Put that quote on the cover next to "This shit makes Slayer look like Taylor Swift" and you have the highest recommended extreme metal album of the year.
I am honored Sirs. Much love from down under. You guys are funny as fuck and I love watching your reactions. Especially when the community picks songs that you can't help but enjoy instead of ones they know will put you off.
@Smokey I think he was referring to the fact that the bass drum follows the guitar, playing in an odd time signature, while doing 4/4 snare, hi-hat, and cymbal work. It sounds like 2 drummers because it is essentially 2 time signatures being overlapped.
The reason you are hearing it as 2 drummers is because Tomas Haake (the Drummer) is playing a syncopated poly-rhythm. 1. High hat playing constant quarter notes. (1, 2, 3, 4|1, 2, 3, 4 etc) 2. Snare playing on the 3rd note of the note of the High Hat ( 0, 0, 1, 0| 0, 0, 1, 0 etc) with all other notes played softly. 3. His kick pattern is a complex groove. Put simply its a pattern of 2 32nd notes and 2 16th notes. That means every time the hit hat is hit once he plays 4 hits on the bass drum. (LR L R, LR L R, LR L R, LR L R| LR L R, LR L R, LR L R, LR L R etc) and throws in an extra seemingly random 32nd note in the pattern to give it that rolling feeling. The guitar are following his legs playing a second level of poly-rhythm over it. The Lead Guitar's solo section is a rhythmically displace solo. Meaning his 1 repeating cycle does not match with drums or the bass and rhythm guiter. So each bar it lines up with a different number moving from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 then back to 1 after 5 bars. All of this craziness (not even their most complex song check out Clockworks) and you can still headbang to it. Simply amazing band!
That specific kind of pattern he is playing on the bass is called a "Herta." Additionally, it should be written as LRL R. That better describes how it is being played.
The kick patterns change, the first is... well, it's not just that, the rhythm figure plays 43 times across the whole phrase (8 bars I think), for the first minute or so, then it changes into a figure which is 5 notes long, then another, then another.. it's never consistent and they're all different lengths. Quite amazing!
Slayer's fucking iconic, and completely awesome, but compared to Meshuggah's aggression, Slayer is meek. So yea, it's pretty accurate. I've seen Slayer and Meshuggah live, I came out of the Meshuggah concert with a bleeding forehead from the pit.
Great comment! To me personally, Meshuggah is pretty boring though. The repetitive palm muting along with the bass drum and 'most-often' absence of guitar solos gets boring quick. I do like the polyrhythm thing the drummer does though. Slayer in the hey day were an awesome metal band with some variation. I like Thorendahl's solo album more than any Meshuggah stuff.
Britton Stanaland Acquired taste indeed. It took me a minute to get used to OPETH for example back in their heaviest days but the pure songwriting genius of Mikael and the best drummer in the world Martin Lopez at the time among other things, got me hooked deep. Never could get into this screaming, jerky non melodic Mashugga type metal... So what Im trying to say again, do Opeth :D
I think that Bleed could actually be considered to be rock bottom of heaviness. Of cause you could argue that some BDSM Stuff is heavier, but Bleed is just a special kind of in your face
Best quote from this video, lol. Will everyone please take the hint now and stop recommending these extreme metal bands? Yes I personally like Meshuggah, but they're right - you guys knew damn well they weren't gonna be into this. Enough already.
Skinny Buddha this song, particularly. This song was, admittedly, my introduction to Meshuggah but I loved it and soon bought obZen. That being said, I wasn't crazy about the entire album and found out that for me, alot more of their earlier catalogue is more listenable. I think these guys would've possibly liked something like Humiliative.
I'd love to see some more interesting rock sounds not just metal. queens of the stone age or death from above 1979. Or hell if the metal keeps coming lets see some 3 inches of blood
metfan4l lol and 'sensory overload' was a good description too. Maybe they should've started with a "less heavy" Meshugguh song. The blood metaphors were just, to strong in this one haha
I've never understood why so many people recommend this song to people just getting into metal. It's ridiculous. Meshuggah actually has quite a few tracks that are extremely groove oriented and more accessible. They are heavier so it's an acquired taste but to start off with Bleed is bad because it may turn you off to some of their other offerings which are quite fantastic.
A B yea I had Bleed recommended to me first. I listened and couldn’t get into it and went a long time before giving them another chance. Then I heard Do Not Look Down and Demiurge, and gradually worked into their other stuff. Now I love them
Totally agree. Even when I was a huge thrash head, I dismissed this song initially. I got into Obzen and started listening to them a bit more and eventually came around to this song, now to me they're on another level musically.
Yeah I totally agree as well. I think Destroy Erase Improve is a good album to start with. Beneath would work. Soul Burn is almost completely groove oriented. I think people just like seeing the shock value and then feeling cool because they like the song.
“Bleed” is actually one of the most complex progressive metal songs to play on the drums. There is only one drummer in Meshuggah, and his name is Tomas Haake. He is the one who writes most of their lyrics as well. Fun fact: the song was so difficult to play for Haake that they considered leaving it out of the album at one point.
Yeah honestly the triple kick drum separated by the single kick is fucking stupidly hard to play while holding the rhythm of the crash. Am a self considered professional drummer and I am struggling to follow along while air drumming lol
Charles Thompson Different strokes for different folks. However, there is no denying that the drums on this track are considered to be one of the most difficult in metal, and it has become sort of a benchmark for drummers to be able to play this. There is a lot going on besides just the bass drum; maybe if you listen to a decent audio of it you’ll be able to hear it. Cheers.
Charles Thompson Rock on, brother. There is no need to be anal about anything in life, especially something so subjective as music. P.S. Planetary Duality is an incredible album and one of my favorites. Great taste!
Sweden is one of the main countries when it comes to extreme metal! Non-metalheads dont know this about sweden, but if you're a metalhead thats the first thing u think about when u hear sweden! 🇸🇪
Tomas Haake practiced this one song for six months before recording it. The double pedal goes in unison with the guitar's alternate picking, in a different time signature from the hi-hat and snare, which is why it might sound like it's two drummers.
Cool, I appreciate that thanks! I mean... this song would be hard for anyone, not just Thomas...it's an event, and when you see them play it live, they all change like "OK, we have to play THIS song now"...lol.
Fun fact, the song was originally called Aneurysm but they changed the name in the end to Bleed. The drummer, Thomas Haake had to practice twice as long for this song than for the entirety of the album, taking him 6 months of full on practice to be even able to play it.
Meshuggah is for musicians. Unless you are a musician, it is really hard to appreciate the intricacies of the guitar. I highly suggest The Mars Volta, the song Cygnus Vesmund Cygnus. The singing is top notch, and the music is much more palatable, but all the WOW factor! It's 13 minutes long, but don't let it scare you. The song is such a roller coaster, you will not realize it's that long!
As both a fan of metal and rap, I love these reactions and love seeing y’all push your boundaries. Y’all are able to find the good in anything, even what you don’t love, and thats dope.
