In 2017, Swedish progressive metal pioneers MESHUGGAH will be entering their 30th year of existence, defying expectations on record as to the limitations of metal, and then proving their virtuosic prowess by taking their cathedral-complex compositions to stages all over the world through the band’s legendary long tour cycles.

»The Violent Sleep Of Reason«, the band’s eighth full-length studio album, finds MESHUGGAH building upon their legacy for fearless metal sculpting within the context of extreme metal, but also recapturing some of the magic and excitement specifically within the aspect of performance, finding flow and groove that would be a challenge for any lesser band to locate, given such technical geometric madness at mischievous hand.

There’s a distinct methodology, says drum master, writer and spokesman for the band Tomas Haake, that was put into motion to help the band achieve the level of “swing” the attentive fan will feel as he makes his way through »The Violent Sleep Of Reason«.

“Basically, there are more natural sounds. On the last few albums, everything’s been kind of fixed and machine-like. For this one, it’s all live takes, something we haven’t done in many, many years. And that definitely goes against the stream of what you see in technical metal. So we went back towards a more old school approach, actually rehearsing and knowing the songs before we would record them. Because over the last few albums, we really didn’t know the songs well enough to play them as a band by the time we were recording them, because of time pressure, politics, income, finances, etc. For the last few albums, we’d record drums first, and then add guitar and everything and make it sound perfect, whereas this time we routined the songs well and were able to do all live takes. Jens was in one room, the guitarists were in one room, Dick was sitting right next to my drum set and he had an amplifier in the next room. So in that sense it’s old school; the methodology is similar to what metal bands were doing in the ‘80s and 90s. And that vibrancy comes out; it’s a very audible difference, sloppier if you will, but at the same time it brings an energy that I personally feel was lacking over the last few albums. They were too perfect - this is less perfect, but in that sense, more alive.”

The personal challenge taken on by the band produced fortunate byproducts as well, or, rather, it inspired them to “de-machine” other aspects of the technical MESHUGGAH juggernaut.

As a result, the band’s erudite and intelligent fan base “get something that they don’t really hear in any other bands. On the first album you still hear a lot of METALLICA and ANTHRAX and Bay Area kind of thrash metal influence. We knew that we sounded a bit like that, but we were aiming for something we hadn’t heard in any other band. And that’s still the main fuel. We’re not trying to write your average metal song. We’re not trying to write catchy songs. We’re not trying to write hit songs (laughs). We’re just trying to write something that is cool, that we haven’t heard before, and hopefully our fans haven’t heard before. And that gets harder and harder, because by now, there are so many fucking awesome musicians and so much great music out there. But it would seem like the followers that we do have, the people that have kept buying our albums and stayed with us for a lot of years, are not typical metal fans. The crowd we have is diverse. We have a lot of geeks and nerds and weirdos, and they are beautiful ones, you know? We have a lot of people with talent, and a lot of people that are interested in music as art, and not just an event.”

But it’s not lost on Tomas that MESHUGGAH is making daunting progressive music, music where melody is subservient to jackhammer rhythm, as evidenced by the way that even his lead singer, Jens Kidman, is situated within the maelstrom that is MESHUGGAH...

“Like all of us, he’s a tool,” reflects Haake. “He’s the perfect tool for the job. We really all like music where you sing, you know, where there’s singing, and we all love singers. Personally, I think the voice is the most empathic instrument in the world. You hear some people sing and you’re like, oh my God, that’s the coolest instrument in the world to me. But at the same time, what we’re trying to do is not that. Just like the guitars and me as a drummer, he’s a rhythmic tool that also adds aggression, if you will. We’re not aiming for vocals that are trying to really enhance the song or create a certain vibe. Jens has got - as I do as a drummer - he’s got an on-off switch. I mean, people think that I can play jazz, but I can’t play jazz! - I can do this! I can play MESHUGGAH. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. And the same thing for him. He has an on-and-off switch and that’s what he does. He can’t sing like, ‘Oh, hey baby’ - he roars. Or he’s silent, you know? (laughs). So, he’s just like the rest of us; we’re not after much dynamic - it’s just basically on or off.”

So would Tomas then acquiesce to the idea of MESHUGGAH as metal’s reigning enemies of melody?

“In a sense, yeah. I mean, there is definitely melody and melodic thought put into tonalities and things like that, but at the same time, we’re not going for anything pretty. Not really. Sometimes there’s a little bit, where we go, ‘Oh, that’s beautiful,’ but then we just fuck it up again. You give it a little bit of something sometimes, but basically we’re not going for niceness (laughs).”

Produced by MESHUGGAH; engineered by Tue Madsen, Puk Studios, Kaerby, Denmark.


TRACKLIST CD/ DIGI:

01. Clockworks
02. Born In Dissonance
03. MonstroCity
04. By The Ton
05. Violent Sleep Of Reason
06. Ivory Tower
07. Stifled
08. Nostrum
09. Our Rage Won’t Die
10. Into Decay

LINE-UP:

Jens Kidman I vocals
Mårten Hagström | guitars
Dick Lövgren | bass
Fredrik Thordendal I guitars
Tomas Haake | drums