Meshuggah, May 8, 2012 @ Commodore Ballroom - Concert Review

A week ago I went to see Meshuggah play the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. I've been a fan of theirs for a few years now, but I'd never been to one of their shows.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Meshuggah, they are a Swedish heavy metal band. They've been around since the Late Eighties, but they didn't start to get big until about a decade later. Throughout their career, they've carved out a very unique sound and reputation. They are known as one of the heaviest bands in the world, but not in the sense that one might expect. Their sound would not be accurately described as "death metal." There are no blast beats, no growled vocals, and their lyrical content is not particularly preoccupied with death, though it is dark to be sure.

There are several elements of their music which really stand out and define Meshuggah's unique place in the world of metal. The best-known, most talked-about element is their polyrhythmic guitar riffs. They've said in interviews that they only ever play in 4-4 time, but the guitar parts are written in weird meters apart from the drum beat, lending the songs a highly complex rhythmic feel. What is really remarkable about this approach is that they do not let it hinder their musicality. Though it is challenging to listen to at first, the music grooves along very well, and once you listen to it for a while, you learn when to bang your head along to it. Generally, you just follow the crash cymbal.

Marten Hagstrom and Fredrik Thorendal, the two guitarists in the band, have chosen their guitars and amp setups for maximum efficiency and destructive power. They play custom Ibanez 8-string guitars, which are constructed more like short-scale (30.5") basses, Lundgren pickups, and Line 6 amps. The resulting sound is sharp, tight, percussive, and cold. It's machine-like, really. It's like a mechanical device designed to generate to most powerful metal guitar tone ever heard.

Jens Kidman's vocals are also quite different from the droves of growlers and screamers on the scene right now. Instead of a devilish, death-metal style, his vocals, like the guitars, sound almost mechanical. "Robotic" is a term I've heard used to describe it, which I think is accurate. He paces himself rhythmically, just like the rest of the band.