### Meshuggah: Contradictions collapse

#### 29/10/06 || Lord K Philipson

Released: 1991

##### Introduction

I’ve said this before, but once upon a time Meshuggah actually did make alot of sense in the scene. This was way before they completely lost it and went all cycles and shit. Meshuggah used to be a fucken awesome thrash band. I got this album from Nuclear Blast Records on fucken cassette back in the days and I even think I still have the damn thing in the attic.

##### Songwriting

9. Complete and utter brilliance when it comes to composing catchy tunes. There’s alot of technical stuff here but the main thing is that it fucken grooves like a mongoloid fucken bitch getting fucked on prom night. By today’s standards it might not seem that overly technical, but I’m sure alot of bands wish they could compose shit like this today.

##### Production

9,5. I have always loved the sound of this album. Even though the output is a little low, everything is so clear and crisp it makes corn flakes look like cotton. I’m sure that is a good comparison that makes tons of sense… Ugh. You can hear exactly everything and the levels are fucken fantastic. I dare you to find another album from 1991 that sounds this good. If it had a little more bass (not the instrument, fucko) in the picture as well as a higher output, this would be a fucken 10. But 9.5 ain’t cat-piss either.

##### Guitars

9,5. Even if I’m not the biggest fan of solos, these guys made it interesting even at an early stage. And when it comes to the rhythm-axes… Man… Few albums holds this many groovy riffs with a tightness quite unmatched. The sound is awesome as well. Not overly distorted but heavy as a 20000 pound penis.

##### Vocals

8. Exactly the kind of vocals you expect in music like this. Thrashy, aggressive and no bullshit included. The backing vocals they use all over the place sounds fantastic as well.

##### Bass

10. Oh man… One of the best bass sounds I have ever heard in metal, along with the ones on Seance’s “Saltrubbed eyes” and my own album, “Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate”. This is how bass is supposed to sound in thrash. Metallic, clear and in your fucken face.

##### Drums

10. I have 2 words for you… Tomas Haake. Original drummer Fredrik Lundgren impressed the shit out of me on the “Psykisk Testbild” EP, then Tomas Haake entered the band and brought drumming to another level. There’s no other score than 10 for this guy and the sound of the drums is completely ace.

##### Lyrics

7. Meshuggah had a thing for putting weird words together for song titles back in 1991. The dictionairy must have been used more than pussy is at the Red Light District. Mainly, the lyrics deal with humanity’s stupidity, society etc. etc. No blood, no gore. Just lyrics that goes well with the concept of a thrash band of the 90’s.

##### Cover art

8. Lovely colours. Orange is apparently metal after all. The statue of liberty together with the nuclear cloud in the background speaks of coming devastation at large. It’s an eerie pic, though beautiful.

##### Logo

7. Very clean and no frills whatsoever. Just “Meshuggah” in some weird font I wouldn’t use for anything. Nice that they have kept it still to this day.

##### Booklet

I never owned the cd but the cassette. I’m not sure I ever owned the LP either. Nuclear Blast was probably too cheap to hand out LP’s to fanzines. I can’t remember for shit what the cassette looked like, but hey, the cover is nice so I’ll give the booklet, the LP and the cassette a 7.

##### Overall and ending rant

9. The first thing I heard with these guys was the “Psykisk Testbild” thing released before this full-length debut. I was sold on them right away. They were so above the rest of the bands coming out of Sweden (and pretty much any other country) at the time. I used to be in touch with original bassist Peter Nordin over regular mail (no internet back then, you know) and I even interviewed him for my fanzine. He was a cool guy for sure. I wonder what the fuck those ex-members are doing today coz quality like that shouldn’t be allowed to just bail on the music biz. Anyways, “Contradictions collapse” is a grandiose masterpiece and I’m suprised I haven’t covered it for this section earlier.