Tomas Haake is the only drummer I know that'll take 2 guitars, a bass and a vocalist, and turn them into a 2nd drum set. Everything is done rhythmically for the purpose of percussion presence.
Well... Generally it's people from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Danes aren't that good on the metal scene, but if you want to hear some of the only great metal bands from denmark (in my opinion) you should listen to Baest :)
Mercenary is probably the best metal band from Denmark (their older stuff when their vocalist was Mikkel Sandager) It's not brutal by any means, just really good metal. Also, their vocalist and and his brother are currently making new music under the highly anticipated band 'Firesoul', they got 21 tracks recorded already so there should be an album out soon. I have high hopes, be on the lookout out for them!
Bill Burr explained it pretty accurately about the drummer playing one tempo for his hands and a different for his feet. And there is drum cam footage of him playing this song live.
they are not ready for all the death metal and black metal and all that hardcore sub genres of metal, so plz stop asking for it in the comment section.
There are some tracks by some heavy bands that would probably get good reactions....the more dynamic ones that don't get too crazy or have too much cookie monster vocals. But I agree overall, getting them to listen to Meshuggah and other comparably heavy bands is just throwing them way too far into the deep end.
I give them loads of credit for giving it a fair chance, but yeah I'm not surprised by this reaction at all. Maybe now people will stop... Nope, they're still suggesting extreme metal. Smh.
As a 40 year old Mom, I began raising my two children (ages 16 and 12) on Meshuggah about 10 years ago. When my son was 8 years old he said listening to Meshuggah’s music was like “trying to figure out a Math problem.” I think “Shed” and “Mind’s Mirrors/In Death is Death” are our favorite songs (from their Catch 33 album).
@@deaf3326 Well that attitude of yours is not exactly gonna make any partys either lol. Just pointing out that two bands of different genres and time periods is heavy in different ways. Also for me, heavyness is not the same as extreme/brutal.
@@jewel_throne2950 Ok I take the joke, but only if you take mine. Haha, funny. Anaal Natrakh makes Meshuggah sound like.... ....... th-cam.com/video/oFiDcazicdk/w-d-xo.html
Sweden, contrary to what you might think, is the birthplace and home of many types of extreme metal, most notably Melodic Death Metal. Scandinavia in general is known for its cultivation of several unique types of metal, like Norway and Black Metal.
If it wasn't for At The Gates, there would be NO Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth, All That Remains and so so so many more bands. The NWOAHM wouldn't have been so big if it were not for ATG's Slaughter Of The Soul. A genre defining, timeless, perfect album that needs to a staple in any metal heads record collection.
Obzen is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, in my opinion. However, I get that this is not exactly for everyone. Meshuggah is not a band you can just jump into. Meshuggah is egg-head, nerdy technical metal taken to its logical conclusion. Meshuggah is about hypnotic drone, interlocking layers of complexity and perfectly engineered precision. The me, listening to Meshuggah is like listening to a band set out an extremely complicated calculus problem and then attempt to solve it. Meshuggah is about finding where violence accelerates to such an absurd pace that things blur and merge. The cumulative effect of listening to the album is meditative and weirdly relaxing. You either get this and appreciate what the band is trying to do or it sounds like noise to you. Either response is completely valid.
hiro111 agreed and on your side on this one but it takes practice to get what their doing and dive into it. I think it is a trait of the hard rock hm listeners to insist on music that does not immediately sound appealing but once understood gets very addictive and revealing
Listening to Meshuggah requires rewiring your brain to listen in a completely new way. Here's a game I invented that makes listening to them an engaging experience: 1. Find the basic 4/4 beat in the drums 2. Once you have that locked in, try to figure out the rhythmic pattern(s) of the guitars and kick drum and how they interweave with and break down the 4/4 beat. 2. is a real intellectual challenge and you soon realize how pedestrian most music is rhythmically by comparison. Long before "djent" was a thing, most called Meshuggah "Math Metal," and I think that's a better term. They're a band of Terminators with superhuman instrumental ability writing the soundtrack for the Skynet-induced apocalypse. Us mere mortals aren't worthy. Bleed is legendary because of the drumming. Probably the most ridiculously impossible drum track ever; the kick drum part will set fire to your calves within a few seconds, provided you can get the insanely tricky 32nd note pattern started at all. Then Haake adds complex changes and varied rhythms in the hands on top of it. It's godlike.
Mr. Metalhorse Meshuggah are complex and good. I don’t understand the people talking about staying with “groove metal.” The main sequence of this song has a fucking killer groove. Meshuggah explores musical territory in a way that a free form jazz player would. Lots of odd time sigs and sequences that are dissonant. I don’t understand what the complaint is. They fucking rule, and have since 95. They’re a classic metal band with just as much respect in the metal community as any of he big 4. Robert Trujillo drops them all the time.
Music is "about" whatever artists and listeners want it to be about. Music involves fundamental elements like instrumentation, rhythm, harmony, and melody, and artists/listeners can choose to focus on any of these elements and ignore others. Meshuggah are unique in their rhythmic complexity, and listeners can either enjoy/appreciate it or not depending on their tastes. As an amateur musician who can fake my way through some basic drumming (and guitar and piano), I'm fascinated by what they do. It gives my brain a work out in a way that very little music does.
Paul Stout is absolutely right about Meshuggah having killer groove, but actually Meshuggah doesn't utilize many odd time signatures. In fact, most all of their songs are in 4/4. Their genius is in how they take odd-length guitar/drum phrases and loop them around the basic 4/4 groove. If you take a 7/8 riff (eg), it will "finish" an eighth-note earlier than the 4/4 beat and will "begin again" on the final 4/4 beat, and won't "line up" again (so its first beat is the first beat of the 4/4) for several bars. It gives the music the impression that it's constantly shifting/evolving because no two bars are quite the same since the beats keep falling in different places until the "loop" is complete. I also think Meshuggah is better appreciated if one listens to them chronologically. Contradictions Collapse is basically just highly technical thrash, almost could've been the proper follow-up to Metallica's ...And Justice for All. Destroy Erase Improve is the big leap forward, much more technically/rhythmically complex, but still with a lot of thrash grooves. By Chaosphere their transformation into "Meshuggah" (as we know them) is complete. Nothing showed they could do the same thing at slow, sludgy tempos, and Catch-33 showed them capable of expanding their style to a single composition and incorporating various experimental touches. All their albums since have just been variations on the style they developed on Chaosphere, Nothing, and Catch-33.
Mr. Metalhorse I'm treating music as it is and finding things to appreciate about what it is. Meshuggah is rhythmically complex; I can appreciate that. The Beatles are rhythmically simple and harmonically/melodically pleasing; I can appreciate that. Bob Dylan is rhythmically simple, melodically/harmonically neutral, but dude can make the lyrics MEAN something by how he plays/sings; I can appreciate that. Point is that I don't "treat music" as if it was any one thing. I try to find what's unique about artists and then see if I can appreciate that quality. The ones I appreciate the most are often those that are the most unique, because they do something that I can't find in other artists. Meshuggah qualifies.
