.
3. Nothing - This and Obzen are what I consider quintessential Meshuggah. You wanna know what they're about, you'll want this.
4. Catch 33 - Wow, I did not expect my opinion and the Thralls' to be so different, but that's how it goes I guess. Probably helps in my case that I'm also a Dream Theater fan and have a taste for these kinds of sprawling multi-track concepts with a two-digit minute count, but yeah, I love how many places this goes musically, "In Death - Is Life/Death" works as a great song on its own that I'm glad gets live play, and holy heck do the concluding tracks hit hard.
5. Destroy Erase Improve - Again, first half of my list might as well be all the same rank. Catch 33 edged out due to it hitting me harder, but if I was being more objective this could have taken a higher spot due to its sheer quality. "Future Breed Machine" remains untouchable.
6. Koloss - No shortage of bangers, "Demiurge" is a fave, but I didn't feel like I needed this one as much as the above entries. I'm also a bit less into Jens' vocals from here onward in their discography.
7. None - No complaints, and I like "Aztec Two-Step," it's just clearly a step on the way to the gold they would make later on.
8. Contradictions Collapse - For what it is, decent thrash album. Just not what I listen to these guys for.
9. The Violent Sleep of Reason - Honestly I need more spins with this one before I can give it a fair ranking, but after Koloss I haven't been in a hurry for some reason.
Haven't checked out I or Immutable, definitely should at least do the former considering my liking of Catch 33.
Out of the Meshuggah that I've listened to:
#1 Chaosphere
#2 Koloss
#3 Nothing
#4 I
#5 Destroy Erase Improve
#6 Immutable
It's very cool that Wolfgang Van Halen is a big fan of them.
I still remember on how I discover Meshuggah, they played at a festival in my hometown in 2010 and a friend of mine at the time who's a big fan of them told me he and some other friends they were going to see this awesome band and I followed along and I became a fan instantly after the performance.
ObZen, Koloss and Contradictions Collapse is my very favorites by them.
Please add Hypocrisy to the voting, they deserve a ranking.
Necrotic Nick- Wolfgang's got some good taste then. Yeah, I saw them for the first time opening for Tool and I had no idea what to make of them but I was intrigued. That got the ball rolling and I've been a fan pretty much ever since.
9. Immutable 8. Catch 33 7. Destroy 6. Violent 5. Nothing 4. Koloss 3. Obzen 2. Chaosphere 1. I ep
If you guys are taking viewer suggestions, here's my list of suggestions:
Enslaved
Nevermore
Deicide
Dying Fetus
Necrotic Nick- There's an announcement at the end of the video.
Great list there, mate!
Enjoyed this so much, always great seeing all the boys in on one video. Excited for the glam metal ranking despite not listening to any glam at all, would also love for Watain or Behemoth to be a voteable band in the BM category, they're probably my all-time #1 and 2 in the genre. Can't wait to vote regardless. Thank you guys so much for the entertainment you provide!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I'll probably have the voting up for glam metal up at some point tonight or tomorrow. I think I have my 4 bands. Who knows, that one might be fun regardless of which band gets picked.
Seven minutes in, and I'm already super happy to see some love for Contradictions Collapse! It's crazy underrated, I go back to it more than some of the newer stuff.
Necrotic Nick- I dig that album but oddly it's not the album I reach for when I want to listen to Meshuggah since it's such a different one. I'd go for that one when I'm looking for stuff like Coroner or Sadus... if I wasn't already listening to Coroner or Sadus.
These rankings are always entertaining. Meshuggah is tough for me, because I really dig almost everything they've done. I also agree that Catch 33 was a misfire. I go back and forth on my #1 and #2 all the time. Well, I guess I go back and forth with all these albums over time. Incredible band.
1. Koloss
2. Obzen
3. Nothing
4. Destroy Erase Improve
5. Immutable
6. The Violent Sleep of Reason
7. Chaosphere
8. Contradictions Collapse
9. Catch 33
Here are some bands I would love to see you guys rank: Behemoth, Dying Fetus, Lamb of God, King Diamond, Nile, Goatwhore, Deicide.
Interesting. I think catch 33 is one of their best projects. Great vid nonetheless ❤
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, ,man! Yeah, I've always been at odds with that one.
I actually loved catch 33 when I first heard it. I had Future Breed Machine downloaded on Limewire! I loved some parts of the song but back then, the vocals at the end made me laugh. Years later, I 'm at a friends house and the last three songs from Catch 33 played and wow, it sounded so much better to me at the time. I couldn't believe it was the same vocalist. Today, I actually love the older style of Jens and sometimes even prefer it, especially on None. Jens sounds so good on that EP. He's slightly more dynamic then today but his level of consistency is unmatched in the more modern albums. 33 would still fall at like 7 or 8 but it would be slightly higher. The re release of Nothing is probably number one and then Obzen. Koloss and Violent Sleep of Reason are BANGERS! They would both be top 5. I'm glad Miller mentioned the rhythm guitar in Sleep of Reason. They do that a few times on the album and they are my fav parts. The drum fill/breakdown part in Monstrosity literally MAKES the song. They could have dragged that part out for even longer to help that track out a bit because the drum audio sounds weak when the first verse starts.
