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Personnel: Jens Kidman (vocals); Fredrik Thordendal, Mårten Hagström (guitar); Tomas Haake (drums).
Audio Mixer: Fredrik Thordendal.
Recording information: Fear And Loathing Studio, Stockholm, Sweden.
Photographer: Joachim Luetke.
Easily one of the most scarily gifted bands in metal, Sweden's precise, devastating Meshuggah has returned with another set of explorations into carefully controlled mayhem. OBZEN continues their seemingly robotic mastery of complex, polyrhythmic thrash so expertly delivered it's unthinkable that it came from mere humans. The album's monochromatic austerity casts Meshuggah's metallic adventures in grim, grey light, as unfeeling and chilly as a morgue drawer. It's a vision of jazz pushed to its mathematical extreme and ruthlessly robbed of its vibrant color. What's left is a steel-hard reduction of angles and equations, and oppressive epics such as "Electric Red" and the disorienting "Pravus" flay like spinning razors. OBZEN'S inevitable approach cannot be stopped, and the band's groove is locked in tight enough to provide a locomotion that moves mountains. If ever music was to be accurately described as "heavy metal", Meshuggah's is it.
On first listen, the sound on Obzen, Meshuggah's sixth full-length, is startling, not for its trademark rapid-fire key and tempo changes, or for the intricate, insanely knotty riffs that careened over 2002's Nothing or 2005's Catch Thirty-Three. Instead, it is the rampaging charge that leads off the set on "Combustion," a balls-out sprint that recalls the band's earlier catalog albums like Contradictions Collapse, Destroy Erase Improve, and even Chaosphere. Power, focus and attention to the bone-crushing power are at the center of Obzen. That said, it loses nothing in terms of the band's keen focus of musical or technical innovation or drummer Tomas Haake's songwriting. What it does leave behind is some of the mathy quick-change-for-the-sake-of-it annoyances that were more a show-off of athletic prowess than actual compositional tropes. The melodic orchestration of Catch Thirty-Three has all but disappeared, and in its place is a direct, almost machine-like sense of communication. What's most remarkable is the live drum kit work by Haake. He's constant and startling -- the completely crazy bass pedal work on "Bleed" would leave most drummers in the dust. You have to wonder, since the last album featured so many triggered laptop tooled drums. Again: power, compositional ethics, and musical acumen are all tied to one thing, building a foundation that just gets wider, deeper, and more intense as the album wears on. Check the frenetic slash and burn ethos in "Pineal Gland Optics," where both guitars stagger their rhythmic attack keeping vocalist Jens Kidman on the money the whole time. It gives way to the unwound pummeling drum and guitar solo riff that introduces "Pravus," with its sense of taut dynamics, hair-trigger tensions, and an explosiveness that is literally unequaled. This is sheer attack metal, played by a band that has run from simplicity to excess and incorporated them both into a record that is on a level with anything else they've done, even if not all the elements marry perfectly yet. Just get it. ~ Thom JurekRolling Stone (p.67) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Like any good thinking-man's metal band, Meshuggah have found a way to evolve and stay primal at the same time."
Alternative Press (p.138) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "They're still crisp and cold...it's still possible to hear a human heart beating within the steel."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.48) - "[A] stunning collection of intelligent metal that perfectly combines technicality with power and hits you in the gut with every track."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.61) - Ranked #16 in Kerrang's Best Albums Of The Year 2008 -- "[V]eering anywhere other than straight ahead, Meshuggah control the ingenious, lead-heavy riffs they wrap in eye-crossing rhythms..." Obzen Music Review Average Rating: (3.3 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Chaosphere 2?
