Reviews list for Fredrik Thordendal - Sol Niger Within (1997)

While djent band Meshuggah is cool and all, and they've got an excellent vibe and a knack for riffs, damn do they beat the same basic principle to DEATH DEATH DEATH.  I mean, these guys invented a genre, and their album Destroy Erase Improve covers a few different metal genres and it all feels like it belongs together.  So why the hell can't they ever expand their horizons?  Meshuggah has become a one trick pony because frontman Fredrik Thordendal found a "formula" that "works" for his niche fanbase.

This guy might not seem so creative at a first glance, but before Meshuggah stuck to that formula like a bad habit, Thordendal created one of the most experimental and innovative metal albums of the modern age.  And guess what?  It's DJENT.  It's one of the most angular and wacky albums out there, but everything is taken super seriously.  The album has crushing progressive riffs flowing naturally into the calmer cooler djent which ALSO flow naturally into crazy jazz and free improv.  By connecting the "like elements" of each genre, the three are piecing each other together flawlessly, and the result is an extremely trippy journey into the wild world of prog, crazy enough to rival King Crimson.  This is what djent is supposed to sound like, and it's a shame we may never see something like this from Fredrik Thordendal again, especially not from his formulaic metal band.