I’m 34 and been a metal head my whole life. Till this day no one sounds or is like meshuggah. I’ve always consider this technical metal. My favorite song by them is “corridor of chameleons”
Meshuggah is considered “extreme metal” or “math metal” because they like to use polyrhythms and experimenting with different time signatures and they’re one of the most important progressive metal bands of all time in my opinion. but they are pretty extreme to people who aren’t really familiar with this type of music but I still think it’s badass that you guys gave it a shot
Theres definitely polyrhythms, pineal gland optics has tons of em if you listen to the drums, and thats just one example. But they do play mostly in 4/4 and 6/8
Mathcore is perfectly represented by Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge (for they are mathcore) its hardcore/metalcore with a specific instrumentation. Meshuggah is djent all the way.
AHA holy shit dudes, I was watching back a few months ago when you started with Metallica and Pantera. Love that you dudes are so open minded coming into this genre of music. Just so you know, when people say something is "heavy" this shit can change based on opinion. Just like how when you talk about who's got the best flow in hip hop, it's subjective. Real fun!
Thomas Haake, the (only) drummer for Meshuggah, had this to say about Bleed in specific: "It’s the most intricate drum part work I’ve ever done,” he confirms. “It has some sick double bass stuff. It took a lot of practicing, and I had to change my whole style of playing double bass drums. Usually if the song is fast, I play them really hard and go for it, but this is too intricate, with fast little bursts. I had to lay back on the amount of force I put into the strokes and play on a softer level to make the strokes more even, although the second one is usually a lot harder than the first one. “One aspect of ‘Bleed’ is just being able to play the main pattern that opens up the song, which is the most important part. As the song goes on, that pattern is cut into different segments and taken to the very extremes, not just as far as how much you can learn and play, but put into your head. There’s underlying patterns that go very long. The challenge of learning that song would be equal to learning all the rest of the songs on the album combined, pretty much. I started rehearsing that in November [of 2006], recorded it in May, and still didn’t really have it down. Even in the recording phase, I could only do it part by part: I didn’t record the whole song through over and over, but instead recorded the first part ten times, the second part ten times, etcetera, so I had a lot of good takes for each part. It’s not until now that I can play the whole song through.” The drums are so intricate in this song that the guy who wrote the parts took almost a year to be able to actually play it all the way through. That's some serious dedication And, while I love Meshuggah, have seen them live, and consider Bleed one of their finest songs, this is way too extreme to introduce out of nowhere to people just beginning to dive into the deep pool of the metal world. I mean, even later-albums Death would have been a better suggestion - more melodic, equally complex, same intensity and depth to the lyrics, but less... let's say, less "BALLS OUT CRUSH YOU INTO OBLIVION OUR MUSIC IS A HAMMER AND YOUR EARS ARE OUR ANVIL", you know? I'd say Death's "The Philosopher" would have been a much more appropriate song to introduce people to extreme metal in general. But hey, these guys are awesome and respected the batshit insanity that is Bleed, even if they didn't care for it (and I can't blame them, extreme metal is very much an acquired taste), so that was cool as hell.
Great post, Ted. I agree about Death making a better intro to extreme metal, but they have so many great songs that it's tough to narrow it down. I really love Spirit Crusher for its dynamics, but The Philosopher and Crystal Mountain would be good recs as well.
Their record label made a "BLEED drumming contest" in which people sent in videos of themselves playing the song. Plenty of people learned to play the song perfectly in less than a month.
You guys started using the term djent recently in your videos. These guys are the reason that genre exist. The polyrythyms that meshuggah use have started the new wave of bands like tesseract and jinjer and after the burial to do things like this.
Meshuggah needs to be given a second chance. they have songs thats are far easier for newcomers to approach. I'm glad you guys can recognize the raw talent of the drumming. but they have tracks with a lot more groove. I love showing people Rational Gaze, or In Death is Life/In Death is Death. Do Not Look Down or Marrow might be a better choice for new listeners.
Beneath, Future Breed Machine, Transfixion, Humiliative, Clockworks, Born in Dissonance, Rational Gaze, Autonomy Lost. So many more. Bleed is excellent, but not a good Meshuggah introduction.
I have to give Meshuggah another try. I honestly couldn't get into it because I feel the bass punch from the drums is somehow missing, giving them a very tinny sound. That and it seems Jens can only scream one note.
I can get behind your channel. You guys appreciate music for what it is. You don't have a bias and actually have an understanding of what music is. Props to yall.
Much respect that you guys are open minded enough to even review Meshuggah. The guys that requested this song weren't trying to troll you, they genuinely love the song, as do I. Thomas Haake is an incredible drummer and it took him 6 months of practice to even be able to play this song. For someone who is just starting to listen to metal, Meshuggah is like going from 0 to 100. The sound is just so chaotic that it usually turns people off on their first listen. I would recommend coming back to this song, or the band in general after a year or so of listening to metal and see if your opinions changed. Once you get past the initial shock of hearing this style the first time, you will start to recognize whats going on and be able to hear the rhythmic complexities of the song. There is so much going on that its hard to pick out individual instruments, instead its just a wall of aggressive sound. In regards to the growled vocals, i tend to think of them as transforming the voice from a melodic instrument, to a rhythm instrument. With Meshuggah, they are all about rhythm, and the vocal style fits the type of music they write. Keep doing what you do, I love seeing how open minded people react to the music we know and cherish. Also some suggestions on bands you might actually like: Dream Theater, Mastodon, Periphery, Wintersun, Haken, and Opeth to name a few :)
Thomas Haake is the Drummer. and yes, you can watch him plaly this entire song live, he plays it exactly the same lol.. He's one of the best in the world. Good review guys!
tomp316 Yeah and in the interview he explain what the song was about and how it took him six months to be able to play the drums in this song. Serious dedication and it shows.
I have watched your reactions for a while now, and I cant tell you how happy it makes me to see you acknowledging thomas haake as one of the best drummers youve heard. He truly is one of the best in the world. Props guys.
Thank you. This is what I wanted. Thomas Haake (drummer of Meshuggah) writes the music for the band, after writing this drum part on the computer, he practiced it for six months before performing it live. This is not just chaos, this is insanity perfected over years and years of isolated focus. You guys are fucking amazing. btw, I listen to this shit while I sleep.
More classic and far less obscure metal suggestions: Dio - Rainbow in The Dark Mercyful Fate - Melissa Testament - Trial By Fire More recent music: Dream Theater - Pull Me Under Ghost - Cirice Meshuggah and a lot of the other suggestions you are getting here are hard work just to listen to and are *really* acquired tastes.
Come on guys, it's nearly a year since this! We need another Meshuggah reaction, I put forward... -Future Breed Machine -Corridor of Chameleons -New Millennium Cyanide Christ -Straws Pulled at Random Hope you do another soon!
yes the drummer uses dubble base drums. and yes scandinavia in general with sweden along with finnland has the largest quote of metal bands per capita.