It's always interesting to hear a discussion on a top3 band of mine. To me their golden period was from None to Catch with a few highlights afterwards which is reflected in my ranking.
1. Catch Thirtythree
2. Chaosphere
3. Nothing
4. Destroy Erase Improve
5. I
6. None
7. Koloss
8. Immutable
9. Obzen
10. Contradictions Collapse
11. Violent Sleep of Reason
Necrotic Nick- Yeah, Catch 33 didn't age very well for me. I still feel like they got kinda lost in the concept on that one and it just never gelled with me. Still, this band was tough to rank as I pretty much dig all their albums.
Damn dude!! I didn't realize Meshuggah had this many albums. I've only heard about four of these and have never purchased a Meshuggah album. Always enjoyed what I've heard. Thanks guys for the eye opener, cheers 🍻
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Dude, you gotta dive into that back catalog, man. DEI and Chaosphere alone are worth it.
To me, Chaosphere sounds like aliens helped with the creation of it
It's my personal favorite album of theirs.
Miller has that Tommy Victor look going on, Nice to see you back!
My first thought as well, love to see them do a Prong ranking!
Necrotic Nick- LOL! The resemblance is pretty uncanny.
Nice, I was waiting for this ranking. Saw Meshuggah live back in December, and it was a face-melting experience. My ranking would probably be something like this, but some these albums I have to listen to more admittedly so it would probably change around in the future:
1. Destroy, Erase, Improve
2. Chaosphere
3. ObZen
4. I EP
5. Koloss
6. Contradictions Collapse
7. Nothing
8. Immutable
9. The Violent Sleep of Reason
10. None EP
11. Catch Thirtythree (Was never able to get into this one like you guys, but interestingly a lot of people seem to think this is their best album or one of their best and I never really understood why)
Necrotic Nick- I was excited to get this one out. I've been a fan of this band for awhile and it was just fun to go through all of this stuff. Our top 3 are pretty close and yeah I'm with you on Catch 33. I just see that as a oddity in the discography but I guess it has it's fans for sure.
1.Obzen
2.Chaospshere
3.Koloss(probably the album that i listen to the most this year, it has so many banger songs)
4.The Immutable
5.Nothing
6.Catch thirtythree
7.Violent sleep of reason
8.destroy erase imrpove
9.None and Contradictions Collapse
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man. I come back to Koloss for a lot of specific tracks like Demiurge, Swarm and Marrow and particular. Those songs still hard as fuck.
Excited to hear how guys rank these. Here's mine.
9. Contradictions Collapse
8. Chaosphere
7. Destroy Erase Improve
6. Koloss
5. Immutable
4. Catch Thirty Three
3. The Violent Sleep of Reason
2. Obzen
1. Nothing
I cant give a whole list but catch 33 is one of the greatest things ever. That's some serious serious songwriting skills. The way riffs keep popping back up but altered ever so slightly or new riffs are just a reworking of things that have appeared before is absolute genius. I love that album so much and between c33 and I is my favorite era. They were absolutely on another level
Necrotic Nick- I still can't get into Catch 33. It does a lot of cool things but for me it kinda drags and the way it's tracked is still annoying. If I want that giant song effect with Meshuggah I just put on the I EP.
@@thrallsofmetal That's a shame. For you haha
Miller!! Welcome back you long-haired SOB 👀🤘loooove Meshuggah. Thought I was looking at Tommy from Prong
New name logos are sick. I never got that much into Meshuggah’s full-lengths but Destroy Erase Improve is awesome front to back.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Lee did an amazing job with them. That dude is awesome and his art is incredible.
Catch Thirty-three is *the* progressive music nerd's album. It has polyrythmic odd-time signatures throughout it, which is why they said they wouldn't ever play it live. Yet they have played "In Death - Is Death" live, which I think just proves how technically mind-f*ckingly good this band is. Anyway, the space works well because it creates a perfect contrast from the complete insanity elsewhere. And I noticed that it sounds very similar to the soundtrack from David Cronenberg's film Crash, which is a mad film. It's spacey in such a sonically dark and disturbing way that it's beautiful... beauty in darkness... and isn't that metal as f*ck?! Overall, with the lumbering heaviness and compositional wizardry and the beauty in darkness combined, it really is the perfect sound for their name: Meshuggah... insanity. It sounds like what I'd imagine it feels like to actually be insane. \m/\m/
This is toughest Ranking ever. The Ranking of the first Album shows it perfectly. Every album is great! So Here is my try:
11:Contradictions collapse
10: Destroy erase improve
9: Immutable
8:Chaosphere
7:None
6:Catch 33
5:Koloss
4:I
3:Violent sleep of reason
2:Obzen
1:Nothing
Necrotic Nick- Honestly, all of these rankings are tough as hell. I was retooling my list all the way up to the recording day lol. Solid list, man.
Now I know which Meshuggah albums to start with. I can’t wait to see the bands you guys have pick, especially Nick.
Necrotic Nick- I hope you enjoyed the video, man!
Exquisite Machinery and Spasm vocals are by Tomas actually, as well as the quiet verses in Dancers, and Broken Cog too. Outro of Broken Cog is surprisingly Marten, if I'm not mistaken, and he's in Faultless as well.
Also Meshuggah use polymeters, not polyrhythms. Measures of 7/8 against 4/4, not 16th notes against 8th triplets, to distinguish the two.
