HOW MESHUGGAH CHANGED METAL FOREVER

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Click here www.helixsleep.com/punkrock for up to $200 off your Helix Sleep mattress plus two free pillows! We love our mattress!

[@melaniemelanin]

Where is the Craig interview at ?

[@bobbybobman3073]

Speaking of bands that are less popular than they should be have you heard August Burns Red's EP "Looks Fragile After All". I just found out about the EP now, and was that EP almost 20 years too early? To me it sounds modern still and I think it shows how heavy you can go but still being incredibly creative. I have no idea how to classify their sound. And truly I've never heard anything like it before.

[@Grimeyhoob]

Interestingly Meshuggah and Refused were friends and toured together as well back in the day. Sweden has produced some fantastic bands across the entire realm of rock, punk and metal. From Meshuggah to In flames to Soilwork to Refused to Millencolin to Cult of Luna to Ghost to Opeth to Roxette to the Cardigans. So much brilliant songwriting across so many styles.

[@MetaITurtle]

Their amps are amassing. Probably the closest thing to old school trash in my opinion I'm talking about the mattresses lol jk jk just in case someone read this

[@CarcPazu]

The exact same video could be done on Voivod and how they brought dissonant riffs to metal. Never been the biggest band but they influenced pretty much every metal bands. Without Dimension Hatröss, Killing Technology and Nothingface, there's no Meshuggah or pretty much any metal genre that uses dissonance, staccato drumming, weird time signatures and overall odd song stuctures.

[@02SplinterCell02]

The best part of Meshuggah is their live show…sounds and lights. It is a life-changing experience that NO other band can compete with

[@Cthorthu]

YES I don't usually listen to Meshuggah at home, but their live shows are absolutely magical.

[@17peteclarke]

maybe sun o)))

[@LoudnessJP]

There's a lot of good live bands these days but i wholeheartedly agree that there is no band that can compete with the experience of attending a Shuggah live performance.. Every friend I've brought to a show has become a fan of the band.. were often the same friends that didn't instantly become fans any of the hundred times i've linked shuggah songs to them over the years:)

[@enlightendbel]

Their lights guy is their second drummer.

[@EMBALMENGRAVE_OFFICIAL]

Id say behemoth can

[@terminaldeity]

Future Breed Machine has one of the best breakdowns ever. That whole song takes you on a journey.

[@SethHMG]

BY THE NEW MACHIIIIIIINE

[@techdeathhippie6319]

Fuck ya it’s a journey . Amazing

[@kalm420]

Still blast it out my car lol

[@pentexsucks43]

EVOLUTIOOOON, IN REVERSE!

[@LukeBCtown]

Probably my favorite song I've ever listened to of all music genres and i mean literally all. Anything that's flown into my ears.

[@vyacheslavkhristolyubov413]

Bill Burr shared a story about a Meshuggah gig he visited where he happened to stand next to Danny Carey of Tool who was fascinated by Tomas Haake drumming

[@oopsydaizi3s824]

I love that story

[@amnofish]

@BouncyStickman Geegeegeggeggeggeegeggee!

[@flaminghead1va]

Vyacheslav, do you happen to remember the # of the podcast he mentioned that? Any hints? Probably hard to remember, but figured I'd ask

[@milanradojkovic3818]

Brrrrrta brrrrrrta brrrrrta brrrrrta...

[@goatman3057]

Wildest drumming I ever heard is Gran Hechicero, nothing I ever heard as crazy as Afro-Cuban rock!

[@cIappo896]

Honestly, Bleed gets all the hype but New Millennium Cyanide Christ is what got me into them. Still my fav song to blast

[@bjornnilsson2941]

That song left my brains all over the wall the first time I heard it. It's definitely one of my go-to's when I want to get hyped up.

[@astrolopitekos]

I couldn’t understand the song when I saw it on MTV but the video was so mesmerizing that I kept watching. After a few mins I was just headbanging and laughing. Then came Bleed, Future Breed Machine, Rational Gaze etc. but man New Millennium Cyanide Christ still does it for me 😂

[@mrconfusion87]

Bleed is NOT in my Top 10 Meshuggah songs list! Sickening, Ritual, Future Breed Machine, Beneath, Soul Burn, Transfixion, Sublevels, New Millennium Christ, Neurotica, Mouth Licking What You Bled, Rational Gaze are all higher up on my list! 🤣🤣🤣

[@TheMooleytuna]

That Video tho lol.. sooo good

[@Whiterioot]

Same here brother!!

[@michaelmccomb4045]

Nobody ever believes me when I tell them early Meshuggah sounds like Metallica.

