MESHUGGAH — Chaosphere (review)

MESHUGGAH — Chaosphere album cover Album · 1998 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
bartosso
Organized Chaos

As far as I know "meshuggah" [written: מטורף] - taken form Hebrew - means "lunatic". Well, that's definitely a name reflecting the kind of music the band is playing. They are just sick. And I admit that I love it! Hailing from Sweden, Meshuggah is a band that used to play thrash metal but with this release they presented music so heavy and disturbing, that sometimes I wonder if listening to it is good for my mental health. CHAOSPHERE was a turning point in their career, the album which introduced the era of glory and acclaim in the world of experimental metal.

Someone said that these guys are from another planet. The music they play is totally disharmonic and arrhythmic at first glance which is, of course, just a false impression. The rhythms they create seem to be impossible to repeat, that's true, but it's all because of strange accenting and polyrhythms. The music itself is massively heavy and discordant, but discordant in a very specific way, which led to extremely ominous and otherworldly atmosphere. I always have a strange feeling of being in a kind of deadly place where nothing can live - could it be void or black hole. Except for one song I don't think so highly of (namely Sane which is composed in a bit... ordinary way?), this is a collection of completely sick pieces, built upon uncompromising concept of sonic destruction, devoid of aggresion yet extremely brutal in a way. But it is not brutality which makes me crazy about it. It is freshness, genuine passion and complete lack of concern about trends in music.

CHAOSPHERE is one of the best Meshuggah' albums (but I still prefer Catch 33). It represents their heaviest side, most inhuman and powerful. Atmosphere is terrific, created by two guitars, "scroareams" of the vocalist and incredible drumming it completely overhelms the listener and sends him/her to another dimension. In fact, to hell.

TRACKS BY RATINGS: 9/10[fantastic!]: Concatenation ; New Millennium Cyanide Christ; The Mouth Licking What You've Bled || 8/10[great]: Neurotica; Corridor of Chameleons; The Exquisite Machinery of Torture; Elastic || 5/10[not bad]: Sane || OVERALL = 80/100
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