Necrotic Nick- Wow. I always assumed it was Jens since the intonation sounded so similar. I'm not a musician (and it shows) so I don't fully understand the difference but I've always heard their sound described as polyrhythmic so I figured that was accurate.
Nice. Been waiting a while for this one. Looking forward to what band rankings are chosen in the future. Including the EP’s, my ranking would be as follows:
1: obZen
2: Destroy, Erase, Improve
3: Chaosphere
4: Contradictions Collapse
5: The Violent Sleep of Reason
6: I
7: Nothing (original version)
8: Koloss
9: Immutable
10: Catch 33
11: None
Necrotic Nick- I hope you dug it, man. Man, that is probably the lowest I've seen Nothing on anyone's list but I get it with this band and some of their eras being very different.
🎵The boys are back in town🎵
Tough ranking but all I know is Nothing is my number 1. No skips, saw them live during this release. Just a timeless, easy listen for me.
NONE EP is hands down my favorite MESHUGGAH release, bought it when it came out and at the time nothing came even close to the sound of this and it completely blew my socks off. And now I'm 11 minutes in to this video and so hyped up that it's included and moments later 3 out of the 4 of you basically take a dump on it. Boggles my mind, but I guess it depends on when you got into the band so I'm gonna keep watching just to get that info. Perfect release in my eyes.
Well, guess what I'm watching at least 3 times this week.. . Easily in my top 10 bands of all time! Was very fun to watch the premiere for this! \m/
My list:
11) I EP
10) Contradictions Collapse
9) Catch 33
8) None EP
7) Violent Sleep of Reason
6) Immutable
5) Destroy Erase Improve
4) Koloss
3) Nothing
2) Chaosphere
1) Obzen
Necrotic Nick- Hey! Thanks, man! I'm glad you dug the video. Solid list too, man!
Do you guys wear ear protection at concerts?
Miller here, high fidelity ear plugs are my go to. Levels everything out and vocals are always much clearer
@@dadsings Thank you. Been thinking of getting ear plugs to protect my ears, I'll check out hugh fidelity ear plugs. How much do yours cost roughly?
Great video gentlemen. Destroy Erase Improve is number 1 for me, it's a classic. I remember reading the review in Metal Maniacs Magazine, which they declared it was a groundbreaking masterpiece. Other favorites are None EP, Nothing, and I EP.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I'd say DEI changed the metal landscape forever and Meshuggah just kept pushing boundaries after that. Honestly, I love pretty much this entire discography except Catch 33. I still struggle with that one.
I’m blasting obzen right now i think it might be my favorite see you guys in two hours
Amazing band. I disagree with some of your thoughts on these albums, but that's okay. :) My ranking after giving it little thought:
10. Contradictions Collapse
9. Koloss
8. I
7. Destroy Erase Improve
6. ObZen
5. The Violent Sleep of Reason
4. Nothing
3. Immutable
2. Chaosphere
1. Catch 33
Necrotic Nick- Catch 33 definitely has it's fans for sure. I still can't get into it as much the other albums though but that's just me.
@@thrallsofmetal that's cool man. I think I like it because it's so different and oddball. I think the fact that there's so many differing opinions on what the best album is encapsulates how good Meshuggah really is.
1. Contradictions Collapse
2. None - EP
3. Destroy Erase Improve
4. Catch Thirtythree
5. Chaosphere
6. obZen
7. I - EP
8. Nothing
9. Immutable
10. Koloss
11. The Violent Sleep of Reason
Necrotic Nick- Man, those first 3 went right in order. Solid list, man.
@@thrallsofmetal Early Meshuggah is best Meshuggah imo! Although leaving personal tastes/sentimental value aside, I’d have to say Catch Thirtythree is their greatest artistic achievement.
I admit I don't have anything to say about Meshuggah (other than I know "Bleed" is dang cool), but the segment where they drew the subgenres from a hat, that was pretty entertaining. I wonder what four glam metal bands Nick is going to choose? 😆😆😆
I'm glad that Shredlord is back🤟
Necrotic Nick- We're glad to have him back too.
Excluding Immutable which I have yet to listen to (I've only heard one single and I was feeling.... meh), here's my personal ranking:
1. Catch Thirty-Three
2. Nothing
3. Destroy Erase Improve
4. I
5. Obzen
6. Chaosphere
7. None
8. The Violent Sleep of Reason
9. Contradictions Collapse
10. Koloss
42:01 so the more likely reason they went with a drum machine is to save money on drum sessions in the studio, not to mention every member is credited with the drum programming.
They've also pulled out Mind's Mirrors/In Death Is Life/In Death Is Death from the middle section of the album several times throughout the past 10 years or so as an encore, which has been killer to witness.
That, plus Shed until the end of the record slaps for me.
Necrotic Nick- It also might have been a good way to show off the program which to be fair was pretty top notch at the time. I love Shed but I really can't get into much on Catch 33 because of all the odd track breaks. It's not bad but it's set up so oddly. Speaking for me here, I've never heard them pull any tracks off that album live outside maybe Shed once. I'm sure they've played them live before but I've not seen it.
Great job guys.
There's actually a really great tribute band of them across the river in the UK called
Milk and Two Shuggahs!!