[@pAWNproductionsDE]

As much as I love their new stuff, I have a huge soft spot for their old music since it's basically just progressive thrash, which is a genre that barely exists

[@mmpgssl2378]

@@pAWNproductionsDE coroner was pretty progressive for thrash if you haven’t heard them

[@pardonavich]

Contradictions Collapse sounds like if Metallica kept going in the same path as ...And Justice For All

[@elitaft7127]

oh yeah you can definitely hear it. Especially on None and a little on Contradictions Collapse also

[@IvanoForgione]

wait until you discover how many people are actually aware of how Pantera sounded in their first few records. Very few. The best musicians take time to finally "click" on their own, immortal style

[@sample.text.]

Meshuggah is the metal band's metal band. Every metal guitar and bass player loves being able to play flawlessly with a drummer throwing off weird time signatures culminating in a perfect song. Add to that when the crowd follows the music perfectly.

[@juliusbushiv2904]

I heard Meshuggah for the first time on November 8th 2002 (yup I even remember the exact date lol) when I saw them open for TooL. It quite literally blew my mind. Their Drummer and Danny Carey did like a 30 min drum solo that still to this day may be the most amazing thing musically I’ve ever seen live. I bought Nothing the next day.

[@J.Skyler]

That must have been one hell of a show.

[@Cynical_Otter]

I saw Meshuggah open for Tool on 9/8/01. Had never really listened to them but I was impressed with how good they were.

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

I went to that show in Seattle. Missed Meshuggah but I hadn't discovered them yet at that point. I'd heard a lot of praise of them so I bought Nothing. Listened to it. Didn't get it. Then a year later popped it my car CD player and after a couple listens it started to click. For the next decade they became, pretty much, my favorite band. I remember the first time I heard Bleed. It was monumental.

[@Zeta9966]

Lol I went to that tour too. Saw them in Roanoke VA. I had been listening to them for a couple years at that point. I think I started in 2000? It was before Nothing, but not too far.

[@SethHMG]

Man that was a tour. Messhugah closed w Future Breed Machine.

[@peazeralus]

Deftones' entire Diamond Eyes album had a full scoop of Meshuggah stirred in, especially Butcher and Rocket Skates

[@jacksdad734]

For sure.

[@robwalsh9843]

Blood Has Been Shed - Spirals

[@GuitFiddlerOntheR00F]

Agreed. Steph Carpenter has said in previous interviews that Meshuggah is one of his biggest influences.

[@peazeralus]

@@GuitFiddlerOntheR00F yup! Stephen carries the bulk of that Meshuggah flavor with Abe supplying what's left

[@cookingman8709]

Especially Sextape!

[@ShoelessJP]

I'll be honest, I've never until this point listened to Meshuggah. But now I'm going to check them out because I had no clue how influential they were.I really dig your channel, Finn, for discovering new-to-me music.

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Thank you!

[@kevindie]

*_Their latest album is really good. The two records before that are not that great. ObZen and earlier is 🤙._*

[@jacksdad734]

Theyre so good dude.

[@Ninjamanhammer]

@@kevindie Kolloss is better than Immutable

[@DJENTISNTNOTAGENRE]

Don't listen to that guy a couple comments above me. Koloss is an amazing album 🔥

[@evanfont913]

Meshuggah and Neurosis are like the Velvet Underground of metal; the amount of people who listened to them and then decided they needed to make their own music cannot be understated.

[@ThePatcriss]

Add Voivod to the list.

[@byron739]

That Obzen album, wow, nothing less than a masterpiece.

[@paveantelic7876]

nothing is better

[@dermer007]

catch 33 gang wya

[@bjornnilsson2941]

@@dermer007 Catch 33 was the first album of theirs I heard when it was released so it has a special place in my heart. As single songs are concerned though I think it's probably Bleed or New Millennium Cyanide Christ that take the cake.

[@nategin9009]

@@paveantelic7876 plenty is better

[@chadilay69]

​@@nategin9009he is talking about the meshuggah album called "nothing", lmao

[@thomasandolf7365]

i heard Meshuggah first time in 1997-1998 when i was 16 and went to music school. Some classmates played me destroy erase improve and explained the parts after the solo and i was hooked. Later that year Haake and Mårten had a clinic at my school jamming and playing some of their songs. I have seen them live 11 times and they have been a big part of my life the past 25 years.

[@rezmetalpodcaster]

Thanks Jack Osborne for introducing Meshuggah to mainstream. He got their music on an episode of ‘The Osbornes’ and then got them on 2002 Ozzfest.

[@TheKey304]

Even if he did call them death metal from Norway🤣🤣

[@robwalsh9843]

That was when Sharon was bitching at the neighbors being too loud. I think the neighbors were also from the UK LOL

[@OffLeatherWings]

@@TheKey304 to someone with virgin ears to extreme metal like myself, how are they not death metal?