You guys have to listen to Stargazer by Rainbow it has literally everything you guys enjoy in music: incredible drumming, Amazing vocals along with one of the best vocal performances ever given, and the song as a whole has an incredible groove and some amazing melodies. Not to mention an awesome phyrigian solo.
The nordic countries have the highest percentage of metal bands per total population in the world. Sweden has one of the biggest collections of Death Metal bands of all countries. As a matter of fact, "Swedish Death Metal" is a separate sub-genre by itself.
Recently found this channel, and I really dig your open mindedness and ability to give credit where it's due, regardless of whether you like the song or not. If only more people acted this way.
The most interesting part for most people is the polyrhythmic aspects of this music. Mesguggah created a sound that had never been heard before as far as anyone really knows. There's a lot to meditate on here but it would take more than one listen.
Guys. "Kingdom" Live at EMG TV by Devin Townsend. That's an entrance to an astonishing, amazing world of a genius that made absolutely mindblowing pieces of music in a lot of different styles. You can't be prepared for this guys' level of mastery.
Meshuggah's lyrics are quite complex. I believe this one is kind of existential, and it sheds light on the paradox that why is the machine that so badly wants to keep us alive (the body) by all the pain and suffering, also hardwired to break down and collapse. Check out "Straws Pulled at Random" that one is not SO heavy.. I am concerned about your sound output quality though ;) They use few frequenzies, but after a while you discover that Meshuggah is actually one of the groovier bands out there
Tomas Haake is considered one of the best drummers in the world. Took him 6 months to learn this song. It's total syncopation, he's hitting every note.
I originally knew of this song through Headbanger's Ball back in MTV's good days. I didn't know it continued after that part until I listened to it in my car a couple weeks ago. My whole life was a lie.
Lamb of God - Grace, Omerta, Ruin, Walk with me in hell, 512, Embers, Vigil, Laid to Rest, Ghost Walking..... Lamb of God is just one of those bands with hit after hit in your face tracks. Very distinct sound to them, the vocals while being screamed, are audible most of the time ( in my opinion ). You just cant go wrong with this band!
Considering how much they liked Gojira, Lamb of God would be a good choice. Melodic, plenty heavy, and compared to Meshuggah relatively accessible. I like that Omerta track a lot too.
The genius is the 3/4 kick drum pulse of sextuplets. The whole song is built around layering complimentary time signatures over that technical difficulty, mastered by Haake.
As a drummer I can say, this is probably one of the hardest songs in terms of double-base technique and endurance. There are songs that you have to be faster for and in terms of complexity you could also do "worse", like Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater, but this is basically like a hardcore technical exercise and endurance test put into a "popular" song. I remember the drummer saying in an interview that this song alone took him as long to learn and properly play as the entire rest of that album and he had to change/adjust his double base playing technique to even be able to do it this cleanly.
Cut off right before the guitar solo?!?!? Frederick was about to go off. Ahhh damn!! Thomas Haake is the drummer and he’s probably the best drummer of my generation. Our Neal Peart (Rush). I’ve heard this dude carry 3 separate beats with the symbols, kick bass and the rest of his kit with mathematical precision. Take it from me and the other comments... Meshuggah has to grow on you a bit. By the way the band name means crazy in Hebrew lol
killthe4string I’m sure it is but would it not have originated as the Hebrew word and just been carried over to the Swedish culture? I’ve definitely heard the word used by Jewish people in the US and I’m sure it’s used the same in other countries as well.
I love your channel! I'm from the same town as most of the members of Meshuggah, and have seen and also met them several times. They are such nice people :) I can sympathize with thinking this is too much, as it was what I thought when I heard it the first time. It's crazy to see them live, considering their age and the complexity of their songs. What I like most about your channel is that you're able to listen to songs of any genre and reacting honestly regardless. That's something I still don't think I can do even though I try to listen to all genres. Thank you for spreading positivity!
I'd love to see a Primus song. Anything from the Antipop album would be a good choice. Something funny I found on their wiki page. "Primus is the only band with its own ID3 genre tag, 'Primus', as introduced by Winamp."
Tomas , the drummer, commented this about the song's meaning : "An aneurysm in your head killing you, and how you're transformed from a living being into dying. It's written in a lot of metaphors."
I know it's an older video, but what I like about these guys is that they keep it real, they didn't hesitate to say they didn't like it and I respect that
I'm proud to be from sweden and starting my own thrash metal band soon! Sweden has great music, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Meshuggah, Opeth, Ghost, Sabaton, Candlemass etc.
![F.HERO Ft. JSPKK x ลำไย ไหทองคำ x M-PEE - ไม่สนิทบิดหมด (Thai Riders Anthem) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kPJZ0UihBfk/mqdefault.jpg)
hahaha...."is it more than one drummer" That's the biggest compliment any drummer can get! but yup, that's meshuggah!
Put that quote on the cover next to "This shit makes Slayer look like Taylor Swift" and you have the highest recommended extreme metal album of the year.
I am honored Sirs. Much love from down under. You guys are funny as fuck and I love watching your reactions. Especially when the community picks songs that you can't help but enjoy instead of ones they know will put you off.
Hussam J the guys have no idea. Lol
hahahahaha for real tho.
Yeah, try that shit with a beatpad. Brilliance always confounds the simple.
This song is all about leg day.
Fairdinkum aye
300th like
Timmy...Timmy! Uh uhg arrrrgauh LIPLA TIMMY KAA!
Haha for the drummer totally!
f a c t s
You recognized the drums and level of difficulty. You passed
thing is they think the bass and the guitar are the drums too
yeah they done fucked up
Tbf meshuggah has a bad ass bassist too.
Also the guitarists are using all kinds of cool palm muting techniques so I see where they’re coming from.
@Smokey I think he was referring to the fact that the bass drum follows the guitar, playing in an odd time signature, while doing 4/4 snare, hi-hat, and cymbal work. It sounds like 2 drummers because it is essentially 2 time signatures being overlapped.
The reason you are hearing it as 2 drummers is because Tomas Haake (the Drummer) is playing a syncopated poly-rhythm.
1. High hat playing constant quarter notes. (1, 2, 3, 4|1, 2, 3, 4 etc)
2. Snare playing on the 3rd note of the note of the High Hat ( 0, 0, 1, 0| 0, 0, 1, 0 etc) with all other notes played softly.
3. His kick pattern is a complex groove. Put simply its a pattern of 2 32nd notes and 2 16th notes. That means every time the hit hat is hit once he plays 4 hits on the bass drum. (LR L R, LR L R, LR L R, LR L R| LR L R, LR L R, LR L R, LR L R etc) and throws in an extra seemingly random 32nd note in the pattern to give it that rolling feeling.
The guitar are following his legs playing a second level of poly-rhythm over it.
The Lead Guitar's solo section is a rhythmically displace solo. Meaning his 1 repeating cycle does not match with drums or the bass and rhythm guiter. So each bar it lines up with a different number moving from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 then back to 1 after 5 bars.