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Dude, that's a priceless name for a Meshuggah tribute band lol.
Catch 33 is underrated. You guys hating 😊
Agree that album is 10/10 🐐🐐🐐
No way.....None was the shift. U can absolutely tell the difference between contradictions and none. None was the beginning.
I'm on par with you, Nick. 👍 To me, 'Destroy, Erase, Improve' will probably forever remain my favorite Meshuggah release; perhaps in no small part for nostalgic reasons, because that album changed the way I thought heavy music could sound back in 1995. A total mindf*ck of an album! Objectively they have arguably become even better musicians since then, but still I will always have a special soft spot for that sophomore album. 👌 I was lucky enough to witness Meshuggah live on the European Tour for that album, and that was also a life altering experience; holy shit, I had not seen anything thighter, more technical and crushingly heavy up to that point! 😱
Necrotic Nick- Yeah, there's something about that album that stands out for me. Nothing in the mid 90's sounded like that and I think they made a huge statement with that album. I would argue they've all become better musicians but DEI might be them at their most fearless and creative though. I didn't get to see Meshuggah until they toured with Tool but they played stuff off of DEI, Chaosphere and None when I saw them that time and it was killer.
I saw meshugga live back in March, stunning experience, wildest show I've ever gone to
Necrotic Nick- They absolutely crush live. The light syncopation is generally pretty nuts too.
Great ranking as always. Personally, I love to see what Nick comes up for glam metal. Not all glam bands are bad. Dokken or Ratt has some killer albums, although entertainment-wise, I would love to see you guys suffer through Bon Jovi or Poison. 😂
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I have some ideas so far. I'll post them probably after this weeks batch of reviews.
Cool video guys! I love Meshuggah and it's difficult to pick a favourite. Probably Obzen or Koloss for me. Obzen is an amazing album as a whole and Koloss just has an awesomely creepy atmosphere. Seeing Meshuggah live in Helsinki the coming Saturday.
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! yeah, this one was tough. I've been a fan of this band for years and pretty much they always deliver. Have fun at the show, man! Meshuggah kills live!
1. Chaosphere
2. Obzen
3. D.E.I.
4. Nothing
5. V.S.R.
6. Koloss
7. Immutable
8. I
9. Catch 33
10. None
11. C.C.
No bad releases. Tied with Slayer for best metal band of all time for me.
Nile, Dying Fetus or Cattle Decap would be sick for album rankings
Necrotic Nick- Well, Death Metal is on Miller and technically Jon this time so we'll see what they select.
1 Destroy Erase Improve
2 Chaosphere
3 Obzen
4 Koloss
5 Nothing
6 Catch Thirtythree
7 The Violent Sleep of Reason
8 Immutable
9 Contradictions Collapse
Necrotic Nick- We added the None and I EPs for this one too.
@@thrallsofmetal None EP #5
I EP #6
For me
9 - Contradictions Collapse
8 - Immutable
7 - Catch Thirty-Three
6 - The Violent Sleep of Reason
5 - Destroy Erase Improve
4 - Chaosphere
3 - Nothing
2 - Koloss
1 - obZen
8 through 4 are super hard to rank
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man. I always struggle around the middle portion of my rankings so I get it.
Shredlord is back?!
Necrotic Nick- Most certainly.
The OGs ✊
Necrotic Nick- Sweden's most distinguished "djent"lemen.
1. I
2. Nothing
3. Koloss
4. Obzen
5. DEI
6. None
7. Chaosphere
8. Immutable
9. Catch 33
10. VSOR
11. CC
Shout out to Rare Trax!
Thank you for finally doing Meshuggah! I didnt expect you to rank Catch33 rock bottom, agree to disagree!
Will there ever be a NIN ranking?
Necrotic Nick- Hey! Not a problem, man! Yeah, Catch33 didn't age that well for me honestly. I know Miller really wants to do that band so it'll probably happen in the future.
get in, have been so excited for this one - one of the most inventive bands ever
Necrotic Nick- I hope you dug the ranking, man!
@@thrallsofmetalalways man!
I’m so stoked. I will be wearing my catch 33 merch for the premiere, and a day before my birthday too!
Hope all is well with you guys! Keep up the great work!
1. Catch 33
2. Obzen
3. DEI
4. Nothing
5. Chaosphere
6. Koloss
7. VSoR
8. Immutable
Necrotic Nick- Well happy earlier birthday from the Thralls then, man! I hope you dig the ranking, bro!
Always do, mate! Thank you for the birthday wishes!
On immutable PHANTOMS is just a killer that last breakdown holy fuck it really shock me over
Necrotic Nick- It's a decent album but it just doesn't hit like the last few.
Sad to see the Catch33 ranking so low lol! It's my favorite Meshuggah album personally but I completely get it
Thralls of Metal!!! We're getting the band back together!!👍😁
Necrotic Nick- It was time for sure lol.
Man seeing those C33 rankings hurts
Entrapment is CRAZY groovy and that solo is just insanity
Minds Mirrors - ID-Is Life - ID- Is Death trio is absolute mastery, seen it live too!
