One of the most ridiculous trends in recent years is djent, a form of metal rooted in the mathematical tempos, dizzying polyrhythms and jackhammer guitars of Swedish experimental metal veterans, Meshuggah. New pioneers of the djent scene, including Periphery and Tesseract, are combining Meshuggah’s inventions with progressive noodling and the sugary choruses of metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage to create a dichotomy of sound praised by many for its incongruity and shunned by others for its, well, silliness. Unsurprisingly, Meshuggah want nothing to do with the alleged genre, and it’s actually possible that being credited as progenitors of djent inspired them to create the diverse, playfully inventive and mindblowing Koloss.

There’s one element that unites Meshuggah with the djent crew — the desire to stretch boundaries. But while young djentlemen strive to be expand their parameters by learning their instruments and following a challenging formula, Meshuggah have always shunned convention by reinventing themselves with each new outing.

The band’s last record, 2008′s obZen was an unrelenting barrage of rage, paranoia and misanthropy that mirrored the insanity of a war-ravaged globe, and (perhaps accidentally) adopted the axiom that to rebuild it is sometimes necessary to destroy. With the ground razed and the slate… read more »