Meshuggah

Obzen (Nuclear Blast)
by Scott Hefflon

If you don’t have a few Meshuggah CDs in your collection, you should stop reading, go buy/download some, and then consider yourself worthy of another breath. Cuz really, not knowing that Meshuggah is one of the best metal bands of the last couple decades is embarrassing, so get with it. That said, I enjoy listening to many bands more than Meshuggah, because Meshuggah are usually a difficult band to grasp. They’re great musicians and have grooves and riffs like Pantera gone haywire, but they’re often so, well, prog, that you can’t headbang to them without second-guessing their next slippery off-time transition, and now you’re banging to the anti-beat, konking heads with the diehards in front and behind you who knew the score, and you’re uncool, dick. And walking down the street, rockin’ out to Meshuggah on your iPod? Shit, how many times do you need to reevaluate your step to match the beat?

Not an easy listen, is what I mean. Rush prog + non-duh extreme metal = Meshuggah.
(www.nuclearblastusa.com)