Shed and Sum are great also
1. Destroy Erase Improve
2. Obzen
3. Chaosphere
4. I
5. Nothing
6. Koloss
7. The Violent Sleep of Reason
8. Catch 33
9. None
10. Immutable
11. Contradictions Collapse
Necrotic Nick- DEI is still amazing to this day.
Just albums wise, I’d go (even tho my ranking changes a lot, lol):
1. The Violent Sleep of Reason
2. ObZen
3. Koloss
4. Nothing
5. Chaosphere
6. Catch 33
7. Immutable
8. Destroy Erase Improve
9. Contradictions Collapse
Still love every album to death, and they don’t have a bad one imo. Surprised none of you guys brought up Dehumanization and the first few minutes of Sum (Catch 33). I personally think that’s one of their heaviest songs. That long Scream Jens pulls off is insane. It’s like over 30 seconds long
Necrotic Nick- Solid list, man. Admittedly most of my notes were my complaints about Catch 33 but it does have some cool moments. How it's tracked and set up is just annoying. I almost wish there were no track breaks at all honestly.
@@thrallsofmetal I personally think that album has some of their best break/groovedowns. The heavy moments hit hard
I don’t think you can miss with any of this band’s work except for Catch 33. I agree Obzen is objectively the best but I always loved that simplistic heaviness of Koloss more than most. It always feels like I woke up a massive lumbering beast when I hit play on that album
They do In Death Is Life - In Death Is Death live on occasion. That's really it from Catch 33.
Necrotic Nick- I've never heard them do that one live when I've seen them but I have heard Shed at least once live.
That was a blast. It hasn't helped though. I still don't know which Meshuggah album is my no.1. It could change on a daily basis. I don't own the first one, so that's at the bottom of the pile for me. Catch 33 I'd have up quite high, in my top 4, but uh... Dunno, it's tricky. Is Miller turning into Paul Rudd?
ALRIGHT THE GANG IS HERE
WERE JUST MISSING THE THE SMALL VIKING
Necrotic Nick- We're gonna see if we can get him. He's probably out pillaging again though.
First Meshuggah record I ever bought was theI EP. Love the extreme experimental approach to this day, which is why my favorite album is still Catch-33. And my two other go-tos are Chaosphere and Nothing. (I was introduced to this band, and thus extreme metal, by seeing them open for Tool back in 2002). As for the rest...if you like, you like. To this day, I can't understand the ObZen hype....just too mechanical for me. Regardless, been waiting for this ranking for a while, a great watch. Thralls rocks. \m/
And I didn't mean to 'shit on' ObZen completely...stand outs Bleed (Hey Nick...they retired it live cuz sadly Thomas himself says he just can't physically endure it anymore....the same reason they don't perform Chaosphere songs live, they've taken their toll on him), Lethargica, and Pravus kick ass.
Necrotic Nick- I got into them with DEI and Chaosphere after I too saw them open for Tool so those albums are still huge for me. Yeah, I still can't get into Catch 33 as much as the others. It has it's moments but I hate the seemingly random track breaks on the CD and while it's dark and heavy I feel like I can get that on a lot of Meshuggah's albums. Either way it was awesome to jam all these albums again and I'm glad you dug the video, man. It sucks they had to retire Bleed but I can understand the reasoning. It sucks getting old lol.
1. Obzen
2. Chaosphere
3. Nothing
4. Koloss
5. The Violent Sleep of Reason
6. I
7. Destroy Erase Improve
8. Catch Thirtythree
9. Immutable
10. None
11. Contradictions Collapse
It's hard to rank these great albums though, probably different day I would change the list somehow except number 1 and 2 which are just 2 fucking masterpieces for me. Also they play live songs from Catch Thirtythree, In Death - Is Life and In Death - Is Death and it's fucking amazing really.
Necrotic Nick- I agree. This was tougher than I thought it would be honestly. Revisiting albums I hadn't listened to in awhile really changed stuff. I've seen Meshuggah like 8 times and I think I heard them play Shed once. Outside of that I don't think they played anything else off of Catch 33 that I remember.
@@thrallsofmetal I think they added "In Death..." to the setlist on the Immutable tour this year. At least I 100% heard it live on March.
Re Nothing has a DVD that came with it and they play In Death is Death live
Fuckin A, Thralls do one of my fave bands' discography!!! Headphones ON time 🤘
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! I hope you dug the video!
@@thrallsofmetal I did and agreed on almost everything apart from Catch 33, which I jammed intensely when it came out back then. Used to play it to techno heads on LSD parties and some of them became metalheads shortly.
I'm shocked. I honestly didn't think you guys would FINALLY pull it off! LMAO 😂
Necrotic Nick- It took a lot of rescheduling but we got it done lol
Ivory Tower is oddly one of my fav Meshuggah tracks ever. Does it drag? Maybe they could have chopped 30 seconds off but that breakdown section.... my god! That song is so noisy that the stops in the rhythm guitar really help it to stand out when they get past the three minute mark. I think it's groovy though in terms of Meshuggah, maybe the timing is pretty simple.
