Reviews list for Meshuggah - Nothing (2002)

Mind-numbing. No, I don’t mean in a good way. I mean, by the end of the first track, I had taken just about all I could take of one-note soulless polyrhythmic chugging, and then preceded to suffer through 9 more tracks of the exact same thing with no variation. So repetitive is this album that when the atonal guitar noodling that would be terrible in any other context came up in track 3, I was actually excited because it was SOMETHING different. The little atmospheric reprieve near the end of the 4th track wasn’t anything special, but it was such a welcome break from the mechanical assault that my brain was tricked into enjoying it.

I actually like the guy’s harsh vocal sound, but the issue is… again… there’s absolutely no variation. It sounds like he’s trying as hard as possible to maintain one single tone, one note, one delivery… yeah, it certainly fits the music, and I get that’s what they’re going for. But just as with the rest of the music, I was sick of it after one track. Nine more aren’t going to convince me (or 8 since the last track is an instrumental).

Maybe there’s some grand meaning in those lyrics somewhere. I have no idea. This are some of the most pretentious, abstract lyricism since Tool. “Organic Shadows” has some neat lyrics about becoming mechanical, but most this is ‘I’m too smart for you’ cryptic existentialism.

“Spasm” is the most unique sounding song, and by default the best. It’s the only song to feature a different vocal approach, as well as *gasp* lead guitar work. Yeah, when you add guitar leads that actually hit notes and craft melodies over top the mechanical polyrhythmic chugging, said chugging actually becomes listenable. When used as a backdrop for other music, Djenty chugging is fine. The issue with Meshuggah is they make the Djenty chugging the focus – in fact, it’s usually the ONLY thing going on in most of the songs.

To say something respectful, they WERE doing something different and unique, that is undeniable. But I think giving something credit for being unique is overrated. The only thing that matters to me is if music sounds good – this is a hard pass.

This is it. This is definitely the album that has spawned one of the deepest, heaviest genres known to mankind...DJENT! Slower tempos and heavier groove than the band's previous thrash metal albums, with occasional jazz-infused moments, and more importantly, downtuned 7-string guitars (though 8-string guitars would not be used until the album's 2006 re-recording). Nothing is an album that really turned Meshuggah from NOTHING into SOMETHING!

Before I started listening to this band, I never realized how heavy, brutal, and overall good they are. This album, Nothing, will surely show you what I mean. Well the repetition is a little unnecessary, but the album is still cool nonetheless.

Jumping into the action straight away is the opening track "Stengah", a sick brutal song that can sting your eardrums harder and more pleasantly than a hundred wasps with the downtuned jarring staccato guitars locked in by the tight drums. Then the vocals come in a big round of hardcore shouting. That's rather excellent! "Rational Gaze" is another killer song with a paradoxical lyrical theme. "Perpetual Black Second" is just amazing and a potential staple to the band's live set, with some of the heaviest riffs any band could create, bringing the odd time signatures to a new peak for the band.

Rising from staccato power chords, a new uncommon style of riffing really reminisces many bass techniques, evident on "Closed Eyed Visuals". Same with "Glints Collide", with that type of riffing at its clearest, sounding almost as if the album was entirely recorded with bass guitars, while the guitars stay notable with its super heavy crushing tone. The solo really sounds alien-like, bringing a twisted form of jazz fusion. "Organic Shadows" is once again chaotic, but it doesn't have a lot of sense in instrumentation. As technical as the band usually gets, the habit of repeating chords at that point is...well, repetitive. The vocals are still fine there but sound a little constipated. The opening riff of "Straws Pulled at Random" is really thrashy hardcore-sounding similar to The Dillinger Escape Plan, and I love that!

Drummer Tomas Haake's clean robotic vocals in "Spasm" sound bizarre yet still cool. Haake's robotic vocals return in a small narration in "Nebulous". The only big difference for this song in the 2006 version is, it's slightly slower. "Obsidian" has a cool clean opening, before crashing into a small simple riff repeated so many times. The 2006 version is twice as long as the original version, extending both the front and back. Instead of fading out at 4:20, it goes on until 8:35 and ends abruptly.

In conclusion, it's not easy comparing this album to later Meshuggah albums, nor would it be easy to listen to entirely with a couple songs being a little repetitive. But after a few listens, then you would know that the band discovered a new gem that is djent. Even when not needed, you should buy this album. This is the beginning of djent!

Favorites: Rational Gaze, Perpetual Black Second, Closed Eye Visuals, Straws Pulled at Random, Spasm