One of the undisputed pioneers of metal in the genre itself, having written seven albums over their twenty five year career, each pushing the boundaries further and further. Beginning more as a thrash band but over time sculpting their sound to eventually become the forward thinking musicians we all know today. Meshuggah have been paving the way for forward thinking experimental metal. However there is one such album that I believe truly defines Meshuggah as a whole, their being, their ideology and most importantly their sound.
Made up of thirteen tracks which formed together create one continuous sound, beginning with “Autonomy Lost” we’re thrust straight into Meshuggah’s signature lethargic sounding riff that slowly evolves over the record. Moving through all sorts of different emotions, always building from the original opening groove of ” Autonomy Lost” to the changing soundscapes that lead you into the foreboding sound of “Minds Mirrors” , “In Death – Is Death” and its following track “In Death – Is Life” . Masters of tension Fredrik Thordendal is able to craft a dissonant sound that is musically speaking unresolved giving you a feeling of unease. Helped by the unorthodox use of their guitars “Minds Mirrors” enhancing the imposing feeling brought on by the sheer weight of the sound with the robotic speech of Kidman.
This is the crux of the thematic element of the record
“The feeding frenzy of my starving soul , gnawing voraciously at the bones, the exo skeletal patch work protecting my own reflection within, the twin insane engaged, in the mirror act of chewing away, at the shell of my attacking self, the paradox unseen , treacherous this deceit, to make no choice matter , to have and yet lose yourself, until finally all reasons why are forgotten, to live through ones own shadow, mute and blinded is to really see, eclipse the golden mirror, and then reflection is set free.”
With this speech essentially what Meshuggah are trying to do is illustrate the meaning of paradox, even in this speech alone there are paradoxical matters, “to make no choice matter” for example, seemingly we’re told that every choice we make will in fact matter, therefore ; to have no choice matter essentially means choice is benign. But not only do they tend to philosophy in a lyrical matter. In the way that Catch Thirty-Three is written it essentially could go on forever, with the opening track until the final fade out, once again mirroring the idea of the paradoxical. With the entire album evolving from one main riff to then seemingly conclude it and return to nothing again portrays the idea of infinite.The infinite idea is also in the album’s artwork with three snakes eating each other.
This album is not only a masterpiece in metal but could very easily and pretentiously even be deemed to be a true work of art, with careful though put behind the record and every detail meticulously worked out, from the slow crawl in the beginning to the second act of “Minds Mirrors” and the climactic finish where Meshuggah seemingly push the listener to the very limit and then go even further than that in the “Shed” “Personae Non Gratae” “Dehumanization” to the explosion of sheer energy of “Sum”. Catchy Thirty-Three is not only a masterpiece but is an archetypal album in music itself.