Shame the rambunctious 23 year old Rin couldn’t be on the video. Probably off doing young people things. But seriously you guys killed it again with this ranking video. Definitely my favourite types of content
been waiting for this one, really tough choices, before watching heres my picks
11 - violent sleep of reason
10 - catch 33
9 - immutable
8 - koloss
7 - contradictions collapse
6 - none
5 - obzen
4 - nothing
3 - chaosphere
2 - destroy erase improve
1 - I
in my opinion the epic 21 minutes of I is the most accurate reflection of pure Meshuggah, everything you need to know is in there :-)
edit: i need to listen to violent sleep of reason again
Necrotic Nick- I is s damn good. I only wish that ambition translated over to Catch 33 a bit better. Yeah, I think Violent Sleep is a killer album but I can see where some people wouldn't like it as much. Still, never hurts to spin it again.
@@thrallsofmetal yeah I think I got violent sleep and immutable the wrong way around , theres no bad Meshuggah album is there 🙂
Yooo my favourite band, here's my personal ranking below:
11. Contradictions Collapse
10. I
9. The Violent Sleep of Reason
8. Koloss
7. None
6. Immutable
5. Destroy Erase Improve
4. Catch 33
3. Obzen
2. Chaosphere
1. Nothing
Necrotic Nick- Nice, man! Hope to see you tomorrow at the premiere if you can make it.
@@thrallsofmetal It's at midnight my time but I'll try :P
I prefer their older 7 string stuff now, and Nothing is prob my #1. By the way, you guys should do a Fear Factory ranking. Definitely deserves it imo 🤘🤘
Necrotic Nick- I tend to gravitate to the older stuff because that's where I got into them but generally if Meshuggah comes on at random I'm rarely if ever skipping it. I'd love to rank Fear Factory some time in the future for sure.
For glam metal, I'm hoping you do Dokken. Dokken is one of the best hair metal bands of all time! George Lynch is a guitar god. Kinda of like the Jeff Beck of hair metal. I'm hoping for black metal it's either Venom or Bathory. Those 2 have a lot of albums in their catalogue. Bathory stopped unfortunately due to Quorthon's death in 2004. Immortal would be interesting to see as well. For death metal, I would love to see Deicide, Obituary, or Vader. It John had technical death metal, I would love to see Dying Fetus or Cattle Decapitation.
Necrotic Nick- I can't say what will be on the other guys lists but mine should be up soon in terms of a poll to vote on.
First three albums are just great,
Contradictions Collapse has definitely Metallica touches :D in very good way
Destroy is definitely more meshu and Soul burn is their best catchy song :D
and Chaosphere, I agree with Shredlord best sound, performance and....
and rest is not far behind
Great review as always
one more: in my opinion Meshuggah do not have bad album
Necrotic Nick- Thanks, man! Yeah, I've been a fan of this band for years and all of their albums bring something to the table I enjoy even if I'm not as big a fan of them in comparison to other albums by them.
Miller should do obituary or deicide for the death metal ranking and deicide is one of millers favorites so
Terminal Illusions MV is like weird found footage😂but this is my first listen to Meshuggah...love it which I bought my first CD from Meshuggah🤘🤘🤘
Necrotic Nick- Hey! That's awesome, man!
11. None
10. Immutable
9. Obzen (bite me)
8. I
7. Catch 33
6. Contradictions collapse
5. Violent sleep of reason
4. Chaosphere
3. Koloss
2. Nothing
1. Destroy erase improve
Necrotic Nick- Man, you might get bit by some of these fans for having Obzen that low lol j/k. Good to see I'm not alone on Destroy Erase Improve.
Violent sleep of reason got me into them now my fav band
Necrotic Nick- They've been one of my favorite bands to see like since like 2001. They always bring it.
Djent is a odd subgenre of metal for me, while i appreciate the technicality and the skill of musicianship, especially rythmically and as being a guitarist myself, i find that alot of the time technicality can take a touch more focus than the songwriting coherancy, alot of the time it can like you say sound very challenging and to me that doesnt always line up with being a pleasurable listen, however i will say from all those bands, meshuggah and animal as leaders are the 2 bands there that when it does hit it hits pretty hard, but ultimately there both more bands i would listen to afew tracks here and there or have on a playlist. I've never really been blown away on a i cant stop listening to this album sense. The first meshuggah album i picked up was contradictions collapse and i'm a massive thrash fan so that was pretty cool but at the same time i dont think it really holds up against alot of the better thrash albums of the 80's and what i was listening too at the time so after a afew listens i was kinda done with it, still i respect the hell out of them as a band and as musicians even if its something i dont really gravitate too massively.
Necrotic Nick- I'd have to agree. Defining a subgenre on a particular riff style always seemed strange but the name just kinda stuck and it is kinda accurate. When someone says a band is a "djent band" I instantly know what they're talking about. The style is hit or miss with me but Meshuggah will always be a stand out namely because they created it and continued to evolve the style. Even amongst all the Meshuggah clones out there I still know when I'm jamming Meshuggah.
Amazing band I've been following since Destroy Erase Improve. Here is my rank (original albums only) with some not that short explanations :P :
Part I: Meh to Ok.
9. Catch 33: I'll say from the get go: this is a copycat of Nothing yet way less brilliant. Now, more than a single song this record only makes "sense" to me if I listen to the songs in batches of 3 (perhaps the album's name is not solely a spin on Catch 22 but a key to group all the stuff). And it makes a lot of sense: IMO there's a main common pattern from Autonomy Lost to Disenchantment and other from The Paradoxical Spiral to entrapment. Mind's Mirrors and both In Death parts is easily my favorite batch here (really trippy and features the only thing that doesn't sounds like a poor man's Nothing. Curiously enough, the last batch is of four songs but then again, it's really derivative. A fine way to promote Drum Kit From Hell, a great 3 song section and the rest, well... if you like it listen to Nothing. IMO is way, way better.
