Champions of innovation, upon hearing that the gears have begun to shift in the Meshuggah machine the coveted title of Album of The Year is beginning to slip through other bands’ fingers. Always wanting to push the envelope this time the Swedes focused their attack on the recording itself. Previously toiling with tone and experimenting with additional strings now the band look to themselves as exactly that, a band.
Opting to record The Violent Sleep of Reason entirely live was a ballsy idea. Having recorded my band’s little EP, a small punk come Hardcore outfit, live I have even the most vague idea of just how hard it is to nail even the simplest of material, to then go onto have Meshuggah once again rewrite the blueprint all over again and to do it with such aplomb. Well you wouldn’t expect anything less.
With The Violent Sleep Of Reason however the band feel at last as though they have released a record for themselves. At a stage at their career after the band have been breaking boundaries consistently, Meshuggah have at last released and album that sounds like a real jam. A complicated jam but a jam nonetheless. Breathing life into this long sterile medium of Modern Metal which for many was surely an unexpected move for the Swedes (aliens).
Whether or not this will spawn an entire new movement that seems to happen every time a new Meshuggah record is released remains to be seen but The Violent Sleep Of Reason, is quite possibly the most honest portrayal of a band built through perfection. The imperfect crackles of Kidman’s voice on title track “The Violent Sleep of Reason” or feedback on “Nostrum” gives human characteristics to something that was an arid quality. Shifting the paradigm and focusing on imperfection has led the group evolve once again and will no doubt see them even more respected in their field. Simply put, you’ll never be as good, as tight or as simply heavy as Meshuggah.
