Meshuggah - I (2004) Reviews
Of all the trends that have come out of the ever expanding world of progressive metal, the one that I can't fully come to grasp with is djent. Djent is a genre that can always feel so lazy and devoid of any character and whose only unique trait is the technicality of the song structures, and everyone playing the same part in unison with one another. I have always seen djent as a progression of the very groove laden moments of metalcore.
And with that, we need to talk about Meshuggah and how I have never been their biggest fan. The technical proficiency in the songwriting and performances does not hide the fact that their music is incredibly empty. Which leads us into this EP (perhaps a single) I, a twenty-one minute "epic" that doesn't live up to the expectations that such a word would invoke. Simply put, this feels like a collection of ideas from the chopping board that have been placed together with no attention to how they work; implying no transitions or any sense of greater connectivity.
The first ten minutes of the song call upon those groove heavy elements of metalcore/djent and does nothing with them; their is no melodic flare, no sense of direction, and no inter-connectivity. It makes the first half of this song a chore to get through with nothing to grasp onto. When a solid groove comes in at the 10:30 mark, the song picks up some momentum. Not much, but it's a start! The addition of tremolo "melody" at 11:30 is pretty, but it is never elaborated on further. Instead, we get another technical chugg-chugg-chugg riff at 12:00. I will say though, the track ends very solidly from around 14:40, when we actually get a musical idea, that is elaborated on, expanded and given some girth as the group builds up towards the 17:00 mark, where the melodic phrase is distorted carefully into a heavy, and groovy conclusion.
Meshuggah have always had issues from a production standpoint as well. This is loud and ferocious at times, most notably at 1:30 when the mixing is blown out by Jens Kindman's vocals, not helped at all by open, palm-muted guitar chugging, and Tomas Haake relentlessly attacking his cymbals and bass drum. Outside of this hellish soundscape, the rest of the song does get better, but is still held back by the clipping percussion, mostly in the bass drum, one general problem that almost all djent artists deal with because of the genre's very percussive nature.
As a whole album, I by Meshuggah is not revolutionary. In fact, it further encapsulates everything I despise about modern progressive metal: songs that are way too long that are not deserving of it, heavy percussion built sound, and lacking in any hooks, melodies or phrases to latch onto. It also explains many of my general complaints with djent as a genre and why I may never truly become a fan. Meshuggah will always have an audience for their pure, unrelenting heaviness and dank grooves, but lack any substance outside of that to make them household names in the heavy metal community.
I wasn't originally thinking of reviewing this album because it's just a one-song 21-minute EP, but well, here I am. Time to take a break from my official/unofficial challenge journey for this featured release!
There are a few bands that have the idea of a making a single long song throughout an entire album thinking it would be a great as a Great American/European Novel. On the one hand, there's the fear of getting a crawling try of patience that would be much better lasting just 5 minutes instead of 50. On the other hand, a group can have so many ideas that can turn a single-song album in an ultimate masterpiece. The latter example is used in this release. This is I!
I begins with downtuned guitar that has almost the same tuning as the standard bass guitar, playing one note in constant drum marching. Not repetitive at all! The strange time-changing rhythm would get you pumped up and hanging onto your seat for the oncoming storm. Then after one and a half minutes, Jens Kidman unleashes a 20-second tortured scream. Then the song continues with heavy riffs and percussion, and vicious growls. Fredrik Thordendal does his first solo in the EP that's nicely dramatic. After those first hypnotizing 3 and a half minutes, there's a crushing breakdown with guitars and drums over shattered time signatures, followed by more of those vicious growls. At the 5:40 mark, Thordendal unleashes a chaotic solo assault with incessant notes flying everywhere alongside the inhuman rampage of accuracy from drummer Tomas Haake. There's some disturbing reverb of odd notes that abruptly transition from the chaos to a massive soft soundscape the back to the chaos again. The riffing that comes shortly after the 10 and a half minute mark is so f***ing heavy which is probably the only moment where you can properly headbang without getting lost in confusion. Then there's a strange section at the 12-minute point where Kidman starts whispering diabolically, followed by a guitar solo that sounds like a beehive orchestra. Eventually after another soft break of dark arpeggios, at the 17-minute point, we head into the twisted guitars and drums of Nothing, all in standard djent rhythm before closing with lengthy stretched feedback. Holy mammoth, this track is an unstoppable monolith!
"I" is a tremendous metal achievement for Meshuggah. It's a really long song that helped popularize djent. Almost none of the heavier extreme metal albums out there can beat the cerebral nature of this music. The perfect apocalyptic destruction would continue the EP's logical sequel Catch Thirtythree. Anyway, enjoy the masterpiece that is I!
Favorites: "I" (of course!)