[@matthewackermanaski9687]

@@OffLeatherWings They're more technical, also since they started as a thrash metal band, as they were evolving in the 90s they were more like "extreme thrash". Also Jens uses harsh vocals rather than growls or screams that are more common in death metal.

[@TheKey304]

@@OffLeatherWings I mean, just about every metal band that came along by then had death metal influence to some degree, even if it wasn't intentional. But yeah, like said above, and I'd also say just the darker presentation of death metal overall.

[@livefreeprintguns]

Their EP "I" is one of the most amazing and underrated releases of their discography.

[@dogelord79]

it's neshuggah's magnum opus

[@spimbles]

its hard to have underrated pieces when their entire discography is unanimously praised lol

[@Shake69ification]

​@dogelord79 I'd argue for Catch-33, but yes, I is awesome!

[@Ch3k0v]

I'm glad you mentioned the jazz influence in Meshuggah's music. I've been a fan of theirs for a long time, but the moment I realized that Meshuggah was basically heavy jazz it blew my mind! I was listening to jazz on the radio and wondering why it sounded so familiar even though I knew I hadn't heard that song before. Then it hit me.......Meshuggah is brutal jazz.🤯🤯

[@MrEtienne6657]

Meshuggah: Truly heavy meditation jazz music

[@Ch3k0v]

@@MrEtienne6657 Exactly 😎

[@sazerac1327]

I always call them Psychedelic Progressive Trance Metal band.

[@Ch3k0v]

@@sazerac1327 100% accurate

[@sazerac1327]

The rhythmic beats and pulsating drums evoke a tribal vibe that makes me want to dance. Then, when the vocals, guitar, and bass kick in, it feels like I'm transported to a psychedelic ceremony, with the intensity of a machine god's shamanic scream right at my face. Absolutely love that feeling! 🥹🥹🥹

[@Ljudet_Innan]

38 y.o. here, never seen Meshuggah live. Just few weeks away from seeing them live for the first time. Heard them for years now. I'm hyped AF!

[@GM_Sanjit_Ramesh]

How was it?

[@Ljudet_Innan]

@@GM_Sanjit_Ramesh Neck still hurts. Epic. 19/10 does recommend.

[@ShunkLunkable]

They've always played the tightest sets I've ever heard!

[@yoloautumn]

Im you a year later, can’t wait

[@towertito2149]

How was the show? Did your face grow back yet from getting melted off?? They are AMAZING LIVE

[@nine-toedsloth7168]

Every member of the band is an absolute djentleman.

[@danielclark-hughes692]

Pack it up boys, found today's best comment

[@jacksdad734]

Booooooo

[@TheDjentleman77]

I agree! 😉

[@Phixeon]

I was fortunate enough to see them live in 2008 on their Obzen tour. Hearing them live changed my musical tastes forever. They are still one of my favorite bands.

[@kanvolu]

You were, indeed, really fortunate

[@robertomugabe11]

you lucky bastard

[@danielclark-hughes692]

Ah yes, Meshuggah. The Swedish band with a Jewish name that sings in English.

[@michaelmccomb4045]

Hebrew*

[@terenceaaron1999]

@@michaelmccomb4045 *Yiddish

[@User-54631]

Wish there was a jerk off emoji.

[@kevindie]

@@terenceaaron1999 *Brail

[@ncc1701mjs]

Finn needs to work on his Yiddish pronunciation (just checked an interview and was happy to see that the band themselves say it correctly haha)

[@KMFDM781]

I think Fear Factory's Demanufacture (Self Bias Resistor) was the album that pioneered that sync'd kick/riff sound back in '95. I remember when that album came out and people were accusing them of using triggered kicks. They denied it but I think Ray Herrera is that good.

[@DrDipsh1t]

That combo of Ray and Dino was insane and made me "obtain" all of their albums in the mid 2000s

[@homevalueglass3809]

Good times, also had Strapping Young Lad Heavy Thing and Ministry Filth Pig doing the heavy industrial thing around that time.

[@Darwinist]

All my friends who were huge Fear Factory fans in 1994/5 went *nuts* over Destroy/Erase/Improve. FF definitely primed the fanbase for Meshuggah to take it even further.

[@RamManNo1]

De manufacture is a great album. But those kicks are defiantly triggered. FF kind of put triggers on the map. FF was my fave band in the mid 90s. Oddly enough I can’t stand the sound of flat clicky sounding bass triggers now lol. I was sore when they started getting way too nu-metally around digimortal. They definitely wrote catchier stuff than meshuggah in my opinion. I just think the timing was off for them to get bigger at that time.

[@Hegder]

@@RamManNo1 I don’t think they ever denied it. I interviewed Raymond about 20 years ago and basically told him that he was a pioneer of triggered drums and he was very happy to talk about it.

