Meshuggah “Obzen”, ahhh it just flows out so sweetly, well here we go, first of all i would like to say, kind of like a disclaimer that Meshuggah might be my all time favorite band, so please take that into consideration with the review to this piece of shit… wait… maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, i get this very strange vibe, just like with Tool’s 10000 Days, that the hype did not help at all, well lets start from the beginning, Meshuggah hail from Sweden and play “normally” a form of metal i like to describe as math metal (just like there is math rock) even though i like to call it calc metal, but if you want a more precise category i would say progressive death/thrash metal (wikipedia decided to call this avant-garde metal or experimental metal, but well we all know wikipedia is apparently filled with a bunch of crack heads that think that editing a piece of text on a website makes it true, fuck them), and their new album is out and its called Obzen, we have previously reviewed their albums Nothing and Catch 33, so lets get into it, shall we.

Obzen, is a shambled of an album … its not a “this doesn’t make sense” in a good way, its a “what the hell were they thinking”, i always expect new stuff or weird stuff from them, very little is ever normal and as such i find it very refreshing and enticing, but even in all the madness there was always something coherent, something that made sense, they were like Matryoshka Dolls, were each layer was different but it all fitted perfectly and therefore it made sense… now this “album” (if i should call it that) is like me getting tracks from their different albums and making a best of, sure there would be great tracks but it would all sound like shit together.

Well, I wont be talking a great deal about each track, no point really, the first 2 tracks, “Combustion” and “Electric Red” have nothing in common with the rest of the album, they sound like refreshed thrash metal, while “Bleed” (the single by the way… remember what i said about the 10000 Days single…) has nothing to with the rest of the album, its a mind blowing track with Tomas Haake doing a freakish double bass drum work that makes me lack the words to described it, it all sounds like white sound from a television… i would buy the album just for that track … but this inconsistencies go further, also the over abuse of “commercial” sounding ruses like slowing down or stopping a song to build it up again… cause i counted… they used it 7 times (that i noticed) almost in every single track, you know at some point that they will pause for some micro shitty interlude, I’ve got no problem with that, but it has to make sense… but overusing it is like Linkin Park making micro intros for every single shitty track they put out (sorry just went and saw one of their live shows and they sucked a bit).

“Lethargica” is next and the name fits the song, its kinda an OK track, with no big highlights it kinda drags on, now the title track “Obzen” is another beast, much more innovative and a bit of a headbanger with a more stop-goish groove going on with loads of highlights… “This Spiteful Snake” is an intricate groovy track, but still lacking, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere and ultimately it just feels self indulgent (trying to fit every single thing into it), “Pineal Gland Optics” we get a straight back to back speedier groove, again great quality and musicianship but with nothing else to add, “Pravus” is pushing again the silliness, its interesting, but not that audible, its a mishmash of musical techniques than music, we finish with “Dancers To A Discordant System”, that starts pretty mind blowing heavy and groovy (why didn’t they do this on some of the other tracks is beyond me), but then it gets into a certain pattern and although pretty good, it wasn’t nothing to call back home.

I know, maybe i expect too much, but like every Meshuggah album it takes a certain amount of time to really start understanding the music or a album, so i took that time, but after the 100th listen, these things still bug me like hell, i was expecting a lot of different things, i was expecting “Bleed”, but no, i get this best of (when their EP I, was the right way to do a Best Of) and then you join things like the freakishly moronic cover art that looks shitty and reminds me of the endogenous Marilyn Manson of Mechanical Animals, were at least he went over the top with it (in a good way), while with Meshuggah its just silly.

Ahh i wont drag this too long, they said in a interview that this was the first time they really had the time to make a album, and not be in a hurry, well then i hope for the next one, they’ll have to make it over a weekend, for sure we would get a masterpiece, this is above all a disappointment and will rarely fit my Meshuggah everyday playlist, don’t get me wrong, all this ranting should be taken with a touch of salt, the production is pretty much on the mark, and there are some really cool tracks (”Bleed” is Beyond Awesome), but i do expect a lot from this band, and I’m sorry to say but this time it feels, they over promised and under delivered, and that to me is a shame.