All of this craziness (not even their most complex song check out Clockworks) and you can still headbang to it. Simply amazing band!
That specific kind of pattern he is playing on the bass is called a "Herta." Additionally, it should be written as LRL R. That better describes how it is being played.
I have no fucking idea what you just said. All I know is Thomas Haake isn't actually a human.
what a cool comment
The kick patterns change, the first is... well, it's not just that, the rhythm figure plays 43 times across the whole phrase (8 bars I think), for the first minute or so, then it changes into a figure which is 5 notes long, then another, then another.. it's never consistent and they're all different lengths. Quite amazing!
Thats not a polyrhytm, its strictly 4/4.
"-Meshuggah makes Slayer sound like Taylor Swift" - commentary of the year
A ridiculous thing to say. Meshuggah is ok but c'mon son.
bobthemuffin slayer is fucking boring
Slayer's fucking iconic, and completely awesome, but compared to Meshuggah's aggression, Slayer is meek. So yea, it's pretty accurate. I've seen Slayer and Meshuggah live, I came out of the Meshuggah concert with a bleeding forehead from the pit.
Great comment! To me personally, Meshuggah is pretty boring though. The repetitive palm muting along with the bass drum and 'most-often' absence of guitar solos gets boring quick. I do like the polyrhythm thing the drummer does though. Slayer in the hey day were an awesome metal band with some variation.
I like Thorendahl's solo album more than any Meshuggah stuff.
Definately don't agree when you have songs like Disciple from Slayer.
Messhuggah is an acquired taste even for metalheads. Y'all got thrown into the deep end with this one.
Britton Stanaland
Acquired taste indeed. It took me a minute to get used to OPETH for example back in their heaviest days but the pure songwriting genius of Mikael and the best drummer in the world Martin Lopez at the time among other things, got me hooked deep. Never could get into this screaming, jerky non melodic Mashugga type metal... So what Im trying to say again, do Opeth :D
I disagree. depends on what you mean by metal I guess.
Meshuggah....mainstream....dude....c'mon....no where close to mainstream.
Matthew Jones mainstream in a sense of use.. the name Meshuggah is also a setting on various Amps.
That is so true. I love Meshuggah, but then again I'm into weird shit like that. But you are right that it's an acquired taste.
Rule of metal: There's always something heavier.
Zach bmop there's always a bigger fish
I think that Bleed could actually be considered to be rock bottom of heaviness. Of cause you could argue that some BDSM Stuff is heavier, but Bleed is just a special kind of in your face
until you reach meshuggah
Keep in mind that heaviness is a pretty subjective term, so it really depends what you are used to.
TheEnizeo I️ find shit like Cryptopsy and Pig Destroyer much heavier. Not to say meshuggah isn’t heavy tho.
"Is this heavy?? Let us know in the comments."
The heaviest.
Yes
No. Beatles is heavier.
@@fatboymachinegun no nickelback
@@fatboymachinegun Dire Straits and Eric Clapton is WAY MORE HEAVY
HA! Holy shit the madmen actually did it XD "This shit makes Slayer sound like Taylor Swift" was an appropriate reaction :D
Best quote from this video, lol. Will everyone please take the hint now and stop recommending these extreme metal bands? Yes I personally like Meshuggah, but they're right - you guys knew damn well they weren't gonna be into this. Enough already.
metfan4l ...I had been requesting then to play Meshuggah for weeks. A bit too heavy for their taste but love their opinions. 🤘🤘
Skinny Buddha this song, particularly. This song was, admittedly, my introduction to Meshuggah but I loved it and soon bought obZen.
That being said, I wasn't crazy about the entire album and found out that for me, alot more of their earlier catalogue is more listenable. I think these guys would've possibly liked something like Humiliative.
I'd love to see some more interesting rock sounds not just metal. queens of the stone age or death from above 1979. Or hell if the metal keeps coming lets see some 3 inches of blood
metfan4l lol and 'sensory overload' was a good description too.
Maybe they should've started with a "less heavy" Meshugguh song. The blood metaphors were just, to strong in this one haha
"Is there two drummers?" haha best compliment a drummer can get
"That drummer is....(no words)"
Yes. Exactly.
“Is there more than one drummer?” “It sounds like two different drummers” Awesome comments!
I've never understood why so many people recommend this song to people just getting into metal. It's ridiculous. Meshuggah actually has quite a few tracks that are extremely groove oriented and more accessible. They are heavier so it's an acquired taste but to start off with Bleed is bad because it may turn you off to some of their other offerings which are quite fantastic.
A B yea I had Bleed recommended to me first. I listened and couldn’t get into it and went a long time before giving them another chance. Then I heard Do Not Look Down and Demiurge, and gradually worked into their other stuff. Now I love them
It's like with Joy Division and "Colony". A few would have liked it as the first song by the band
Totally agree. Even when I was a huge thrash head, I dismissed this song initially. I got into Obzen and started listening to them a bit more and eventually came around to this song, now to me they're on another level musically.
I normally request Rational Gaze to people that haven't ever heard them before. It's what got me hooked on them.
Yeah I totally agree as well. I think Destroy Erase Improve is a good album to start with. Beneath would work. Soul Burn is almost completely groove oriented. I think people just like seeing the shock value and then feeling cool because they like the song.
All i can hear is Bill Burr "Purrta purrta purrta purrta"
SAME!
🤘🏻 hysterical. Thought the same.
You just made my day, Bill burr is awesome
haha now im hearing it too 😁
Bill's description of Meshuggah was so spot on
As a metal head, love watching these my dudes - keep it up!
A wild Indiemaus.
INDEIMAUS
INDEIMAUS I LOVE YOUR DARK SOULS VIDEOS
Introduce the Egg to Metal
Totally agree man! Also, stoked to see your God of War stuff soon:)
“Bleed” is actually one of the most complex progressive metal songs to play on the drums. There is only one drummer in Meshuggah, and his name is Tomas Haake. He is the one who writes most of their lyrics as well.
Fun fact: the song was so difficult to play for Haake that they considered leaving it out of the album at one point.
Yeah honestly the triple kick drum separated by the single kick is fucking stupidly hard to play while holding the rhythm of the crash. Am a self considered professional drummer and I am struggling to follow along while air drumming lol
Good luck man...
Charles Thompson Different strokes for different folks.
However, there is no denying that the drums on this track are considered to be one of the most difficult in metal, and it has become sort of a benchmark for drummers to be able to play this. There is a lot going on besides just the bass drum; maybe if you listen to a decent audio of it you’ll be able to hear it. Cheers.
This might help:
th-cam.com/video/bAJ1WTGNISk/w-d-xo.html
Charles Thompson Rock on, brother. There is no need to be anal about anything in life, especially something so subjective as music.
P.S. Planetary Duality is an incredible album and one of my favorites. Great taste!
