Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complex, out of sync, mind shatteringly technical...., 7 Mar 2008
Unlike previous reviewers, I do not possess sufficient technical music knowledge to dazzle you with science, so here is my purely subjective experience:
First off if you're not familiar with Meshuggah check out some samples...they're not for the faint hearted. Meshuggah defy categorisation they are totally unique and don't fit into any particular genre comfortably...
As with every Meshuggah album Obzen is incredibly precise and structured and yet chaotic and multifaceted at the same time! In parts the instruments are out of synch with one another(polyrhythmic) and this feels like my mind is being pulled in eight different directions simultaneously!
Tempos vary from break neck speed to slow melodic passages that are laden with a sinister menacing undertone. Vocals are the same as all previous albums, somewhere between a death metal growl and hardcore shout, they're very sharp and laced with vitriol and spite.
Personally, I feel Obzen is more aggressive and energetic than Catch 33 but falls short of Chaosphere. Nonetheless it is a very intense album that demands a lot of energy and focus to fully appreciate.
Overall, as a Meshuggah fan I very much like the album, and recommend to other Meshuggah fans and those who want a unique metal experience to fragment and shatter their sanity!
Words elude me to adequately describe the off kilter, ultra precise madness that is Meshuggah's latest offering Obzen...
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meshuggah Tasting Course, 11 April 2008
Meshuggah have come a long way. From humble metal roots they have progressed through a miriad of sounds and styles, all the time pushing the borderline of metal, and becoming the most innovative and original band in the genre. So here is their sixth LP "Obzen" - a grand concept album on man's struggle in the modern day world of supposed religious and spiritual wellbeing (hence fusing the words obscene and zen). It's importantly the end of an experimental stage that produced the daring one-song-epics "I" and "Catch Thirty Three". According to the band themselves "Obzen" is their attempt to draw together their sound and various styles from past albums in order to create a balanced and eclectic new direction. This is certainly the case, as "Obzen" effortlessly merges the brutal thrash of "Destroy Erase Improve", the visceral riff-orientated "Chaosphere" and later downtempo grooves of "Nothing" and "Catch Thirty Three". It also sees drummer Tomas Haake back on the kit after his "drumkit from hell" programming on "Catch 33" and the "Nothing" re-release.
I've read reviews arguing "Obzen" is simply a re-run of "Chaosphere", or that it owes most heavily to that album. I have to disagree with this, as I feel "Obzen" borrows equally from past releases. For one thing there's a deal more melody to the riffs here. Take for example the opening two riffs of "Combustion", the lead being extremely melodic for Meshuggah, sounding more similar to Tool at their heaviest. Compare this to the utter abrasive opening riff to "Concatenation" that lacks any hint of melody. "Bleed" and the title track would be the most "Chaosphere" sounding tracks for me, with the later fashioning the kind of riff breakdown that sprawled throughout "Chaosphere".
"Obzen" is noticeably faster as a whole when compared to recent albums, being more on par with the energetic thrash of "Destroy Erase Improve". Moments of punishing speed are employed through most of the tracks, such as "Pineal Gland Optics" which opens with a flurry of intense drumming and machine-gun riffing. Vocals wise I would also draw parallels to "DEI" over other albums. They are slightly more forward in the mix when compared to "Nothing" or "Catch Thirty Three", and with these albums they are used more as rhythmic accents, often sacrificed for instrumental grooves. Like "DEI" the vocal sections are more extended, possibly as there are more lyrics per song.
Where "Obzen" sounds best is when Meshuggah play with dynamics. Thordendal has always enjoyed his eerie atmospheric sections, but they have never sounded so perfectly quiet and brooding as here. "Lethargica" is downtempo Meshuggah at their most lethal, instantly recalling the best of "Nothing", it cuts to a sublime ambient breakdown that gives way to an absolute monolith of a riff. One of the heaviest breakdowns Meshuggah has ever carved out, and a highlight to the album. The epic closer "Dancers to a Discordant System" is my favorite track on "Obzen", opening with quiet guitar ambience it builds to a progressive metal run-through of all stages in Meshuggah's career. The song has it all - eerie atmospheres, pummeling thrash, breakdowns and a face-melting final riff that lumbers with immense groove. Utter perfection for the Meshuggah fan.
It was a risk to attempt an album that can capture all various sounds and styles, but I feel "Obzen" does it with sophistication. The album never sounds jumbled or confused despite switching through such extreme dynamics and tempos. Meshuggah fans should certainly enjoy this, and those new to the band will get a concise taste of what Meshuggah is about.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ob-Nice, 3 April 2008
New album... back to their roots... fusing most previous styles... etc etc. Musically, this is definitely Meshuggah's most varied album, and for that it should mostly be liked by all Meshuggah fans. It features some of their most intense and some of their most lethargic material. Listening to some of these tracks, I am getting the same feeling I got from first listening to metal - never before have I heard anything quite like some of the things I witness here; never have Meshuggah been so damn amazing.
For starters, the production is obScene, the best they've had. I always felt that the production of the drum-machine releases suffered by feeling slightly artificial, but that has been nicely corrected. The refusal to obEy normal timings is present as usual, every I drank a shot every time I got blissfully confused whilst listening to the polyrhythms here, I would now be incredibly obEse. On top of this, all of the members give their best performance to date, thanks to the varied nature of the songs. The atmosphere is not quite as intense and claustrophobic as Catch33, (which many will see as a good thing), but for me this is a step backwards - perhaps one necessary to move forwards in the future).
"Bleed" is my standout track, I have never heard such an incredible all round performance. This is the single track from the album, for obVious reasons. "Dancers to a Discordant System" is the obLigatory long track that Meshuggah have grown to love doing, but this one is far more consistent than "In Death - Is Death", and more down-to-earth than "I". There are a few moments of not-so-much-filler-but-slightly-boring parts on the album, such as the Fear Factory-esque intro to ObZen, or most of "This Spiteful Snake" - a track which sounds like it was taken from possible extra tracks for Nothing. However, these few sections are easily covered up by the brilliance of everything else.
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