Official Site Meshuggah.net | Myspace Meshuggah | Vidcult Bleed Video

Meshuggah - Bleed

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Uhh Melechesh, even though i was going to review this, still someone had to tell me i HAD TO REVIEW THIS ONE, so ok… here it goes, Melechesh hails from Jerusalem but its actual headquarters are in the Netherlands, playing a self titled “Mesopotamian Metal”, well i don’t know about the self titled genres… a bit more and well see a bunch of bands saying ohhh no we play “Manhattan Death” or Amazoniancore hehehe, so for everyone that finds that silly, we’ll just call it a fusion of Black Metal with traditional Middle Eastern instruments, well lets have a listen, shall we.

Humm we start things off with “Rebirth Of The Nemesis” and it starts off pretty well i do feell its black metal with the garish voice and slowburn, but this is one groovy track, combining blasting and more groove oriented passages with some pretty impressive guitar and drumming work, very fresh approach… finishing it up with a very black metalish with a all male chorus, great show, “Ladders To Sumeria” hummm i don’t know … starts off like humm dont know… pretty simple i guess… then onto black metal bashing, again with clean vocal chorus, it reminds me of the kind of ethnical trickery that SOAD does pretty well (even though sometimes to excess), but it does bring some fresheness to this weird track, sounds something between hardcore/metalcore and black metal, still a solid entertaining track, “Deluge Of Delusional Dreams” ok… maybe its me but another strange start… maybe im expecting black metal and getting something different, we get strange funky riffing that goes into a metalcorish groove, ok… its cool, then the black metal comes in, with the vocal and double bass and riffing, with again some clean vocal chorus, about 2/3 way it changes into something else… kinda another groove guitar blast combo, entirely more ethical riffing, well well although already pretty formolaic, still its a pretty good listening until now, above all else it has a lot of groove.

“Touching The Spheres Of Sephiroth” starts off diferently, much more by the book black metal, well and it goes all the way through, humm a much diferent beast than before, much more focused, “Gyroscope” starts with some guitar work, then bass, then into a cool almost etchnical riff, then drumming and now a fool blown ethnical riff, humm its pretty nice, it feels black metal but not quite there, pretty cool track, “Double Helixed Sceptre” again a slow start, then a more electric riff to a blast beat and … damn some weird riff drum combo…. that brings to the black metal, and again the weird riff drum combo, this is one hell of a track and we haven’t got half way, very original, humm with voice it slows down a bit… and again back to black metal and the clean vocal chorus, and about 2/3 it goes into full blow black metal again… humm very interesting track, “The Scribes Of Kur” is a clean middle eastern instruments interlude, “Leper Jerusalem” is going again a bit into the Metalcore/Hardcore camp, then if slows down into a groove and its pretty much that, still a solid tune.

“Sand Grain Universe” is a much speedier track, still into the same black metal groove, just speedier, i kinda like it a bit better than the normal… slower kinda hehehe… and this track does it credit, loads of blasting and etchnical riffing with some slower tempos to enphasise on the higher speed, nice balance and again nice groove, “Emissaries And The Mysterium Magnum” starts of into a bass guitar combo, then into a blasting riffing and a toolish muffered vocals in the background kind of thing, this all stops with the vocals into a cutted riffing style, pretty cool, still this track has a weird tempo, with a pretty sweet guitar solo (especially because if fits into the mood) and then finally it ends with the… kinda obvious ethnically infused instrumental only “Extemporized Ophtalmic Release”.

