page_title: Meshuggah
section_title: Destroy Erase Improve (1995–1997)
hierarchical_section_title: Meshuggah / History / Destroy Erase Improve (1995–1997)
caption_attribution_description: English: Guitarist Fredrik Thordendal from Swedish band Meshuggah on July 22, 2012
context_page_description: Meshuggah is a Swedish extreme metal band from Umeå, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's current lineup consists of founding members lead vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake since 1990, rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström since 1993 and bassist Dick Lövgren since 2004. Since its formation, the band has released eight studio albums, six EPs and eight music videos. Their latest studio album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, was released on 7 October 2016.
  Meshuggah has become known for their innovative musical style, complex, polymetered song structures and polyrhythms, thus rose to fame as a significant act in extreme underground music, an influence for modern metal bands and has a cult following. The band was labelled as one of the ten most important hard rock and heavy metal bands by Rolling Stone and as the most important band in metal by Alternative Press. In the late 2000s, the band was an inspiration for the djent subgenre.
  In 2006 and 2009, Meshuggah was nominated for a Swedish Grammis Award for their albums Catch Thirtythree and obZen, respectively.
context_section_description: In January 1995, Meshuggah undertook a short European tour organized by its record label Nuclear Blast. Afterwards, the band returned to the studio to record the album Destroy Erase Improve at Soundfront Studios in Uppsala, with Daniel Bergstrand as a producer. Shortly thereafter, the band went on a European tour supporting Machine Head for two months. During the tour, Nordin became ill and experienced difficulties with his inner ear balance. Due to the resulting chronic dizziness and vertigo, Nordin was forced to leave the tour and travel to Sweden. Machine Head's bassist Adam Duce offered to cover his absence; however, Meshuggah decided to continue as a four-piece. Sometimes Thordendal played bass, while other times the band performed with two guitars. In this lineup, Hagström would use a pitch shifter to play his guitar at an octave lower than usual.
  Destroy Erase Improve was released in May 1995, with positive response from critics for the "heady tempos and abstract approach". Kidman described the album cover: "The title fits the pictures we cut out and stole from reference books in the library."
  In mid-1995, Meshuggah had a short tour with Swedish band Clawfinger in Scandinavia and Germany. Nordin had to leave the band because of his sickness and was replaced by bassist Gustaf Hielm during the tour. In late 1995, Meshuggah went on a month-long tour with Hypocrisy.
  During 1996 and 1997, Thordendal worked on his solo album Sol Niger Within, which was released in March 1997 in Scandinavia and in April in Japan. He also hosted Mats/Morgan Band's debut. In 1997, Meshuggah recorded an unreleased demo, toured occasionally, and played a few concerts in its hometown. In May, Meshuggah moved to Stockholm to be closer to its management and the record industry in general.
  The EP The True Human Design was recorded and released in late 1997. It contained one new song entitled "Sane", and one live and two alternate versions of Destroy Erase Improve's opening track "Future Breed Machine". Thordendal's solo album Sol Niger Within was simultaneously released in the United States, and Meshuggah started to plan its next album at the end of the year.
caption: Lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal performing in 2012
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