Artist: Meshuggah
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 1998
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: Chaosphere Artist: Meshuggah Label: Nuclear Blast Records Release Date: 1998 Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Kefka X's Review:
Well, the album title pretty much sums it up. Three years after the pleasing success of Destroy Erase Improve, Meshuggah decided to up the ante and come out with an even heavier, sickening studio album. The results were extraordinary.For those of you who have yet to understand the style and genius of this band, refer to my previous classic review of DEI before reading this one. With that said, the best way to describe Chaosphere in relation to the rest of Meshuggah's catalogue (or should I say, any album ever released) is that it's a sonic nightmare. Gone are most of the headbanging and thrashy riffs that made the previous Meshuggah albums so accessible. Gone are any of the jazz fusion-influenced instrumentals or intermissions to regain sanity. Expect the worst.
From start to finish, Chaosphere is an all-out mathematical attack. The complexity of the music and its polyrhythmic structure is so perplexing it's nauseating. The speed in which it's played is even more remarkable. Thordenal's solos are so fast, intricate and technical they seem almost artificial. Tomas Haake's double bass work is the strongest on this album, and can especially be heard in its full potential during the third track, "Corridor of Chameleons." Jens Kidman's vocals are at his prime on this release, and louder and heavier than ever. It's safe to say that this album crushes.
This may not be your favorite album, this may not be a band that you'll listen to more than once. Chaosphere will never be the next Reign in Blood or Heartwork. Chaosphere exists only to obliterate its listeners. If you've yet to give this epic assault a listen, use discretion.
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