Someone said it was kinda like Nile, humm dont know about that, sure there is a over enthusiasm with the themes and the ethnical instruments, and that kinda drags it a bit down… i think a band never wants to be fixed into a planet, when they should be aiming for the universe… but oh well, to each its own, and dont get me wrong, this wasnt the first listen but i did went in thinking it was black metal/death metal kinda of a Nile thing, and it sure isnt, they are 2 diferent beasts, and although i do like Nile, seems Melechesh will have a place there as well, if not because of the grooviness and little tidbits everywhere of musicianship and originality that i do enjoy ever so much ^_^

Official Site Melechesh | Video for Genies, Sorcerers and Mesopotamian Nights

Melechesh - Rebirth Of The Nemesis

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VAHLADIAN are not coming from Valhalla, although they certainly seem to be heading that way. September 1999 watched the planting of a seedling that blossomed in May 2002, by establishing a line-up consisting of Alberto Cases (bass), Alfonso del Corral (guitar), Carlos Ribes (guitar), Jlián Campos (drums), José M. Cebrián (vocals) and Pablo Barrios (keyboard).

The self-titled debut was recorded at the Torre de Marfil Studios (Valencia), produced by VAHLADIAN and mastered at El Cielo de Madrid (ARS AMANDI, amongst others).

The particularity in VAHLADIAN lies chiefly in the fact that the average band member’s age does not exceed twenty, yet these Spaniards achieve much with their playing and song-writing skills, for the present opus features ten tracks of Spanish-bred melody, presenting a mixture between Power Metal and the more complex Progressive Metal. Musically, VAHLADIAN are very heavily influenced by IRON MAIDEN, whereas vocals remind Spanish Heavy Metal, and ANGRA, RHAPSODY or METALIUM. The opener Áureo Lamento is very well accomplished and happens to be my favourite, but most songs have that necessary amount of catchiness that will make you hum some of the songs by the end of the first listen. Por la Sangre, Vida is not bad either. I do admit, however, that hearing ‘Puños de Acero´ instead of ´Fists of Steel´ is somewhat anti-climatic, but that is a constant. The band sings in Spanish only.

VAHLADIAN also invited Jorge Salán for the guitar lead in Lágrimas Negras Parte 2. the end result is very pleasant indeed. Then there are lots of moments throughout the album where you sometimes feel you went 20 years back in time (such as the beginning of Reinas de la Oscuridad), which is very good indeed.

For first timers, Vahladian is fine and very much worth the listen.

Official Sites Vahladian.com

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Oh dear… this is one those albums thats hard as hell to review but oh so fun to listen to… if that doesn’t abode well for Car Bomb (nice name by the way… kinda appropriate) i don’t know what will, so Car Bomb is what i would call a Mathcore band, following the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Psyopus… so lets have a look see.

It all starts off with a bit of a bang with “Pieces of You”, you kinda get a picture right away of what this is all about, the music is a bit more cut and paste than The Dillinger Escape Plan, i mean they have smoother transitions, unlike Car Bomb were most of the time you see cuts between segments in the music, its not too bad cause the segments are pretty rockin, but still … cut and paste, “Gum Under The Table” comes next and a kind of fused death fuzzed metal groove going on into a electronic passage into a hardcorish kind of breakdown… and then… might i say a Meshuggah big wall of sound break… humm very nice.

Well i wont bore everyone by examining every track, suffice to say all of them seem and sound very fresh, they all follow this constant cutting and are very much founded into a more hardcore and harsh foundation, but again with loads of different stuff going around, maybe the most notable track for me is the very awkward “Best Intentions”, the rest is kind of a blazing blur of blasting and jazzing.

So… ok… is it good? txaaaa, i don’t know, like i said above this kind of music is difficult to give it a heads up or down, these boys have skill, but i do understand why a lot of people might not like it, its a bit too cut up, they barely capitalize on good grooves, i guess they seem to be in too much of a hurry to play something else, so yeah if you like weird technical metal maybe Car Bomb is just the right fit.

Official Site Car Bomb (great domain by the way)

Car Bomb - M^6
Car Bomb - His Eyes

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