8. Contradictions Collapse: Well, I couldn't put it better than you guys. It's true that Frederik already does his jazz fusion leads yet the main mix here getting some Voivod, some And Justice For All, some Pantera (although this sounds way more with raspier chugs from Vulgar, which, to be fair, was only released one year after) and let it roll. Now this would be a greaaaaaaaaaaaat record for any other band. But I was introduced to Meshuggah with Destroy Erase Improve. And to be fair this is still a sketch of what was to be their signature sound (properly blueprinted in the aforementioned Destroy Erase Improve). Yet Paralyzing Ignorance, Abnegating Cecity and Internal Evidence are some great cuts. In the end, while contradictions Collapse is already a good record, it's basically a necessary passage, a means to build what would be the first truly "Meshuggah sounding" record.
7. Koloss: When Koloss came out, Meshuggah came to a stalemate for me. I mean, there are still things here I really dig like that eerie melody over the dragging monster that is Behind The Sun (great track), the refreshing upbeat rhythm and strum guitars on The Hurt That Finds You First, the crushing slow tempo claustrophobia of Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion or the cool somewhat Post Rock influenced closer. But when it comes to the remainder of the album it all sounds more of the same, like an Obzen pat 2 yet much less achieved (not in the volume that Catch 33 is to Nothing but still considerably derivative). It really didn't ring with me and disconnected me from the band somehow, to a point I've only listened to their following album during the pandemic.
6. Chaosphere: Another album that IMO is a less achieved version of its predecessor. Still, it features some great tracks: The Exquisite Machinery Of Torture is sick, Concatenation is pure Meshuggah overload and The Mouth Licking What You Bled is easily the best from the pack as far as I'm concerned: a total assault to the listener's senses. But then again, I really can't relate with the rest of the tunes (and some are fan favorites like Elastic, Sane or Cyanide Christ). Yet those three tracks are blistering stuff.
5. The Violent Sleep Of Reason: As I stated before I only managed to listen to this album several years after its release. And while once again the majority of stuff here has already been done, one thing caught my attention from the get go: this is easily Meshuggah's heaviest release. Man, these guys sound PISSED here! And it's dark as hell. Another cool reprise here is the return of dragged and pulverizing songs: By The Ton, Into Decay, Nostrum, Stifled or the title track reinforces my take that the slower their labyrinthine polyrhythmic beating is executed the more chaotic and impactful it gets to my years. And impressive too. Overall, this is a really good album, yet dense as black hole... too dense even to Meshuggah's brain melting standards.
The only one I'd really disagree with here is Chaosphere. For me this is where they found a formula for making their style just slightly more accessible without sacrificing their identity which is a slippery slope.
@@thrallsofmetal Yup, I must admit my comment on Chaosphere is a bit off. Yes, most of the base is the same of Destroy Erase Improve, but indeed there are some differences, one of them is their riffs became more... "organic" for lack of a better term. I also spot another added detail, yet I don't think they've become more accessible. Instead, there's an increase in saturation, density and... well... chaos. :P Nonetheless I think you're right: despite not being a major shift, Chaosphere was yet another necessary step in their career. Still not one of my favorites.
That being said I'm due to give my two cents on the remainder of the discography. And let me start by saying that, while presenting different nuances, these top four albums are basically a tied #1 for me. As far as I'm concerned, the difference in quality is so minimal that I must say I love all the same for different reasons.
1a. Destroy Erase Improve: My first contact with the band in 95 and to say this was a shock is an understatement. Future Breed Machine is IMO one of the best songs these guys have ever done (if not the best). Meshuggah still retain that more mechanized attack (still an atavism from their debut) yet the polyrhythms are way more complex, the leads are even more experimental, riffs lost thrash influences and the overall ambiance is much more unsteady, even uncomfortable at times. In other words, this is the record where Meshuggah started to sound like Meshuggah. And a good example is Beneath, something that seems so linear yet at the same time has this utterly off-putting ambiance. Another standout for me is Transfixion: both this tune and Terminal Illusions present the band's new brand in an up-tempo suit and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. Vanished is another excellent track, especially the passage from the staccato verses to the double kick part and the following sections are nuts... that ambiance Fred lends to more melodic pause, the cutting riffage that follows and the insane soloing action is a must. Acrid Placidity is a testimony to Fred and the awkwardly addictive ambiances this man can create. Speaking of ambiance, Sublevels is a superb closer: if it's true it lacks density and even some complexity, no one can deny its immersive nature complemented with bitter sweet experimental candies (mainly another excellent Thordendal solo). To sum it up, I believe this is one of the most original and revolutionary records of the 90's. Add that to the material's quality and it is only fair to state this is nothing short of a classic.
