You are missing a huge piece of the meshuggah puzzle in order to appreciate them even more and that is the actual lyrics of the songs. They portray VIVID images and unheard ways of describing emotions and it adds another layer of complexity to each of their songs. Every single one of their songs becomes something different once you know the lyrics.
For me, the biggest reason for the hype is how ahead of everyone else they’ve consistently been. I think people hear all of their music in the context of modern metal, but when you listen to Chaosphere (1998) and consider what any other metal band was doing at that point, or Nothing (2002), it was so far ahead of its time it blows my mind. Their stuff now is a more refined version of what they’ve been doing since then, so it blends in a little more now, but only because everyone else was influenced by them.
They're so heavy and have so many great songs. They are one of the best live bands ever. They do take time to get though Most people, including me, hated them at first and didn't get it either But it grows. It grows to gigantic proportions
The "Meshuggah Feeling" to me isn't a single feeling, it's like they're pulling my spirit in multiple directions. There's pure groove, I'm a hobby guitarist myself to I can appreciate maybe a little bit more from that angle. There's also like a cold feeling from the mathematical context of the rhythm work, not bad cold but like a mechanical type of cold calculated feeling. There's also the almost hypnotic factor to them, I feel it most with ObZen, where the repeating sounds and beats are just so layered and wild and deep that it becomes like, needing to remember how it even works every time it repeats, it stays interesting for so long because it's so expertly crafted. Pravus and the track ObZen are especially like that for me. Then as well there's my appreciation for how insanely good they do their tone choice and production, again especially because I play guitar myself.
7:50 basically the rythm is hypnotic as hell and so damn groovy, nothing comes even close . Their approach to writing the music is literally unique: repeat a non 4:4 pattern, put it against a 4:4 rythm and fill the remainder of the phrase. No one does that but Meshuggah and Meshuggah clones. Maybe a few gimmicky songs here and there but not for the whole song. It is very hypnotic and surprisingly soothig. Bleed is my alarm clock, i'm the kind of guy with 1 alarm every 10 minutes for an hour, and i often manage to stay half asleep mesmerizing to the rythm. And bleed is far from their best track... I guess it's hard to get in but it's soo worth it. Also their sound has a pureness, the guitar distorion is very profound and pure, it's orgasmic, tho this fact alone is not unique to them i guess. I know you listened to a lot of Meshuggah on your channel, but did you try to stick to certain tracks you particularly liked and tried to really understand them, much like you did with Bleed? That's how you get into meshuggah. Edit: IMO I am Colossus is one of their least interesting tracks. A similarly repetitive and moody track which is waaay better is Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave it Motion.
I'd like to think that he made this video because of my comment on his last Meshuggah video, where I recommended this one, Pitch Black, and Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion, so agree on Break Those Bones being a great track, but disagree on this one not being interesting. He wanted groovy, and the drums and all make this one sooooo groooooovy. It's one of my fav Meshuggah tracks tbh. I guess I can see how it can be not interesting if you're not really into it, but for me there's so much happening here that it's very interesting. But maybe a reaction video where your attention is divided isn't the best way to really listen to tracks like this where it's more or less all in the details.
@@CeeRoShelter Well, to say a Meshuggah song is one of their least interesting doesn't do it justice, it's still a fucking meshuggah song at the end of the day! Every one of their songs are bangers anyway. But rythmically this one is kinda slow and repetitive, tho i still love it. To each their own anyway, that's just my opinion :)
@@CeeRoShelter Don't overthink this because there are Meshuggah fans and Meshuggah fans and it's just a taste. I am not a huge fan of I Am Colossus too and I don't think I'm missing something in this song, but I get it and like it as a nice opening song for the Koloss, but still being probably my least favourite from the album not counting The Last Vigil.
It probably took me about 3-4 years of casually listening to meshuggah to understand the hype. It’s definitely an acquired taste. With meshuggah songs I find it gets better with every listen whereas most other typical music gets duller with every listen.
I like Meshuggah because you can listen to different rhythms each song. I can focus on the kick drum pattern with the snare on “Dancers to a Discordant System” at 8:00, and in another listen focus on bass rhythm is pounding over it. But that’s just my experience with it because I don’t have any musical talent so I have to take multiple listens to figure stuff out lol
They're kind of an enigma. The music should make want to break stuff but it makes me thoughtful and calm. Maybe the complicated music does that on a subconscious level. Dunno. Great Reaction!
What keeps me coming back? I hear music and it turns into pictures. Long story short but for me this song paints a picture of the story of a monster being built. Most of their stories are about Monsters to me.
Yo! 7:45 I am obsessed with rhythm. This song, for instance, has drumbeats unheard in any other song on Earth. Simple sounding? Sure. But I need to concentrate on the tempo to with Meshuggah. It doesn't hold my hand. Like, with Lamb of God, you could take Ruin, for instance and replace it with thousands of other drum tracks that are almost identical, from a Testament track to a Gwar track. Once I started understanding the underlying time sigs here, I couldn't go back. I could answer all your questions in a 5 minute interview, anytime!! 😆
I guess I should add that once I get accustomed to expecting the time shifts, I get really addicted to concentrating on their cycles. You asked what it is that draws me to this music so hard. That's it. They're the only ones that offer that constant "cycling and shifting", without compromise. It never changes or gets extra this or that. When I nail it, I feel extremely Rhythmically accomplished. I could do blastbeats at 200bpm with straight 16th kicks and not be as satisfied musically as nailing polys. Hope that helps. Lol
Little bit by little bit a appreciate more and more of their discography. Still after many listens you can catch a bend or something you didn’t realize was there before.
What makes me come back to meshuggah? The energy, the rawness. The power. There music, to me, isn't music. It feels almost like something cosmic, as if it were from another world. Songs like "I am Colossus" or "Demiurge" or "Break the bones whose sinews gave it motion" feel like songs of some ancient power, like some dark god from beyond space and time, almost Lovecraftian.
Don't try hard to like everything they've done, just explore and try to listen to the songs that you like more often. I remember when I started to listen to Meshuggah I really enjoyed The Demon's Name Is Surveillance and Demiurge, because they are kind of complex, but still have something human in them, while some of the songs that hardcore Meshuggah fans would recommend you, have just different vibe like for example Catch 33, which will maybe never click with you and some think is the best work from Meshuggah, maybe for this unhuman atmosphere. I disagree with the groove, they have a fucking lot of groove and this is why I love this band and I think you liked that in Obzen if I remember correctly, some songs are just harder to get into. I would recommend definitely Demiurge, Future Breed Machine, Suffer In Truth, By The Ton, Perpetual Black Second, Straws Pulled at Random, Brake Those Bones... there's many more, but I think you would definitely find groove in these ones.
