Meshuggah

**Meshuggah** is an extreme metal band from Umeå, Sweden. The band was also named **Metallien**. The band has been playing music since 1985. Meshuggah's music uses changing time signatures and polyrhythms. The band inspired djent, a genre of metal. They made many new sounds using the guitar. The band's current members are singer Jens Kidman, guitar players Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer Tomas Haake and bass guitar player Dick Lövgren.

Meshuggah has been nominated for Grammis two times: once for *Catch Thirtythree*, and once for *obZen*. In 2018, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award for their song "Clockworks". All of the band's albums after *Nothing* have been on the *Billboard 200* music chart.

## History 
### Band starts and *Contradictions Collapse* (1987–1994) 
In 1985, guitarist Fredrik Thordendal started a band in Umeå. The band was named Metallien. Metallien made many demo tapes. After they made these demos, the band ended. Thordendal used the band's name while playing music with other people. He named it "Meshuggah" because the word means "crazy" in Yiddish. The band recorded many demos. It broke up after Kidman left. Kidman made a new band named Calipash. It had Thordendal as a guitarist. It also had bassist Peter Nordin and drummer Niklas Lundgren. The band made 1,000 vinyl copies of the EP. The copies were sold at a local music store. In 1990, drummer Tomas Haake replaced Niklas Lundgren. 

Meshuggah joined Nuclear Blast. Mårten Hagström joined the band to play guitar instead. He was one of Haake's friends. The band made an EP named *None* in 1994. They also made a Japanese version of *None.*

Thordendal was working as a carpenter. He cut off the tip of his left middle finger in an accident.

Later in 1995, Meshuggah went on tour with Swedish band Clawfinger. Nordin had to leave the band because of his dizziness. Gustaf Hielm replaced him. The band went on another tour in late 1995 with Hypocrisy. In 1997, the band moved to Stockholm to be closer to their record label. Thordendal also released his own album. It was named *Sol Niger Within*. At the end of the year, Meshuggah started planning their next album.

### *Chaosphere* and *Nothing* (1998–2002) 
In May 1998, the band said that their next album would be named *Chaosphere*. Meshuggah recorded music for the album in May and June. The band went on a tour in the United States. They released the album in November 1998. *Chaosphere* had less thrash metal music on it. This was because the band wanted to make groovier music. In early 1999, Meshuggah went with Slayer on an American tour. The band started to write new music in 2000. They said that work was going "slowly". Hielm left the band in July 2001. Meshuggah joined Tool on a long concert tour. They played music for over 100,000 people.

*Chaosphere* was recorded in five to six weeks in May 2002. The band decided to play at Ozzfest (a music festival). This made the band have to produce the album in only three days. After recording the album, Meshuggah went on an American tour.

The album *Nothing* was released in August 2002. It sold over 6,000 copies in its first week of being sold. It reached number 165 on the *Billboard* 200. Meshuggah was the first member of Nuclear Blast that went onto the *Billboard* 200 music chart. The compact disc version of *Nothing* has no words on it except for *ingenting*. This means *nothing* in Swedish. At the end of 2002, the band went on another tour with Tool. They also went on their own tour.

### *Catch Thirtythree* and *obZen* (2003–2009) 
In February 2004, bassist Dick Lövgren joined Meshuggah. The band released an EP named *I.* The EP only has one song on it, and it is 21 minutes long. The band took six months to make the EP. In May 2005, the band released the album *Catch Thirtythree*. It is the only Meshuggah album that has programmed drums on it. Seven thousand copies of the album were sold in the first week. It went to number 170 on the *Billboard* 200. The band was nominated for a Swedish Grammy for the album. They made a music video for the song "Shed" in June 2005.

Meshuggah released a remixed version of *Nothing* in October 2006. The remix also had a DVD with videos of the band playing live, as well as the band's music videos for "Shed", "Rational Gaze", and "New Millenium Cyanide Christ".

In March 2007, the band started making *obZen.* They finished the album in October, and released it in March 2008. Most of the time the band took making the album was used to learn how to play the music they wrote. It was the longest time they had ever taken to make an album. *obZen* reached number 59 on the *Billboard* 200 music chart. It sold 50,000 copies after six months. After releasing the album, the band went on a world tour. They played in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

In January 2009, *obZen* was nominated for a Swedish Grammy award. However, it did not win. Haake said the band was planning on making another album. In April, Meshuggah had to cancel the concerts they were going to play at. This was because Haake had a herniated disc in his spine. He got surgery for it, and the band was able to play music in the summer.

### *Koloss,* *The Violent Sleep of Reason,* and *Immutable* (2010–present) 
The band's seventh album, *Koloss*, was released in March 2012. It reached number 17 on the *Billboard* Top 200, and number 12 in Sweden.

In February 2013, Meshuggah released an EP with two songs on it. It was named *Pitch Black*. The extended play has a song on it named "Pitch Black" which was made by Thordendal in 2003. The other song on the EP is a live recording of "Dancers to a Discordant System" from *obZen*. On May 12, 2016, Meshuggah put a video on YouTube saying their next album would be released in 2016. Later, the band said the album was named *The Violent Sleep of Reason*. It was released in October 2016, and reached number 17 on the *Billboard* 200.

In June 2017, the band said that Thordendal was taking a break from touring. He would be replaced with guitarist Per Nilsson from Scar Symmetry. In 2018, Meshuggah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for their song "Clockworks".

In March 2021, Thordendal came back to the band so they could work on a new album. They released their ninth album, *Immutable*, on April 1, 2022.

## Style 
Meshuggah plays many different types of metal music. Many music critics have said their music is experimental metal. It has also been called groove metal, alternative metal, extreme metal, and progressive metal. 

The band has a unique way of playing metal music. They use many complex music styles, such as playing with polyrhythms, polymeters, and changing key and tempo. This makes the music very difficult to play. Hagström has said that "it doesn't really matter if something is hard to play or not. The thing is, what does it do to your mind when you listen to it? Where does it take you?" Meshuggah uses many different polymeters. In some songs, the guitars play in 17/16 (a difficult meter), while the drums are in 4/4 (a common meter). Hagström has said that "everything we do is based around a 4/4 core". He said the band plays "parts differently around that center to make it seem like something else is going on."

## Members 
### Current members 
* Jens Kidman – singer
* Fredrik Thordendal – lead guitar, supporting singer
* Tomas Haake – drums, spoken vocals
* Mårten Hagström – rhythm guitar, supporting singer
* Dick Lövgren – bass 

### Timeline 
## Studio albums 
*1991: *Contradictions Collapse*
*1995: *Destroy Erase Improve*
*1998: *Chaosphere*
*2002: *Nothing*
*2005: *Catch Thirtythree*
*2008: *obZen*
*2012: *Koloss*
*2016: *The Violent Sleep of Reason*
*2022: *Immutable*

## References 
## Other websites 
*Meshuggah's official website
*Meshuggah  at MySpace
*Meshuggah at Allmusic