1b. Nothing: I must admit this one is that kind of record that for me was an acquired taste. Perhaps due to its slow tempos and low tunning I didn't buy it at all during the first spins. Until one day it got me and when Nothing gets you, it really sticks to your head. It's funny how some records can make us radically change our take on them and this is a fine example. I must admit I prefer the 8 string (the Nevborns!) and bass including remaster but to be fair the original version already sounded menacing and competent enough. Stengah gives the moto and man... that guitar tone is deeeeense... just like penicillin injected into one's eardrums. These are megalithic complex anthems that grind your brain at a really slow speed, as if it's the acute work of an acoustic sadist who enjoys the steamroll leveling his victims at one-meter per hour. And this is a common trait to almost every track here. Rational Gaze adds a truck full of groove to the whole thing and it sounds marvelous, yet my favorite cut from the album is Perpetual Black Second. Despite featuring a fair share of syncopations this monument's bounce is the acoustical equivalent to the fucking gravitational pull of a black hole. Other superb slo-mo mind fuckers I truly love here are Organic Shadows and the super heavy Nebulous yet I must single out the excellent buildup of Straws Pulled At Random: the way this track starts and how effortlessly it flows into the closing nerve wrecking melody is something only these guys could pull. The minimalist closer is also a great feature, marking the end of Nothing in a mysterious way only comparable in cinema to the monolith of 2001. I really love this record and I think that, along with Destroy Erase Improve, this was the most influential album the band has ever released.
1c. Obzen: You press play and the first thing you listen to is something that could be the first notes of a Tool song... WTF? Then the same riff quickly escalates into a non-streamlined thrashy up tempo groove. It's basically based upon open chords, yet its pace gives it a thrashy flavor that simply knocked me to the floor. And how about that variation starting at 2m25? The accentuation Thomas gives is so simple for the band's standards yet it produces a major f'd up effect. Monster of an opener! Skipping one track we reach Bleed and... Well, it's Bleed so I rest my case. Lethargica kicks down the door and I must underline how I love when the guys write super heavy and slow polyrhythm fuckery and how much more hallucinating it sounds than when they go some BPM's faster. Speaking of heavy, these dudes were really angry when they wrote the title track. The way the triplets of Thomas and Frederik meet for a portion of each bar on this trademark Meshuggah crusher pushes it forward like a lumbering million-ton monolith. Next standout IMO is Pravus, which kickstarts with a creepy like up-tempo unsettling guitar lead that gives the moto to the ensuing madness and dominating rhythmic pattern. And while this is a faster version of the band, I totally dig this song. To wrap things up on a huge note, Dancers To A Discordant System has a bit of the slow structures of Nothing, those hushed claustrophobic nuances similar to The Exquisite Machinery Of Torture, all peppered with one of the more experimental arrays of leads Frederik has ever composed. To sum things up: a state-of-the-art release that is revered worldwide and rightfully so.
1d. Immutable: When this album came out, I must admit I wasn't expecting much since Koloss was a real turn off when it comes to my Meshuggah fandom. Fortunately, I spotted the UA-cam video for Broken Cog. And all I can say is that I was truly impressed. There was this monstrously tense ambiance that transpired from each note. And what's more notable: this effect hit me in a level I Meshuggah never did before (and bear in mind... these guys made some great stuff in this department in the past). So, I went and listened to the remainder of the album and my jaw fell to the floor. Let's get one thing out of the way: this is one of the band's least complex albums (yet bearing enough complexity to not pale in comparison to its predecessors) yet, composition wise, it's masterful as ever (perhaps even more, but we'll get there). Then the guys open up the book: there are so many nuances and different approaches here that, IMO, this is by far their most diverse offering to date. The combination of both these traits leads to another aspect of Immutable: almost every single song here is easily memorable and unmistakable from each other. Finally, let me elaborate on the ambiance this bad boy wraps around us. Each time I listen to this I feel like I'm watching a psychological horror movie, I mean... There are parts so well designes that, despite already knowing what comes next, I always feel that "on the edge of my seat" knot on my guts. Broken Cog is indeed one of the best examples of this effect, a proper introduction to the bleak beast we're about to tackle. And if it's true it lacks a bit on the groove department, The Abysmal Eye is mainly focused on compensating this aspect and propelling the whole thing onwards while Light The Shortening Fuse lends another level of density and intensity. The next standout for me is Ligature Marks, and man the creepy guitar work of Fred on this one is nothing short of cinematic (as the majority of the album is). Speaking of which, my next highlight is They Move Below, a 9-minute plus masterpiece that once again could be featured in a score. Utter masterpiece! Black Cathedral is also an odd take: a 100% death metal (guitar only) track and works wonders as a weird interlude. I Am The Thirst dwells in similar ground to The Abysmal Eye and then a megaton stomping sinister groove filled behemoth kicks down the door in the form of The Faultless. The whole album closes softly in the mysterious epilogue that is Past Tense, reinforcing the sensorial and ambiance focused journey Immutable truly is. To sum things up, I believe Meshuggah sacrificed some of its "virtuoso" vein on this one and focused much more on building dynamic ambiances. If that's true, they achieved it fully. IMO this album is composition (borderline perfect, if you ask me) over execution, a fine balance that makes almost every note sound twice as intense despite less of them being played, and something most bands (even some big names) aren't able to achieve. I'd even say Immutable is my favorite album but I don't want to be a victim of recency biased and unfair to the other releases. One thing's certain: as of now it's my favorite and the one I listen to the most.