[@SimpaTheImba]

“A band in which every instrument is a percussion instrument”. You couldn’t have said it better

[@Drewid84]

Finally saw them live a few weeks ago and was completely blown away. One of the most primal experiences of my life. All metal heads most certianly should make the pilgrimage to see them live.

[@bertil3887]

Never really liked the band but it's always fun to see a band from my hometown making so much success worldwide

[@lewisb85]

Well of the Umea bands I prefer Refused, Abhinanda and cult of luna.

[@bertil3887]

@@lewisb85 im more a fan of black metal like Naglfar or other more underground bands that noone has ever heard of except for a very few :P but i like the early cult of luna, hasn't heard that much tbh but they are pretty good :)

[@DavidWeinehall]

@@bertil3887 One of my brothers went to school with some of the Naglfar guys.

[@transsexual_computer_faery]

@@lewisb85 refusedddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

[@heftyhugh9086]

Your country is going to shit because you don't like Meshuggah

[@MUNDAYthe13th]

I discovered Meshuggah through Tool's Adam Jones. He was talking about how much he liked them in a interview.

[@needfoolthings]

I listen to Bill Burr lauding them at least once a month. It makes me happy.

[@josephguillermo3007]

I still remember hearing them for the first time. We saw them with with Slayer, on tour. My friend’s brother told us…. Oh those guys, you might like them….pretty crazy stuff. Came out with hockey jerseys and cargo shorts. “We are Meshuggah from Sweden!” This is when Chaosphere was out. Just loved and was confused at the same time. I loved it.

[@deadSalesman_GD]

I’m sure most of your viewers don’t care but for musicians that are interested here’s a small correction: Polyrhythm is when two instruments divide the same beat into different sized pieces (i.e. triplet eights vs regular eighths). What Meshuggah does is called polymeter which is where one instrument plays in a different time signature than another (i.e. drums in 4/4 vs guitars in 9/8).

[@Garthritis]

Learn your rudiments as well kids!

[@sammyhain]

And the slower u practice the faster you learn ^

[@MyMan0_0]

which songs does meshuggah use polymeter ?

[@deadSalesman_GD]

@@MyMan0_0 basically all of them lol a good example that’s easy to follow is autonomy lost from catch 33. The guitars/bass/kick drum are playing a pattern that’s non eighth notes long while the cymbals/snare are playing a 4/4 backbeat Edit: nine eighth notes

[@thefogman2992]

I build guitars, and I know from a technical perspective that gear makes almost no effect on tone. I saw someone do a full cover of bleed on a baritone jazzmaster with single coil pickups, and it sounded dead on. Some people are just naturally better at getting good tones

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Facts

[@ileutur6863]

With enough post processing you can get anything to sound like anything. Doesn't mean gear doesn't matter

[@majesticpbjcat7707]

@@ileutur6863 FACTS

[@tlaserdk9536]

That'd most likely be the scale length right? Pretty sure Meshuggah uses 30inch scale guitars, same as that jazzmaster

[@KuhKronus]

@@tlaserdk9536 I have a guitar with 30inch scale and fat ass strings and it doesn’t really sound like meshuggah. It sounds like a dirty bass a lot of the time

[@Ethan-ts]

I saw Meshuggah live at bogarts in Cincinnati. By far and away one of the most surreal and memorable experiences of my life…hard to describe for anyone who asks that doesn’t know about them. Lifelong fan of these guys

[@Djpaulyt]

13 years ago I bought a meshuggah cd at a garage sale. It was “I.” I was 12 and didn’t get it but now I can enjoy it at 25. Seems meshuggah was ahead of the curve. Got in and out of metal but I’m happy to be back in it. So much good metal out there now. Sometimes u gotta dig for it but checkout your local heavy bands and enjoy them being in their prime.

[@DavidWeinehall]

I is probably my favourite still. Too bad it's made in such a way that it's hard/impossible to perform it live.

[@funlesbian]

just checked it out; it's an amazing piece. seems like their first recording with their custom 8 string guitars.

[@jakobsievers]

I was actually the first meshuggah record I fully "got". Everything else didn't really penetrate me... then I listened to "I" and my brain expanded and now I can't get enough of them

[@muzien87]

i discovered meshuggah at an FYE back in the early early 2000s with their "pick up an album, scan it to hear demos" stations. Rational gaze never gets old but those albums i discovered just really jived with my soul. im a huge fan of chugging, i love chugging on my own guitar and a lot of how i play is inspired by bands like this

[@Danbarber82]

I remember first hearing Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere when I was in high school. When Chaosphere dropped in '98, it was MINDBLOWING.

[@ddevil4980]

My favorite Meahuggah album is Contradictions Collapse. The tempo changes and the transitions are insane, that was 100% when Meshuggah found the style.

[@123612100]

Eh not really. It's a bit too spastic and derivative of tech thrash of the time. Meshuggah found their true sound with none.