While I really enjoyed Meshuggah ultra technical "Catch 33" and "I" I've missed the violent "thrash-esque" destructive power that they do oh so well. This album (if anything) sounds like the bridge between "nothing" and "chaosphere" meaning that while this album has unmatched insanity, it's probably some of the most complex and it depth stuff they ever written. It seems that finally Meshuggah have managed to create a somewhat subtle atmosphere amidst the chaos which really seems to help this album flow much better than anything else they've done as well. But all isn't calm and organized, not by a long shot; songs like "obZen", "Pineal Gland Optics" and "Lethargica" contain the most punishing and crushing riffs and also some of the most complex polyrhythm layouts I've ever heard, and not just from Meshuggah but from anyone. Here I am thinking bands like Crimson Thorn and Myrkskog write the most crushing stuff I've ever heard then comes in Meshuggah to show everyone up. Trust me, if you're a fan of older Meshuggah this album will bring a smile to your face, even fans of the newer stuff will have tons of stuff rack your brain in terms of sheer unmatched musicianship. Meshuggah is one of those band though that either you love or you hate, it's hard to be on the fence about what it is they do but to compare them to a band of absolutely no talent such as Disturbed is just offensive. Obviously "bruno" needs to stop huffing balloons full of fecal-matter and just end it. Seriously dude, because when you start putting bands like Disturbed in the same category of music as Meshuggah is obviously the perfect time to start swallowing broken glass. I'm surprised you didn't name drop Mudvayne or Korn while you were on your spree of supreme mediocrity. Meshuggah’s “Psykisk Testbild” is lightyears above anything Disturbed has and ever will do and it considered by most to be one of the worst “eps” ever recorded by the band. I’m sorry for you “Bruno” that the only cure for stupidity is AIDS, maybe in another life my friend.
Submitted by hammersmashedface3 (Las Vegas)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 4 of 4 found this helpful.
COmplex and Crushing
Another fantastic album from the kings of intelligent metal. Unlike other bands who are happy to tread the same old path (Disturbed et al.) Meshuggah prove that metal doesn't have to follow the common standard to be bone crushingly heavy. More tightly focused than 'Catch 33' and 'I' yet as flawless as 'Nothing' and with some of the earlier thrash elements of 'Destroy, Erase, Improve' this is their best effort yet. If you like it heavy and interesting check it out.
Submitted by Bomber13 (Aberdeen UK)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 3 of 3 found this helpful.  Oh yeah, you're right Bruno
Cuz Disturbed compares to Meshuggah.
You're dumb.
Anyway, I thought this record, at first listen, was the compression of everything Meshuggah has been trying to do for the past 3 releases (Nothing, I, Catch 33). To that extent I think it does that well. However, it does come off sounding very conventional - WHICH DOESN'T make it boring. That would be a very shallow conclusion. With every Meshuggah record, you have to listen several times before the tiniest nuances suddenly overtake your consciousness at awareness of them. This record is beginning to grow on me. I'm not going to say I wasn't dissappointed, especially after the very straightforward Combustion - but I think, musically speaking, that is the theme and the trick of this record. The guise of convention begins to fall off, and then, well, you're met with obZen.
All that said, it doesn't seem to bear the potential to beat out the ingenuity (for me) of Nothing and Catch 33. Nonetheless, it does capture the vibe of new era Meshuggah very well. However, the second half of the record does drag a bit until Pravus, and there are moments where Meshuggah seems to be sitting on its haunches rather than coming off as brutal. So therefore, I give it three stars.
Submitted by Dom (Queens, NY)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
 Vocals = ???
The vocals sound like a DOG IS BEING RAPED these days!
Music is credible but sounds like a band well past their use by date and their best. What a shame.
The true Meshuggah R.I.P.
Submitted by GalaxyCalledPhuck (URMUMZHOWSS)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
first reviewer has no idea what hes talking about
This album is amazing. Cant expect anything less from a band like Meshuggah. Although the Disturbed album will be quite good I'm sure, the band is nothing compared to the likes of these Swedish metal gods. The album is like some of their old stuff, which is great. I highly recommend this to any Meshuggah fan or any metalhead in general
Submitted by Jesus (Hell)
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