The Apparatus

 

 

It’s been a few years since we had a Meshuggah record. ‘Catch Thirty-Thr33’ admittedly started as an experimental EP before extra parts were added to make it into a full-length. Some fans cried foul, but the band delivered, as always. 2008 will undoubtedly be a great year for technical and progressive music, as ‘obZen’ comes out this Spring. Drummer Tomas Haake has most quotably stated, "We've got some fast, intense songs and hectic, heavy stuff that draws from all the things we've done in the past." The band’s previous record, ‘Catch Thirty-Thr33,’ featured programmed drums sampled from Haake’s own kit. For ‘obZen,’ Haake has returned to be fully involved with the percussion department. "It's so great to actually be playing drums again," he commented to Revolver Magazine.

A crude, radio-ripped version of their track “Bleed” was leaked earlier in January, and Meshuggah fans were hard-pressed not to like it. It indeed draws from the band’s earlier sounds, most notably from ‘Chaosphere’ and ‘Nothing,’ and has the trademark Meshuggah-isms. The 7:24 song is epic, devastating, technical, and is overall refreshing. Gone is the sludgy, dissonant nature of records past. Meshuggah has gone back to the pummeling, devastating, technical metal that some thought they left behind.

 

The album clocks in at 52:39 and features nine tracks:

01. Combustion
02. Electric Red
03. Bleed
04. Lethargica
05. obZen
06. This Spiteful Snake
07. Pineal Gland Optics
08. Pravus
09. Dancers To A Discordant System

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