[@ddevil4980]

@@123612100 Contradictions Collapse led to Destroy Erase Emprove. which was when they first started the Djent style. Which would be when they first started the poly rhythm stuff also. I've been listening too them since then.

[@123612100]

@@ddevil4980 nah, the none ep led to destroy erase improve. Contradictions is a typical tech thrash album with Fredrik and Jens being the main song writers. When Martin came in on the none ep that's when the meshuggah sound started really happening.

[@Andrew-mp9hu]

I sound like a poser but my first song with Meshuggah is “Bleed”. As a drummer, hearing the technical abilities on that track blew my mind. Much respect to these guys.

[@Gallasl666]

Gotta start somewhere. That was the first one I heard on the Sirius metal station. For a long while after that, "If its not Meshuggah it's crap" , is what I said.

[@mrconfusion87]

I started cuz Revolver Magazine talked about them around 2002ish!

[@Bostonasian]

Great analysis. I really enjoyed it! Thanks!

[@jensragas9353]

I had seen Meshuggah in the 90's with Hypocrisy and Satyricon. The Show was sold out yet only 13 People saw Meshuggah Who were headliners.

[@homevalueglass3809]

I saw Hypocrisy in 97 I believe at Milwaukee Metal Fest, was amazing.

[@jasont529]

Dude I'd love to hear how the show was if you can remember. I only found out about them back in 2009 and have listened to them daily ever since. I remember it being a new style of metal that I had never heard before with the guitar tones, vocals, and time signatures if you will.

[@synapticschism]

My first drum VST was Drumkit From Hell. I had no idea Meshuggah's drummer was involved. It completely changed how I wrote metal back then.

[@MrDingus64]

It's like pure psychoactive rhythmic geometry. Meshuggah is my favorite example of a band chipping away and perfecting a specific sound. Awesome video Finn

[@nuthinfayce]

When I first heard Meshuggah, it wasn't only a new door to a new room, it was practically another planet. Meshuggah completely changed the way I listen to, write, and perform music. It wasn't that I copied them in any way.. it was the way they shattered the walls that usually builds around any genre of music after a band stirs up the silt, only to settle... it was their approach that encouraged my exploration and experimentation when writing and performing music... great video.. I subscribed, brother...

[@apoplexiamusic]

A fun fact about EZ Drummer. version 3 just came out and Drumkit From Hell is still one of the best drum sample librairies ever.

[@mikefoster5423]

i STILL use dfk on all my band demos

[@Eichro]

I'm a bit ambivalent about DFH because that snare sticks out like a sore thumb. You KNOW it's DFH when you hear it, and that's a bit distracting. Listening to Ziltoid the Omniscient? You will hear it. Watching Hunter x Hunter 2011? You hear it.

[@apoplexiamusic]

@@Eichro very much so! I like to layer it with other snares. I also use it just for the cymbals and the kicks too

[@nosidemusic]

As a music instructor who also absolutely adores Meshuggah and appreciates their genius, it is so awesome to see more and more people realizing how undeniably influential they have been for metal (and music in general). Excellent video!

[@facelesscovers763]

The guitar tone in their song rational gaze is my favorite I've heard from them and I've never heard anything like it from any other band

[@26ruben1]

for me .. the track off of Destroy Erase Improve that changed everything was Soul Burn! .... that was the game changer .... Big shout out for this video, you really nailed it !!!!

[@NickTheDrumscum]

Damn right brother! First riff is such a heavy HEAVY one, plus the hihats kick your head out of the groove, haha. Phenomenal

[@jozefm.5780]

Tomas Haake is an absolutely superb drummer. I love the way he doesn't play anything particularly flashy but concentrates solely on emphasising the groove. Brilliant stuff

[@campfireeverything]

They really do deserve all the accolades and high praise heaped on them here in your great analysis. Meshuggah changed the world.

[@ancienttartan3509]

I got into Meshuggah on my own when I picked up their Catch 33 album at Best Buy. It blew me away.

[@mastemamusic5545]

been a huge fan for years but i just recently got the chance to see meshuggah live in concert about 2 months ago and im still mentally processing what i heard and witnessed ! it was so good it was unreal if you can go see them do it!!!

[@perrub]

You can’t say Europeans have bad taste in music and then talk how Gojira and Meshuggah are so great. Ahahah 😜

[@matttaylor1449]

Hehehe

[@andrewbrock3675]

It's all the industrial and eurorave shit we make fun of

[@DigitalBath306]

im from europe and hes right europeans have bad taste in music

[@finmvn]

EXACTLY

[@phoenixsidepeen5468]

When we say that, we’re mostly referring to UK rappers lol

[@boogabuga7657]

Huge respect for the SikTh shoutout, they were so ahead of bands like Periphery and their first two albums are truly unique.

