Let's do this.

Meshuggah has always been a great band for delivering progressive metal without too many overly fancy complications attached to it. Their music hasn't usually included noodly guitar work, 10-minute epics, or lots of added instrumentation. Albums ranging from all the way back to "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere," with their thrashy and fast-paced energy, all the way up to "Nothing," "obZen," or "Koloss," all focused on slow and pummeling grooves with more complex riffs. Their music seems to take more influence from bands like Pantera and Sepultura than Dream Theater or Porcupine Tree.

"Catch Thirtythree," however, is easily Meshuggah's most intricate release. Rather than a collection of ten or so songs, this thirteen-track piece is just that: a piece. One complete work. Every track flows into the next in one unbroken stream of consciousness. This cohesion makes the music feel more unified, in addition to the interesting lyrical themes (which we'll get to later).

What's strange to note straight from the get-go is that the first three movements of "Catch Thirtythree," "Autonomy Lost," "Imprint of the Un-Saved," and "Disenchantment" all sound nearly identical to one another. The reason these tracks are divided like this--at least in my mind--is to demonstrate how slowly the same riff can change over the course of the five minutes that these tracks encompass. Almost all the parts of this album do this, and it serves a purpose in the understanding of the music.

That's what this entire piece is based around. Riffs in really odd time signatures that morph slowly and dig into the listener, beating them over the head with note after note. This is something we have guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström to thank for. It's a very low end and unique tone that this band pioneered, utilizing 8-string guitars, and a lot of gain and distortion. You can see it used in a lot of more recent bands, like Periphery and the like, but it all started with Meshuggah.

Another thing that's peculiar about this album that I didn't know about for a while after I first heard it--and still forget sometimes--is that the drums on this album are programmed. The hits were all recorded by Tomas Haake and made into a virtual drum kit called the "Drumkit from Hell," which a few other bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed have used. The reason I forget that it's a machine from time to time is that they feel so real. I don't doubt Tomas' ability to play these parts live; there's even video of him doing so.

Probably my favorite two parts of this album are the tracks "Mind's Mirrors" and "In Death - Is Death," which focus more on the absence of sound rather than the presence of it. Tomas delivers some vocoded spoken word on the former, and there's a lot of fantastic silence and higher-end guitar work on the latter. These tracks provide a necessary relief from the constant chaos Meshuggah brings to the rest of the album.

The lyrical themes that I hinted towards are also a huge factor in dissecting the layers of madness on this record, as they're all about paradoxes ("Catch-22," "Catch Thirtythree..."). Tomas' provoking lyricism is brought to life by the ravenous pipes of Jens Kidman, who has one of the best harsh vocals I've ever heard in my life. Look at these lyrics and tell me you don't want to see them worked into something badass.

Sweet.

For being simply an experiment from Meshuggah, what was brought to the table on "Catch Thirtythree" could easily pass as a true full-length in their discography. It has more substance than anything they'd done personally and serves as a reminder that they're one of the best in the business.

1. Autonomy Lost 10/10

2. Imprint of the Un-Saved 10/10

3. Disenchantment 10/10

4. The Paradoxical Spiral 9/10

5. Re-Inanimate 9.5/10

6. Entrapment 10/10

7. Mind's Mirrors 10/10

8. In Death - Is Life 9.5/10

9. In Death - Is Death 10/10

10. Shed 10/10

11. Personae Non Gratae 9/10

12. Dehumanization 9.5/10

13. Sum 10/10

Overall: 10/10

Number eight will be here soon.