hat mighty crushing sound you hear is the sound of Meshuggah mowing over the competition. Since 1990 these Swedish gods of
thunder have conquered new territory and left others behind rubbing their eyes in bewilderment. Tuned down to B flat, using
polyrhythms, off-time phrases that turn on a dime, overdriving the bass through guitar amps, with parts played so tight you'd think
aggro with a capital A. Recorded on four Alesis ADATS over a seven week period last year in Uppsala, Sweden, Chaosphere is a metal
masterpiece. Every once in a while a band brings heavy metal, which is essentially a conformist genre, to new heights of creativity and
execution and initiates a new era. Meshuggah's wham-bam US barnstormer last summer (precipitated by the Milwaukee Metal-Fest)
was a turning point for the band, and very likely a major milestone in metal. Now that they and their record company have realized how
rabidly devoted their fans are in the States, Meshuggah will be coming back this Spring for an extended North American tour with
Brooklyn's Candiria. This tour should set the stage for Meshuggah finally getting the big-time attention and respect they deserve.
Drummer Tomas Haake, who writes much of Meshuggah's material including most of the lyrics, and is also the band's in-house
graphic designer, does most of the talking for the band. Thrasher got the scoop at two of last summer's four shows.
MESHUGGAH
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by Morgan Walker
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Have you been surprised at the reaction you've
been getting in the States?
never
Tomas: Yeah, it's been amazing. It's our
first time here, and we haven't played
live for quite some time--14 months,
actually. We expected this great
response. People seem to be more open
to us here. In Europe, maybe two shows
in ten are this exciting. We were going to
cancel these dates because we were in
the middle of recording vocals for
Chaosphere, but we decided, "What the
heck, let's do it." Now I don't want to
leave. I don't want to go home!
Was it inspiring for you to see what the new
bands in America are doing?
T: Yeah, definitely. We were blown away
by both The Dillinger Escape Plan and
Candiria when we played with them in
New York City the other night. Dillinger is
just nuts! And Candiria, people have been
telling us about them for months; they are
incredible musicians and have a special
mix of styles.
What was your approach to the new album?
T: Unlike the other albums, this one was
put together as a whole, over a four
month period, and it was more methodi-
cal. When we were writing, Marten
(Hagstrom, guitarist) and Fredrik
(Thorendal, guitarist) would get up at 8 in
the morning like it was a regular daytime
job. They'd meet up at around 5 in the
afternoon to combine together what
they'd been working on, then I'd come in
around 8 or 9 at night and start working
on lyrics (with Jens Kidman, vocalist).
Recording, we spent four days just getting
the drum sounds right; we spent over a
week on guitars. Overall we took a lot of
time getting exactly what we wanted. This
album is more aggressive; there are more
vocals and less dynamics than our other
records and it pushes harder.
We also spoke briefly with the newest member of
Meshuggah, bassplayer Gustaf Hielm, who, although standing
in regularly for three years, did not record with the band till
Chaosphere.
Are you having fun?
Gustaf: Yeah, this has been great. We never
expected America to have such great fans. In
Sweden the crowds are good but they don't seem
too eager to visit concerts. People here are more
eager to
to go see a good kick-ass band.
Is Meshuggah's music difficult to play?
G: It's not that hard-when you get past the time-sig-
nature changes. When you kind of understand the
polyrhythmic idea, everything falls into place and you
can focus on the actual riff, the actual groove...to feel
the song instead of trying to figure it out all the time and
counting. It's more of a feel thing, more a groove thing.
It's rock 'n' roll.
G: Yeah, exactly. It's not the Dream Theatre with all
these complex figures all the time. It's straight
from...the penis.
96 THRASHER
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