[@stevebanning902]

I heard "war" in the early 2000's and was blown away by the drumming. Then I heard "Straws pulled at random" imo, their best song and was hooked.

[@Juliankb39]

Definitely the best solo. The ending of that song is beyond glorious

[@bjaanderson]

"Straws" was the first song I ever heard from them. That ending is transcendent.

[@Hegder]

Ironically, wasn’t War the first drumkit from hell song they did?

[@UltimateTMF3]

@@Hegder War was pretty composed to be a demo track for dfk. Easily one of my favorite Meshuggah songs.

[@kumquatmagoo]

Hell yeah! Had someone on reddit ask for messhugah recommendations and Straws Pulled at Random was mine. My favourite metal outro of all time, and I've heard Selkies.

[@Kingcrab0]

When he was talking about how Meshuggah invented djent, all I was thinking was: "Devin Townsend summarized it best." Then the exact snippet of Deconstruction came on that I was thinking of and I was surprised but gained even more respect for him.

[@Table.Fables]

First heard Meshuggah music only about 5 years ago. Started with Chaosphere. Didn’t get it at all… then I heard New Milennium Cyanide Christ.. and OH MAN did I get it! To this day I think it’s one of the cleverest songs ever composed; accessible and obscure all at once

[@ThomasBritz]

Great video! My first encounter with Meshuggah was borrowing None from the local library and being blown away by Aztec Two-Step. I forgot the name of the band and the EP, and spent years looking for the band until discovering Nothing, and then I and Catch 33, several steps along their evolution. Every new album is a new revelation, even though they could easily rest and just do more of the same.

[@allyourbasearebelongtous2191]

Destroy Erase Improve straight up changed my whole outlook on metal music as a genre. It was incredible.

[@Shootingbloodfromyourc0ck]

That breakdown in Future breed machine…

[@tsbdgaming69s96]

What you described as polyrhythms is actually polymeter. I’ll describe both in detail… Polyrhythm is when two instruments play different subdivisions in the same meter, for example, eighth notes over eighth-note triplets (2:3 polyrhythm). The two rhythms take the same amount of space within that meter. If it’s 4/4 and it’s a 2:3 based on eighth notes, then you’d expect the polyrhythm to be repeated for a total of 4 times throughout the 4/4 measure. That means 8 eighth notes and 12 eighth-note triplets played at the same time within that bar. A polymeter is when there’s two contrasting meters (time signatures) as opposed to subdivisions. For example, 2/4 and 3/4 superimposed would give you 3 measures before it resolves back to the original note. A good way to visualize it and hear it is through an ascending melody and an ascending countermelody. However, you can have both polyrhythms and polymeters at the same time. If you were to take 2:3 polyrhythm and a 2:3 polymeter, you would get 24 eighth notes and 36 eighth-note triplets spread across three measures until it resolves again back to the original start of the sequence.

[@im.weasel]

The first band I have heard that has the djent style was After the Burial. They are still going strong even after losing a guitarist. Coming back to add this bit to my comment. I watched them live in London Ontario Canada a few weeks back. Holy shit they are absolutely incredible.

[@luciusdouglass3645]

after the burial are very underrated. Cursing Akhenaten was the song that got me into them.

[@jahoffm1]

RIP Justin Lowe.

[@mmmmmmmmdaaaamnnnnbabyyyy]

Absolutely love those guys

[@TheLawlbreaker]

@@luciusdouglass3645 Lost in the Static was the first I'd heard from them. It's been on my permanent playlist the first listen.

[@luciusdouglass3645]

@@TheLawlbreaker hell yeah man that's a great choice

[@Nope44bigpapA]

Meshuggah is very mathematic and it's amazing. I remember growing up my favorite band was the mars volta, so I was always digging in the M section of cd stores lol. Of course there was Meshuggah.

[@Joose]

Great video, man. Fear Factory is the other band I credit for the kick-following-chugs sound that everyone uses.

[@jzmmm]

i was just about to mention them too. When i first heard meshuggah, i thought they were a similar style to fear factory who i was a massive fan of back then.

[@riffgroove]

Very true. The two bands used them very differently though. Fear Factory really specialized in that rapid-fire machine-gun style of riffing.

[@MHforJC]

I love the small reference to Devin Townsend! He is really interesting, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on him, Finn!

[@oopsydaizi3s824]

That would be a good idea!

[@mwilkins1644]

I remember seeing Meshuggah live in Brisbane in 2010. They were insane; but when Bleed came on, it just got brutal! One of the best shows I ever went to

[@ranceshepstone]

Just saw Meshuggah live this month. They had the best live metal performance I’ve ever seen. mind blowing!

