Meshuggah
obZen

Hello everyone, I'm new here, so I would be grateful if you could give me useful advice on how to improve my review writing.

While thoroughly browsing the Debaser database, I noticed today that a review already exists on the album I want to review, but since both the rating and analysis by the reviewer did not seem very objective to me, I decided to reanalyze the album from another point of view to draw different conclusions: the album I'm referring to is "obZen," the latest album by Meshuggah.

Formed in 1987 in Sweden, more precisely in Umea, Meshuggah has always been considered one of the most atypical creatures in the metal scene. Despite offering a genre that can be defined as technical-post thrash metal, they have always stood out from other bands thanks to a use of technique that is never too exhibitionist, a pitfall into which many others fall, leading them to inevitably decay into pure self-celebration and self-promotion. From 1991, the year "Contradictions Collapse" was released, to today, these five musicians have always maintained a very high level of composition in their albums, all supported by carefully crafted and polished songwriting, refined almost to perfection, never leaving anything to chance, and once again with this "obZen," the tradition is respected: from the first listen, the album sounds powerful and cohesive, the rhythms are always very complex, the songs are intricate and all supported by Fredrik Thordendal's essential yet always refined guitar lines, which are, from my point of view, the true focal point of the band. We then find, once again, behind the microphone one of the most acidic and distinctive singers, vocally speaking, in the extreme scene, namely Kidman, who for the past ten years has continued to offer us a sort of scream/growl that is at least atypical.

From "Combustion" to the 9 minutes and 36 seconds of "Dancers To A Discordant System," the album sounds incredibly close to the band's typical canons, and while it doesn’t offer anything new in the strictest sense, no one can feel dissatisfied with what the band has accomplished: there are alternating moments where speed and power take center stage, as can be seen in "Bleed," one of the best tracks on the album, but at the same time, there are more typically Meshuggah-esque tracks, thus featuring rhythms that often start slow and then suddenly accelerate, creating a sense of claustrophobia that is hard to find with other bands.

It is also worth noting that, unlike what happened in other albums, in this case, the solo parts that tended to dilute the length in older Meshuggah albums are absent, and solos appear only on rare occasions, always being extremely sober and tasteful, with even a few hints of jazz.

Although no one is particularly struck or shocked anymore by a proposal that has already been well-rotated and experimented with, the 2008 Meshuggah still manage to hit the mark, always proving to be exceptionally fresh and full of brilliant ideas that make an album like "obZen" a step above many other releases in the metal field.