Sweden is one of the main countries when it comes to extreme metal! Non-metalheads dont know this about sweden, but if you're a metalhead thats the first thing u think about when u hear sweden! 🇸🇪
Don't forget Norway. He'll, all of Scandinavia, really.
A lot of my favorite metal bands are Swedish
Tomas Haake practiced this one song for six months before recording it. The double pedal goes in unison with the guitar's alternate picking, in a different time signature from the hi-hat and snare, which is why it might sound like it's two drummers.
Alie Schabel Just for that comment i'll subscribe to u
Alie Schabel yeah that's how I always do it 🤐
I mean, it is the same time signature.
NOP.
Yeah the entire song is 4/4 no time change.
The kicks follow 12/8 and accents a shuffle beat. That’s just the first riff incarnation.
The song actually is about having an aneurysm and how it's killing you. Aneurysm was its original title too
[TPA] X I'd love to know where you found that out. I always thought they made it because one of them had an accident in a meat grinder...
www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/meshuggah_what_inspired_bleed__why_its_our_most_difficult_song_to_perform_live.html
Cool, I appreciate that thanks! I mean... this song would be hard for anyone, not just Thomas...it's an event, and when you see them play it live, they all change like "OK, we have to play THIS song now"...lol.
It's nice to know that this song isn't about sacrificing pigs or people to Molech, but it's so good that I don't even care.
They have "Spasm" as well, about epileptic seizures.
Tomas Haake is a phenomenal drummer.
Pip Stanton has a metal god
And he's super consistent live as well, barely misses a beat.
6:23 : - 6:29 : The song's literally about having an aneurysm. You nailed it and didn't even know it.
They stopped before the breakdown. They stopped. Before. The breakdown.
Curtis Marta the audio is from the video. Which doesn’t have the breakdown.
I know!! 😭
Curtis Marta yeah missed an awesome part
They were pretending they thought it was over so they can get back to the most requested, trendiest tracks of all genres!
You know you're in the wrong genre of metal when it has a goddamn ''breakdown''
Fun fact, the song was originally called Aneurysm but they changed the name in the end to Bleed. The drummer, Thomas Haake had to practice twice as long for this song than for the entirety of the album, taking him 6 months of full on practice to be even able to play it.
i came here to post this... Salute you man!
I was toing to write the same xD
cheers dude! lml,
YOU CAN'T GO FROM METALLICA MEGADETH BLACK SABBATH TRIVIUM STRAIGHT TO FUCKING MESHUGGAH LMAO
Thank you!
should've eased them in with something like TesseracT or Skyharbor first. >.
At least they have something to compare Lars to now!
Meshuggah is for musicians. Unless you are a musician, it is really hard to appreciate the intricacies of the guitar.
I highly suggest The Mars Volta, the song Cygnus Vesmund Cygnus. The singing is top notch, and the music is much more palatable, but all the WOW factor! It's 13 minutes long, but don't let it scare you. The song is such a roller coaster, you will not realize it's that long!
Chris Rivas I agree so much I admire that guitarist for his ability to pick better than hetfield and I listen to 40 min Dream Theater songs.
As both a fan of metal and rap, I love these reactions and love seeing y’all push your boundaries. Y’all are able to find the good in anything, even what you don’t love, and thats dope.
Nate C. Concerts, well said!
Tomas Haake is the only drummer I know that'll take 2 guitars, a bass and a vocalist, and turn them into a 2nd drum set. Everything is done rhythmically for the purpose of percussion presence.
Luis Chollet He is a monstrous drummer. His footwork has completely changed my approach to drumming.
Scandinavians put out some of the most brutal metal on the face of the planet
Well... Generally it's people from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Danes aren't that good on the metal scene, but if you want to hear some of the only great metal bands from denmark (in my opinion) you should listen to Baest :)
BurningRabbit666 ... "the arcane order" is a metal band from denmark and freaking awesome !
Mercenary is probably the best metal band from Denmark (their older stuff when their vocalist was Mikkel Sandager) It's not brutal by any means, just really good metal.
Also, their vocalist and and his brother are currently making new music under the highly anticipated band 'Firesoul', they got 21 tracks recorded already so there should be an album out soon.
I have high hopes, be on the lookout out for them!
If you were trapped indoors for six months of Winter every year you'd come up with some crazy metal shit also.
SoloriderTV I'm Scandinavian, so yeah.. I know xD
the first time i heard meshuggah i was not ready for it
Prashanna Gautam I had a heart attack
I was out running when I first listened to them. That was an intense fucking run.
No one was...
I heard in the backround somewhere and i wanted to listen to it so i found it later.
I no longer have a functional garage door
First Name, Last Name gold!
That comment about Sweden was so funny... most of the darkest, meanest metal has come from Norway and Sweden....
If you look up a map of "Most metal bands per capita" Sweden and Finland blows everyone else out of the water :D
Norway, Sweden, Finland. It's all about the woods and dist pedals
@Sammy G49 Rest in peace to Alexi Laiho
Bill Burr explained it pretty accurately about the drummer playing one tempo for his hands and a different for his feet. And there is drum cam footage of him playing this song live.
I watched him was one of the most detailed explanation.. respect
Brrta brrrrta brrrrta
I like my metal like my coffee. Black with a little bit of Meshuggah.
TheEriche hahahahaha yes
That’s what I call my girlfriend. She’s meshuggah.
TheEriche lololol
TheEriche black with a little bit of shuggah
I thought you were going to say strong and bitter
they are not ready for all the death metal and black metal and all that hardcore sub genres of metal, so plz stop asking for it in the comment section.
There are some tracks by some heavy bands that would probably get good reactions....the more dynamic ones that don't get too crazy or have too much cookie monster vocals. But I agree overall, getting them to listen to Meshuggah and other comparably heavy bands is just throwing them way too far into the deep end.
I like Meshuggah and i agree dude.. they are not ready for this type of metal
I think this is a little bit too full on for now. I'd recommend Mastodon, Devin Townsend Project, Ghost, Blind Guardian.
No. They're free thinkers, so it comes with the territory.
I give them loads of credit for giving it a fair chance, but yeah I'm not surprised by this reaction at all. Maybe now people will stop... Nope, they're still suggesting extreme metal. Smh.
As a 40 year old Mom, I began raising my two children (ages 16 and 12) on Meshuggah about 10 years ago. When my son was 8 years old he said listening to Meshuggah’s music was like “trying to figure out a Math problem.” I think “Shed” and “Mind’s Mirrors/In Death is Death” are our favorite songs (from their Catch 33 album).
Respect mommy!
Why?
Dude respect to you! Wish you were my mom and respect on the catch 33 shout out! Love mind's mirrors/ in death is death
Catch 33 is an incredible album
Metal is like lullabies for nordic babies ;) (K.I.N.G by Satyricon)
th-cam.com/video/x01j3M3PrGk/w-d-xo.html
Dude these guys are cool as hell.