[@lexidarling]

I appreciate Meshuggah’s music a lot even though I rarely listen to them. There’s something that feels almost superhuman about their tight, super clinical sound. And it’s very true that melodic metalcore riffs started to decline in favor of rhythmic chugs around the same time that Meshuggah got super influential on that scene. I experienced this firsthand; I knew a guitarist that was playing August Burns Red style melodic leads circa 2009 and jumped headfirst into the djent/Axe FX/8 string stuff by 2012. Interesting times to be sure.

[@lingonberriesofwrath1836]

This video is one of the most researched and insightful works of musicology I've ever come across. As a metal musician, I didn't even realize how much my approach to composing music is owed to the work of Meshuggah.

[@Plemay]

Also Porcupine Tree's Gavin Harrison said in the "In Absentia" documentary that Steven Wilson brought him to a Meshuggah concert to bring him, if I recall correctly, on a new path of drumming. He's (Gavin Harrison) talked about them very highly in different interviews

[@patricksoler]

First off, great video for the uninitiated (me). The first thing I thought of when you mentioned the kick following the guitar chugs was that first Sybreed record that came out in 04.

[@mrconfusion87]

Meshuggah definitely belongs in a Top 20 of "Most Influential Metal Bands Of All-Time" list! ALWAYS IMITATED, NEVER DUPLICATED! 😎🤘🍻

[@raymondpatrick430]

Not taking anything away from Meshuggah but Raymond Herrera was matching the "djents" with double bass on Demanufacture and Obsolete 20 years ago with Fear Factory.

[@jamesw5713]

Perfectly described my thoughts on the band! Im a 40 plus metal fan, Pantera, Slayer, Fear Factory etc, but for some weird reason never got into Messhuggah. First time I heard them was Rational Gaze which came on a Metal Hammer CD back in 2002. 20 years later the riff randomly came to my mind and instantly Spotified it, rest is history, new favourite band with an instant back catalogue!

[@stevekramerf242]

Well, bands like Meshuggah or similar ones like Behold! The Arctopus are more or less Avantgarde/Free Jazz-bands that play with Metal-instrumentation. So, as a normal Metal-fan you have a hard time getting into them, unless you have interest in the more leftfield music out there.

[@cherry4life]

Yes! Destroy Erase Improve introduced me and obsessed my boy Justin who insisted on learning the drums for every song. Today I still try to get people to listen to Meshuggah. I wake up to Bleed on most days🤘🏼

[@maykstuff]

One of the greatest comments I've ever heard about Meshuggah is as follows "It's like having exquisite, beautiful Architecture thrown at you"

[@StevenEveral]

I remember seeing them open for Tool way back in 2002. About half the crowd coudn't make heads or tails of them, but the other half, myself included, were just mesmerized. I was able to get close enough to the stage and counted the tuning pegs on their guitars. I didn't even know an 8 string guitar even existed until that point, much less could be used to make brutally heavy and complex music. I will say this: Meshuggah is to modern metal what Helmet was to Post Grunge and Nu-Metal in the late 90s.

[@padawansound6423]

The Helmet comparison is spot-on.

[@jaywarriuk]

Nice to hear a shout out to sikth in the vid! Looking forward to seeing them later this year in the uk on their 20 year reunion tour!

[@ladislavvalnoha150]

But no Fellsilent or Textures...

[@IvanoForgione]

Love this video. You're perfectly right on almost everything, and mention most of my fav musicians I grew up with, in the nineties. Sublime stuff.

[@username40000]

Bill Burr: *does the helix ad read*, "...if you don't like it after 3 months, return it for free. Gggrroosssss"

[@drewbairdummel]

I discovered Meshuggah from an interview of Jay Postones of Tesseract. He said that Meshggah was a principal influence on him and that the way that Thomas Haak drums is almost melodic. I had to investigate after that.

[@kylecoffman5415]

They're the best, straight up Shuggah is monumental. They've changed my life. As a master musician, they check every box. 20/10 Meshuggah is love and life. And In Life Is Death ❤❤❤

[@m_js5709]

I was 17 when Obzen came out in 2008. I really liked Swedish bands so I listened to them too. I thought it was pretty interesting but also weird, never expected they'd become some huge influence though. Then I kinda fell out of keeping up with metal from 2010-2015 (first few years of my 20s). Consider me shocked when I caught up with everything I had missed during that time and metal core sounded completely different and Meshuggah suddenly went from being an eccentric niche band to being the most influential group of modern metal core & a big part of prog somehow. It was like a weird time skip lol

[@bentaylor5407]

Lol... KZbin had this dancing to meshuggah compilation in my recommendations for ages.... literally watched it yesterday for the first time and I was hooked on their sound. Love your work Finn 👍👍

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Thank you!

