Meshuggah - immutable.
This is the black magic we yearn for in a Meshuggah record, an ace up the sleeve calling card that we love to see...
It’s been a lonely six years since Meshuggah’s widely loved release ‘The Violent Sleep of Reason’ but good lord! They are back in our lives with force with their ninth studio album, ‘Immutable’. A stoic title that’s a sure nod to their near 30 yr history of unwavering sonic domination. As self-confessed fan boys with a ‘Catch Thirty Three’ back patch, VSOR tour shirts and ‘Chaosphere’ vinyl credentials to prove it, it’s hard not to approach this offering with expectations set high, throwing up the horns with our index and pinky fingers tightly crossed.
‘Immutable’ is Meshuggah’s longest album since 2005’s ‘Catch Thirty Three’ with 13 tracks stomping past the hour mark. It opens up with their old man strength on full display, kicking down the door with ‘Broken Cog’. Eight string sledgehammers and Tomas Haake’s pounding drum work negate any niceties and produce a brutal welcome akin to a viking longship landing in your designated parking space. Jens’ signature paranoia-inducing head voice creeps out from the darkness only to lead us to the real party, a true Meshuggah layer cake of hypnotic, mechanical heaven that carries us to the song's finale. Well, that was a hell of a start!
‘Immutable’ is its own beast with a more measured and driving, steady pace. The production and instrumentation are meaty…colossal in fact and Jens might be the most consistent frontman in all of metal, his coiled steel vocal chords granting him the same unrelenting tonal ferocity that he had 30 yrs ago. We can also confirm that they still hold up live too. Impressive is an understatement!
‘Immutable’s’ highlight tracks are credited to Tomas and unsung hero, bassist Dick Lövgren with guitarist Marten holding down the fort with more textbook Meshuggah stylings contained in tracks such as ‘I Am That Thirst’. Instrumental tracks such ‘Black Cathedral’ aren't quite the teeth rattling eargasm that the band have described aiming for but serve as a thick, brooding palette cleanser for the oncoming onslaught.
Album standouts for us are plentiful with tracks such as ‘Kaleidoscope’, ‘Armies Of The Preposterous’ and ‘Phantom’ dialling up the speed and intensity, channelled by the inner demons that originally brought them to the dance. These monster tracks make it hard to find ‘beat 1’ in the collection of off-kilter riffage that simultaneously have you nodding your head in bliss while squinting at the ceiling trying to find your place amongst the slippery time signatures. And this is no bad thing by the way, oh no! This is the black magic we yearn for in a Meshuggah record, an ace up the sleeve calling card that we love to see, rewiring our synapses and reminding us that Meshuggah’s genius can never be predicted.
This may not be our favourite Meshuggah album to date, only falling short of the bar that they alone have set so high, yet we still love it. What a treat it is to still be getting new Meshuggah albums to be crushed by. We love them for still experimenting, adapting, evolving and keeping us guessing all these years later. Whether you’re a ‘Destroy Erase Improve’ purist or a ‘Koloss’ convert, you can't go wrong with this record and you’d be a dummy to pass it by. Do yourselves a favour, bend the knee, give in to the domination and enjoy.