Johnwaynelsd25 I watched these guys enjoy Tool for the first time ... classic luvem
I recently discovered them myself.... definitely would buy them a beer
"This makes Slayer sound like Taylor Swift"
Hahahahaha
Nah slayer still sounds slayer. This makes Taylor Swift Sound like Taylor Swift
@@deaf3326 Well that attitude of yours is not exactly gonna make any partys either lol.
Just pointing out that two bands of different genres and time periods is heavy in different ways. Also for me, heavyness is not the same as extreme/brutal.
@@user-hu3iy9gz5j Stfu and take a joke smartass
@@jewel_throne2950 Ok I take the joke, but only if you take mine. Haha, funny.
Anaal Natrakh makes Meshuggah sound like....
....... th-cam.com/video/oFiDcazicdk/w-d-xo.html
It took the drummer six months to learn this song.
god raper to learn probably, I heard they write their songs based on math patterns and he had to learn to play the pattern
It took 5 sec for the song to land in my ( FAVORITE SONGS) list
Maybe it took him 6 months to be satisfied with his playing of it
mafoota
The Herta patterns
This is the only song Haake has to use a trigger for.
I love how at 6:28 he accidentally realised the meaning of the song 😂
Sweden, contrary to what you might think, is the birthplace and home of many types of extreme metal, most notably Melodic Death Metal. Scandinavia in general is known for its cultivation of several unique types of metal, like Norway and Black Metal.
Alessandro Benadia an some great early death metal. Buzzzzzzzsaaaaaaw guitaaaars
Early Swedish melo death is better than sex
Oh yeah!
When I was a teenager in the 80's I thought there would never be anything heavier than Slayer. ...wrong.
Pantera?
It's one drummer, Thomas Haake. He apparently had to re-teach himself how to drum for three months just to be able to play this song.
Meshuggah is perfect for working out.
I love that you don't think of Sweden when you hear extreme metal, because Sweden has some of the most influential extreme metal bands ever.
We stand corrected!
If it wasn't for At The Gates, there would be NO Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Unearth, All That Remains and so so so many more bands. The NWOAHM wouldn't have been so big if it were not for ATG's Slaughter Of The Soul. A genre defining, timeless, perfect album that needs to a staple in any metal heads record collection.
Also definitely not happiness, Scandinavians are as suicidal Japanese businessmen.
Opeth, Meshuggah and At the Gates!
7heSlime I️ see this and my mind immediately goes to At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul.
Obzen is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, in my opinion. However, I get that this is not exactly for everyone. Meshuggah is not a band you can just jump into. Meshuggah is egg-head, nerdy technical metal taken to its logical conclusion. Meshuggah is about hypnotic drone, interlocking layers of complexity and perfectly engineered precision. The me, listening to Meshuggah is like listening to a band set out an extremely complicated calculus problem and then attempt to solve it. Meshuggah is about finding where violence accelerates to such an absurd pace that things blur and merge. The cumulative effect of listening to the album is meditative and weirdly relaxing. You either get this and appreciate what the band is trying to do or it sounds like noise to you. Either response is completely valid.
I can't agree more with this album being meditative. Hit the nail right on the head.
This. This. This.
hiro111 you sound like the Rick and Morty fans
Amen.
hiro111 agreed and on your side on this one but it takes practice to get what their doing and dive into it. I think it is a trait of the hard rock hm listeners to insist on music that does not immediately sound appealing but once understood gets very addictive and revealing
Listening to Meshuggah requires rewiring your brain to listen in a completely new way. Here's a game I invented that makes listening to them an engaging experience:
1. Find the basic 4/4 beat in the drums
2. Once you have that locked in, try to figure out the rhythmic pattern(s) of the guitars and kick drum and how they interweave with and break down the 4/4 beat.
2. is a real intellectual challenge and you soon realize how pedestrian most music is rhythmically by comparison. Long before "djent" was a thing, most called Meshuggah "Math Metal," and I think that's a better term. They're a band of Terminators with superhuman instrumental ability writing the soundtrack for the Skynet-induced apocalypse. Us mere mortals aren't worthy.
Bleed is legendary because of the drumming. Probably the most ridiculously impossible drum track ever; the kick drum part will set fire to your calves within a few seconds, provided you can get the insanely tricky 32nd note pattern started at all. Then Haake adds complex changes and varied rhythms in the hands on top of it. It's godlike.
One of the most educated comments I ever read on YT! Nice one bro!
Mr. Metalhorse Meshuggah are complex and good. I don’t understand the people talking about staying with “groove metal.” The main sequence of this song has a fucking killer groove.
Meshuggah explores musical territory in a way that a free form jazz player would. Lots of odd time sigs and sequences that are dissonant.
I don’t understand what the complaint is. They fucking rule, and have since 95.
They’re a classic metal band with just as much respect in the metal community as any of he big 4. Robert Trujillo drops them all the time.
Music is "about" whatever artists and listeners want it to be about. Music involves fundamental elements like instrumentation, rhythm, harmony, and melody, and artists/listeners can choose to focus on any of these elements and ignore others. Meshuggah are unique in their rhythmic complexity, and listeners can either enjoy/appreciate it or not depending on their tastes. As an amateur musician who can fake my way through some basic drumming (and guitar and piano), I'm fascinated by what they do. It gives my brain a work out in a way that very little music does.
Paul Stout is absolutely right about Meshuggah having killer groove, but actually Meshuggah doesn't utilize many odd time signatures. In fact, most all of their songs are in 4/4. Their genius is in how they take odd-length guitar/drum phrases and loop them around the basic 4/4 groove. If you take a 7/8 riff (eg), it will "finish" an eighth-note earlier than the 4/4 beat and will "begin again" on the final 4/4 beat, and won't "line up" again (so its first beat is the first beat of the 4/4) for several bars. It gives the music the impression that it's constantly shifting/evolving because no two bars are quite the same since the beats keep falling in different places until the "loop" is complete.
I also think Meshuggah is better appreciated if one listens to them chronologically. Contradictions Collapse is basically just highly technical thrash, almost could've been the proper follow-up to Metallica's ...And Justice for All. Destroy Erase Improve is the big leap forward, much more technically/rhythmically complex, but still with a lot of thrash grooves. By Chaosphere their transformation into "Meshuggah" (as we know them) is complete. Nothing showed they could do the same thing at slow, sludgy tempos, and Catch-33 showed them capable of expanding their style to a single composition and incorporating various experimental touches. All their albums since have just been variations on the style they developed on Chaosphere, Nothing, and Catch-33.
Mr. Metalhorse I'm treating music as it is and finding things to appreciate about what it is. Meshuggah is rhythmically complex; I can appreciate that. The Beatles are rhythmically simple and harmonically/melodically pleasing; I can appreciate that. Bob Dylan is rhythmically simple, melodically/harmonically neutral, but dude can make the lyrics MEAN something by how he plays/sings; I can appreciate that. Point is that I don't "treat music" as if it was any one thing. I try to find what's unique about artists and then see if I can appreciate that quality. The ones I appreciate the most are often those that are the most unique, because they do something that I can't find in other artists. Meshuggah qualifies.
