I was driving Ken Vandermak when he was in my hometown, to play with DKV. We were waiting for Hamid Drake to go out from the hotel, I was playing System of a Down in the car. It's good music when you like speeding. Ken told me "if you like this, you have to try Meshuggah, you will love it". I did. I don't "love" it, but I must admit, it's advanced and complex. The only "boring" thing is pretty flat level of "emotion", it's like most metal groups - headbanging all the time. In this particular aspect, it's opposite to jazz.

It's good to see Meshuggah acknowledged on the Zorn list, they are easily the most complex and innovative metal band around. The strange thing with Meshuggah, though, is that hardcore metal fans in general don't like their latest album "Chaosphere", which to me is the defining album of the entire metal genre. It's like the complexity goes way over their heads. I've had numerous discussions with metal fans on Meshuggah, and the large majority of them will say they prefer "Destroy Erase Improve". I'm really anxious to find out what their new album "Turbulence" is going to sound like; my prediction is that they will bow down to the demands of their fans, and come up with an album more in the vein of "Destroy..." than continuing the mathematical perfection of "Chaosphere". It seems that Meshuggah gets a lot of recognition from the non-metal avant-garde. I know Trey Spruance (Mr.Bungle) is into them big time, and there are also rumours that the metal record that Francisco Lopez used to construct "Untitled #104" is in fact "Chaosphere". If you're into technically complex stuff that is still really heavy, I would also recommend Nile's "Black Seeds of Vengeance". The drumming on this album is completely insane. They also have a new album in the works, but I really don't think they can come up with anything as good as the first half of "Black Seeds...", which is just completely mind-blowing. Seeing them do this stuff live totally changed my perception of what was humanly possible in music. While you're at it, check out the new Arcturus album, which is the best album I've heard this year in any genre (although Nurse With Wound's "Man With The Woman Face" is also top-notch). The perfect post-modern metal album. Frankco.