Meshuggah - Immutable

Album Review

Apr 2

Meshuggah

Immutable

Immutable deservedly ranks among their top three albums and immediately becomes a classic in their lengthy, heavy, neverendingly-dizzying discography.

There is nothing on Immutable that you haven’t heard Meshuggah do before.

And yet, it’s everything you would want to hear in a Meshuggah record.

The Swedish quintet returns with their ninth studio album and the first released on a label not named Nuclear Blast, released with Atomic Fire.

Instead of expanding or exploring new territory, the band doubles down on the sound that is truly theirs and theirs alone. They have built a wall around their identity and fortified it with a moat. No one comes close to their sound.

Immutable is over an hour of thick, dense, sludgy, heavy-as-hell metal that morphs slowly. There is a tiny respite from the chaos, with an occasional pause before diving back into its relentless cacophony of complexity.

Meshuggah is a machine.

A factory.

A factory line of precise polyrhythms expertly hammering along with such unabashed disregard for structure.

There are no verses here.

There are no choruses here.

There is no structure here.

Meshuggah is an industry of serious progression.

That said - there are some epic grooves that Meshuggah gets itself into. For example, “Phantoms” might be the closest thing you can tap your toe along to without getting utterly lost. Later, “Kaleidoscope” gives you more head-nodding grooves to sink into.

Meshuggah is an enigma of incredibly unique evolving time signatures and straightforward concepts and riffs.

Anchored by a generational talent in drummer Tomas Haake, both rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström and bassist Dick Lövgren are completely playing in unison every song, every riff. They don’t deviate from each other. Ever.

They follow the shake-your-head-at-how-complicated bass drum of Haake. Aside from that, you’ll get the occasional lead guitar of Fredrik Thordendal strumming a little higher up, roaming around in no particular direction to add at least a little dynamic to the sludge.

The lead single I Am the Thirst is an odd pick and probably the most unlike the rest of the album song. While opener Broken Cog is the absolute epitome of a Meshuggah track and a great selection to lead things off with its ‘look-at-how-good-we-are-at-counting riffs - the star of the album is They Move Below.

The 9+ minute track is actually a beautiful song.

Yes.

In it - Meshuggah gives us substance that you won’t hear on their essential Chaosphere record from 98’. In their early albums, like their name suggests, it’s chaos. It’s crazy. Very frantic, exclusively frantic metal.

They Move Below starts with a mellow guitar riff.

It bends.

It reaches out into the darkness with an angry fist and slams down anything in its path.

It falls into several intricate grooves, leading to a new passage and climaxing with a gigantic outro. There are even the remnants of a guitar solo effort. There are no vocals.

Which happens to be a story unto itself. Lead vocalist Jens Kidman lays his picture-perfect growls on top of the album in a particularly sparse and refreshing way compared to the rest of the metal landscape. He is not (ever) the focal point of any song. His efforts are to elevate and enhance, never to steal the show.

Bottom line: If you are a Meshuggah fan - you will devour this album.

It’s them doing what they have always done and doing it at the highest level.

As their ninth album, Immutable deservedly ranks in their top three and immediately becomes a classic in their long, heavy, neverendingly-dizzying discography.

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