Meshuggah formed in Umeå, in northern Sweden, in 1987, and took their name from the Yiddish word for crazy. Across nine studio albums their guitar riffs, as Wikipedia explains, cycle in odd metres over a steady 4/4 pulse, and the same source credits them with inspiring the style later called djent. This guide follows Meshuggah from their thrash beginnings to “Immutable” (2022).

The short version

Singer Jens Kidman started the band in 1987 and later rebuilt it with guitarist Fredrik Thordendal. Drummer Tomas Haake arrived in 1990, and the debut “Contradictions Collapse” came out on Nuclear Blast in 1991. With Mårten Hagström added as a second guitarist, they made “Destroy Erase Improve” (1995), the record where the critic Martin Popoff, as cited on Wikipedia, first hears the full Meshuggah sound, and “Chaosphere” (1998). The five-man line-up has not changed since bassist Dick Lövgren joined in 2004. “Immutable”, their ninth studio album and their first on Atomic Fire Records, entered the Swedish album chart at No. 3 in April 2022.

Umeå, 1987: from thrash to polyrhythm

The roots go back to 1985, when Thordendal played in an Umeå band called Metallien. Kidman founded Meshuggah two years later; after an early split the two of them revived the name together, and a first three-song EP followed in 1989. Haake replaced drummer Niklas Lundgren in 1990, and the band signed with Nuclear Blast. On “Contradictions Collapse” (1991) Kidman handled vocals and rhythm guitar, with Thordendal on lead and Peter Nordin on bass. Wikipedia notes that the record leans more towards thrash metal than anything that followed.

Soon afterwards Kidman put the guitar down to concentrate on singing, and Hagström took over rhythm guitar, recording with the band for the first time on the “None” EP. “Destroy Erase Improve”, released on 12 May 1995, was his first studio album with Meshuggah and Nordin’s last. Popoff also links its approach to later mathcore and djent, and Rolling Stone, according to Wikipedia, ranked it 42nd in a list of prog rock albums. “Chaosphere” (1998), the only studio album with Gustaf Hielm on bass, is described on Wikipedia as technical, polyrhythmic and groove-oriented.

Nothing, eight strings and the djent question

In AllMusic’s account, “Nothing” (2002) slowed the tempos down. It was recorded on detuned seven-string guitars because the custom eight-string instruments could not be used in time, and a 2006 reissue replaced the rhythm guitars with eight-string parts. A late decision to join Ozzfest that summer meant the album was mixed in two days. Meshuggah also toured with Tool in 2001 and again at the end of 2002. After the single-track EP “I” (2004), “Catch Thirtythree” (2005) was again one continuous piece, this time in 13 movements, with every drum part programmed rather than played. Haake was back behind a real kit for “obZen” (2008), which he described, as quoted on Wikipedia, as a return to the band’s earlier, faster material.

In the late 2000s, Wikipedia notes, the band became the inspiration for djent, a progressive metal style named after an imitation of its guitar sound. Wikipedia credits Thordendal with coining the term; AllMusic’s Thom Jurek writes that the band are “both celebrated and maligned” for creating the djent sound. Hagström himself has apologised for the band’s part in it, calling it, in a 2018 interview reported by Wikipedia, a misunderstanding.

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Album by album

Nine studio albums, from “Contradictions Collapse” (1991) to “Immutable” (2022); the EPs, including the single-track “I” (2004), are not in the grid. Tap any title for its guide.

The players

Kidman (vocals), Thordendal (lead guitar) and Haake (drums) have been on every studio album. Hagström has played rhythm guitar since the “None” EP. The bass chair changed several times: Peter Nordin left in 1995, Gustaf Hielm stood in from that year, became an official member in January 1998 and left in July 2001. On “Nothing”, the bass parts are credited to Thordendal and Hagström. Dick Lövgren joined in February 2004 and has played on every album since “obZen”.

In June 2017 Thordendal stepped back from touring, and Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry took his place on stage. In March 2021 the band announced that Thordendal had ended his break and would take full part in the new record. “Immutable” (2022) features the same five musicians who made “obZen”, “Koloss” and “The Violent Sleep of Reason”.

Where to start

Start with “Destroy Erase Improve” (1995), the album Popoff, as cited on Wikipedia, treats as the first complete picture of the Meshuggah method. Then go to “obZen” (2008): critics cited on Wikipedia praised its consistency and the way it joins the early thrash attack to the later experiments, and its third track “Bleed” is the song Haake has said demanded more practice than the rest of the album combined.

For the later band, “The Violent Sleep of Reason” (2016) was recorded with all five members playing live together in the studio, and its “Clockworks” earned a Grammy nomination. If you want the long-form side, “Catch Thirtythree” (2005) runs as one continuous 47-minute piece.

Why they matter

On the Recording Academy’s own site, “Clockworks” is listed as a nominee for Best Metal Performance at the 60th Grammy Awards. At home the band have been nominated for Grammis, the Swedish music award, and every album from “Catch Thirtythree” to “Immutable” entered the Sverigetopplistan album chart, “Catch Thirtythree” and “Koloss” at No. 12 and “Immutable” at No. 3. Thom Jurek’s AllMusic biography presents their sound as a self-invented mix of math rock, prog, polyrhythm and jazz-derived harmony.

That is why a band usually filed under extreme metal belongs on a progressive site. Wikipedia describes them as an influence on modern metal bands and as the inspiration for djent, which the same source files as a subgenre of progressive metal. I follow the modern progressive metal scene, and the bands that came after Meshuggah, in my book Beyond the Decades.

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