Swedish metal legends Meshuggah are returning to North America next month for a headlining tour with special guests Cannibal Corpse and Carcass. With such an incredible lineup, this is a trek you won’t want to miss. The tour kicks off on March 28 in Quebec City, QC, and runs through April 24. For a full list of tour dates, check out this location. As the tour approaches, Metal Insider will celebrate Meshuggah’s masterful catalog by featuring various artists sharing their five favorite Meshuggah tracks. Each week leading up to the tour, a different artist will reveal their top picks. Our next guest column is Chris Pacey of Lutharo sharing his favorite Meshuggah songs.
No matter what was going on in the metal scene, Meshuggah were always doing their own thing, in a way that no one had done before them. I would buy every album on release day, knowing that the first few listens would be hard to wrap my head around, but trusting that it would all click eventually. Nobody comes close to the complexity and heaviness of this band. They evolved rapidly from their thrashier albums, to their more relentless polyrhythmic albums, to their later groovier albums.
Here are some of my favourite tracks :
Humiliative (None EP, 1994)
Humiliative was so incredibly ahead of its time. Nothing else sounded like this. You can still hear a bit of the Metallica influence here, but rhythmically they were in a league of their own.
Soul Burn (Destroy Erase Improve, 1995)
Although Future Breed Machine is the fan favourite of this album, I was always drawn to Soulburn. Right off the bat you can hear the heavy distorted bass tone, which cuts through the mix perfectly, complimenting the crushing wall of guitars
New Millennium Cyanide Christ (Chaosphere, 1998)
The main riff in this one has just got so much groove, it goes on for the entire first half of the song. Sometimes the riff is on its own, sometimes it’s accompanied by vocals, sometimes it has weird lead guitars over top, but it somehow never gets old. And then the song ends with one of my favourite breakdowns ever.
Combustion (Obzen, 2008)
After slowing things down for a few albums, the band sped things back up with the opening track to Obzen. After being in the band for about 4 years, bassist Dick Lovgren finally made his appearance on this one, resulting more human feel than the two previous albums.
