Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree (2005) Reviews
I came across this album in a music shop for £3 and decided to check it out. I'd heard a lot about Meshuggah and what people were calling their "math metal" (which I suppose has today been replaced with the term 'Djent'), and was intrigued. However, to be honest this is probably one of the worst albums I own.
Being a thrash metal fan during my teenage years, I thought I'd be able to tolerate the shouting vocals, which was originally my biggest concern, though it really doesn't matter. The album as a whole just doesn't work for me. The music all seems dull and boring, incredibly repetitive, and the constant guitar riffs playing over drums in different time signatures (I believe this is known as a 'polyrhythm'), may seem impressive musical capability, but ultimately lacks any actual musicality, providing nothing more than material for music theory enthusiasts to analyze.
Obviously there is a market for this kind of music, because Meshuggah seem to have garnered a pretty big, incredibly passionate fanbase. And whilst I'd normally be open to giving certain bands multiple chances, Meshuggah is a band I certainly won't be trying out again.
Well, here we go. Yet another exercise in influence vs. quality. The mighty Meshuggah apparently reinvented metal with this album by creating the subgenre "djent," which is an onomatopoeia for the guitar sound they were going for. They had been working on djent for a few albums, but this fifth album of theirs is the one that gets the ladies for being JUST THAT djenty. The genre is built on repeated angular riffs of a nature right in between avant-garde and prog. Now I wrote a glowing review for a djent album that appears on the same Metal Academy list challenge as this: Sol Niger Within, by the guitarist of Meshuggah, Fredrik Thordendal. That was a high creative peak for metal. This? Does is hold a candle? I've heard it a couple of times before, and it didn't. Will it hold now?
First lemme just say that I see ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to write multiple of the same 100-second song and stick them together in a way that acts like pieces of a puzzle such as other prog epics, because the idea of using the same riff for three songs at a time is definitely NOT prog. I compare this to the more diverse Destroy Erase Improve already and there was still more diversity and creativity, while maintaining the djent focus. I mean, don't get me wrong. A lot of the decisions they make are very cool here. For being such wacky alien rhythms, they do a bang up job at being just that with the right amount of personality to remain accessible. After five albums of this, I guess that's to be expected. But still, these guys are a djent band, which means they are a PROG band. I mean, if you're gonna have three 100-second songs and a 13-minute song that sound the same, then you're obviously just fucking around.
Well, this one was pretty cool and all and easy to return to for its powerful persona. But as fare as constructing an album goes, this was a bit of a bust for me. Since it's got its strengths, I'll give it the bare minimum rating for a good album and that's it.
This album stands in a fine line between love and hate, even for Meshuggah fans. Some Meshuggah fans praised the heavy groove textures, while longtime listeners did not approve of the album having less thrash and more jazzy elements. I'm one of the people who love this album, enough to be my favorite Meshuggah album, tied with Destroy Erase Improve. I think it might be in my top 10 best metal albums!
This is a concept album where all songs flow seamlessly together like an epic suite, similar to some Between the Buried and Me albums. A complete trek of a journey from start to finish, that you would want to do all over again. It's a djent journey not to be missed!
The beginning of the trek, "Autonomy Lost", along with later sections, are powered by almost the same riff as the album's prequel EP, I. Yes, I have listened to the I EP, and while I love that humongous suite as much as this album, I never really plan on reviewing it because I'm not gonna waste my reviewing energy on that one-song EP, even though a lot of people on the internet reviewed it, sorry. I don't have much to say about "Imprint of the Un-Saved" and "Disenchantment" except those two songs and the first one really should have been a full 5-minute song together instead of just 3 very short parts. "The Paradoxical Spiral" has a great part right after the vocals. "Re-inanimate" is a little different but definitely should've stayed together with the two tracks to form from a trio into a 7-minute song. The terrorizing guitar solo in that next track "Entrapment" is absolutely memorable, along with Jens Kidman's bellowing vocals and a masterful tremolo at the end.
"Mind Mirrors" is a whole different story for Meshuggah; a guitar string tuned to the lowest audible octave possible, drummer (or in this album, just vocalist due to the pointless drum programming) Tomas Haake's echoing robotic clean vocals, and soft ambient guitar, before the heavier guitars echo...then explode into the heavy groove onslaught of "In Death - Is Life", an ultimate concept of flowing dynamics in metal or any other music genre. "In Death - Is Death" should've fit together with "Is Life" as an over 15-minute epic, but never mind. At the 45-second mark is an eerie solo that's just out of this world. Then after two minutes after that starts is an echoing riff progression, then almost two minutes after THAT starts is a stunning technical break. Nearly the latter half is just filled with otherworldly background ambience.
"Shed" booms right back in the action but gets more eerie and melodic over the brutal groove. "Personae Non Gratae" is short but I'm sure you won't survive headbanging to such a chaotic track. Same thing with "Dehumanization" which is probably the most brutal part of this suite. Once again, those two songs should've really fit into an entire 12-minute epic along with "Sum" which really SUMS up a lot from this album in the former half of the song. Shortly after the one-minute mark, we hear probably the best riff ever created by Meshuggah and any other band, along with a long scream by Kidman. And finally, nothing but soft ambient guitar work throughout the latter half.
So let me tell you, this is definitely NOT a bad album. And if you think it is bad, which is justifiable I guess, that's probably because you haven't appreciate what the album is all about and you haven't fully grasp what is really the best music to ever flow into your ears. Lyrics, riffs, ambience, and seamless suite sections, all in this monstrous djent album. One word: brilliant!
Favorites: The whole album, or if you just want separate tracks - The Paradoxical Spiral, Entrapment, Mind’s Mirrors, In Death (both parts), Sum