[@kjaerdian7864]

Epic video man, been a meshuggah fan for 15 years and still learnt plenty from this, really engaging. Just wanna give an extra shout out to SikTh as you mentioned around 20:00, I believe they have a different but similar level of influence on tech metal, also pioneers with absolutely timeless contributions to the genre. Death of a Dead Day has remained my favourite album of all time for a long time now and even though the likes of Meshuggah, Textures, Gojira, Opeth have come close, it's still a cut above for me, anyone who hasn't given it a go I strongly encourage it, ESPECIALLY if you're into anything that sounds remotely like Periphery.

[@horrifyinggelatinousblob]

I've seen them live a couple times, it's absolutely one of the most intense experiences you will have.

[@20CentFish]

Meshuggah live is probably the most impressive band i've ever seen.. can't get much more tighter than them..

[@jacksdad734]

Everyone paying close attention and making blown away eye contact with each other is a great time.

[@Hyrkh]

I've seen them once but till this date it's one of best concert experiences ever. The music was just so hypnotising I was in one big trip during the show, whilst being completely sober. Just God Tier.

[@legoman786]

I get to see them for the first time in October! I cannot wait.

[@biblicaladrian6007]

They're coming to my city in October Definitely planning on going

[@legoman786]

@@biblicaladrian6007 Denver, CO? That's the one I'm going to.

[@pclindholm]

Nice man - I really like it when you can compress the history of band and get me to listen to a few songs I otherwise would not have tried. Great video!

[@dastardlygonzo]

Meshuggah is one of those bands I never got into but have always had a deep respect for. They basically created an entire subgenre.

[@matthewr1227]

This was a great watch! Meshuggah is one of my favorite bands, and today is my birthday!

[@loganpeters7543]

We comment for the algorithm! We comment for Finn! We comment for ourselves!

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

🙏🏼

[@tylera86]

“Beneath” is one my all time favorite jams.

[@KidneyFailureGaming]

Meshuggah is so otherworldly. Thank you for making this video.

[@ccruz3]

You know a lot of people were looking forward to this one! I think my introduction to the djent sound was when I discovered After The Burial in 2007 after they had released their debut album, but it wasn't until they released the reissue of Rareform where I realized how awesome the sound was (RIP Justin). Later found out about Periphery and other bands coming up around that time, but it wasn't until maybe 2011 when a buddy at the church we both used to go to introduced me to Meshuggah. I haven't been the same since haha.

[@midnightfm87]

My first exposure to Meshuggah was “Rational Gaze” which appeared on the first MTV2 Headbangers Ball album. I discovered so many great bands from those albums.

[@derekfletcher8934]

Fuck yea! I had those as well. But I think my first exposure to Meshuggah was on an Ozzfest cd, probably 2002 New Millennium Cyianide Christ. That Headbangers Ball double disc was the shit though. Introduced me to Chimaira and Mastadon.

[@doubtfuldonkey1]

17:40 Finn: "The secret to Meshuggah's tone is not their gear". I now demand an acoustic Meshuggah album using their electric guitars.

[@98cents]

I met some Swedes in 2017 for a live Meshuggah show and they told me the city is pronounced oo-mey-o, or something along those lines.

[@neonjesus8831]

Remember being introduced to Meshuggah by my guitar teacher in around 2008 and it really set me down a rabbit hole to find other stuff like this, I'm just fucking amazed I got to experience the Djent Scene as it started to unfold on myspace with the original Bulb demos.

[@oldmanriff7633]

I've been aware of them since Obzen, though I never really cared for their music. But the new album Immutable is kicking my ass on a daily basis.

[@RebeIMate]

I want to mention that Meshuggah inspired band Vildhjarta (also from Sweden) is taking things to another level. Their "Thall" is the ultimate evolved version of djent so far and you can actually recognize many bands/songs now that are obviously influenced by their take on that Meshuggah styled djent or THALL.

[@emilklamer6938]

cant describe the love i have for this band

[@wesleyrussell8386]

Meshugga always makes me think of what I think is a Metalocalypse quote, something like "the heaviest part of the song is the breakdown- what if we did a song that was ALL breakdown?"

[@jakegarcia7156]

"while we all have lots of bands who influence, still, we all rip off Meshuggah" - From Planet of the Apes by Devin Townsend Project

[@jameshoy380]

First time I heard Meshuggah I was on Acid and someone put on the just released Chaosphere. That was a good trip.

[@ToyLatrine]

Saw them on tour with Tool. They all came out together and played a ton of different drums together. It was a spiritual experience. I was frying on mushrooms too! God damn what a show. Tool said they needed to get heavier after playing with them. So if you wonder why 10,000 days and Fear Incrobobulum has “djentier” elements thrown in, now you know why.

[@tictocbang7443]

Amazing video. You dig deep, my man. Meshuggah is my favorite band. In concert, they generate a sensory experience unlike any other band I’ve seen.