Sweden produces some of the best metal, because metal *is* happiness ;)
I agree ;)
They really do!
We sure do! We and our neighbor Finland 🤘🤘
If you want the pinnacle of heavy, check out their song Demiurge. That song is what it would sound like if black holes had a soundtrack.
Eagle Heart I fucking love that song
And the demons name is surveillance, another good one
you are my best friend now.
Eagle Heart nope
the whole album is fucking godlike..the hurt that finds you first though
I’m 34 and been a metal head my whole life. Till this day no one sounds or is like meshuggah. I’ve always consider this technical metal. My favorite song by them is “corridor of chameleons”
Me too man! My fave song too! Under rated song of theirs!
Im 51 and into metal my whole life to Ive never heard anything like Mushuggah. My new favorite band. - BT Saints
I'm 78 and been into metal my whole life. I've never heard anything like Meshuggah. My favorite song by them is combustion
corridor rules one of my faves too
After the Burial.
Meshuggah is considered “extreme metal” or “math metal” because they like to use polyrhythms and experimenting with different time signatures and they’re one of the most important progressive metal bands of all time in my opinion. but they are pretty extreme to people who aren’t really familiar with this type of music but I still think it’s badass that you guys gave it a shot
Dean McQueen meshuggah is the original djent, "math metal" or better mathcore is something else.
There are no polyritms in their music that I know of. They are mostly 4/4, including bleed.
Theres definitely polyrhythms, pineal gland optics has tons of em if you listen to the drums, and thats just one example. But they do play mostly in 4/4 and 6/8
Mathcore is perfectly represented by Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge (for they are mathcore) its hardcore/metalcore with a specific instrumentation. Meshuggah is djent all the way.
Meshuggah is djent.
The drummer had to actually change basically the entire way he played the drums in order to play this live.
How?
Yeah, I think I remember him saying once that it took him six months to get it down. Insane.
Lmao why people suggest the heaviest metal song to them. They are new to metal so chill out. React to *mastodon-oblivion*
Ben Pantera hell yes this song for sure!
Well, to be fair, they've reacted pretty well to heavy shit. They're not exactly getting alienated by what they're hearing.
Is Meshuggah heavy?
My thoughts exactly!!!
On that note, they might actually enjoy Oblivion by Mastodon.
Metal is like anal ..... you gotta ease into it
AHA holy shit dudes, I was watching back a few months ago when you started with Metallica and Pantera. Love that you dudes are so open minded coming into this genre of music. Just so you know, when people say something is "heavy" this shit can change based on opinion. Just like how when you talk about who's got the best flow in hip hop, it's subjective. Real fun!
Thomas Haake, the (only) drummer for Meshuggah, had this to say about Bleed in specific: "It’s the most intricate drum part work I’ve ever done,” he confirms. “It has some sick double bass stuff. It took a lot of practicing, and I had to change my whole style of playing double bass drums. Usually if the song is fast, I play them really hard and go for it, but this is too intricate, with fast little bursts. I had to lay back on the amount of force I put into the strokes and play on a softer level to make the strokes more even, although the second one is usually a lot harder than the first one.
“One aspect of ‘Bleed’ is just being able to play the main pattern that opens up the song, which is the most important part. As the song goes on, that pattern is cut into different segments and taken to the very extremes, not just as far as how much you can learn and play, but put into your head. There’s underlying patterns that go very long. The challenge of learning that song would be equal to learning all the rest of the songs on the album combined, pretty much. I started rehearsing that in November [of 2006], recorded it in May, and still didn’t really have it down. Even in the recording phase, I could only do it part by part: I didn’t record the whole song through over and over, but instead recorded the first part ten times, the second part ten times, etcetera, so I had a lot of good takes for each part. It’s not until now that I can play the whole song through.”
The drums are so intricate in this song that the guy who wrote the parts took almost a year to be able to actually play it all the way through. That's some serious dedication
And, while I love Meshuggah, have seen them live, and consider Bleed one of their finest songs, this is way too extreme to introduce out of nowhere to people just beginning to dive into the deep pool of the metal world. I mean, even later-albums Death would have been a better suggestion - more melodic, equally complex, same intensity and depth to the lyrics, but less... let's say, less "BALLS OUT CRUSH YOU INTO OBLIVION OUR MUSIC IS A HAMMER AND YOUR EARS ARE OUR ANVIL", you know? I'd say Death's "The Philosopher" would have been a much more appropriate song to introduce people to extreme metal in general. But hey, these guys are awesome and respected the batshit insanity that is Bleed, even if they didn't care for it (and I can't blame them, extreme metal is very much an acquired taste), so that was cool as hell.
Ted Pertzborn well explained.
Great post, Ted. I agree about Death making a better intro to extreme metal, but they have so many great songs that it's tough to narrow it down. I really love Spirit Crusher for its dynamics, but The Philosopher and Crystal Mountain would be good recs as well.
Individual. Fucking. Thought. Patterns. That album is what truly sold me on how fantastic Death is.
I lean towards The Sound of Perseverance being their best, but there are no bad choices among their last four albums--masterpieces all.
Their record label made a "BLEED drumming contest" in which people sent in videos of themselves playing the song. Plenty of people learned to play the song perfectly in less than a month.
You guys started using the term djent recently in your videos. These guys are the reason that genre exist. The polyrythyms that meshuggah use have started the new wave of bands like tesseract and jinjer and after the burial to do things like this.
It really is a pity that the genre of Djent turned out to be hollow, banal shit though. It had such potential
@@ng2016 I would disagree with that myself but your welcome to your opinion
DJent does sound similar to this, it may be an influence
@@ng2016 not all, after the burial has great tunes, check out lost in the static by them
don't steal meshuggah, i need it for my coffee
Jonathan Gallup indeed! Don’t steal ma sugar lol
I LAUGHED SO HARD
mecoffee
Love your comments here. But I am a fan.
Gold
'Bleed' is actually about a man having an aneurysm and dying.
Not saying it ain't a badass song, but one of you asked...
Alex Tanner "Beams of fire sweep through my head"
>the pain in his head
I never understood the music video tho
Meshuggah needs to be given a second chance. they have songs thats are far easier for newcomers to approach. I'm glad you guys can recognize the raw talent of the drumming. but they have tracks with a lot more groove. I love showing people Rational Gaze, or In Death is Life/In Death is Death. Do Not Look Down or Marrow might be a better choice for new listeners.
AndyDrew003 DEMIURGE!!!
AndyDrew003 or MILLENIUM CYANIDE CHRIST!!!
Beneath, Future Breed Machine, Transfixion, Humiliative, Clockworks, Born in Dissonance, Rational Gaze, Autonomy Lost. So many more. Bleed is excellent, but not a good Meshuggah introduction.
gods of rapture was my introduction to meshuggah and it got me hooked with them ever since :)
I have to give Meshuggah another try. I honestly couldn't get into it because I feel the bass punch from the drums is somehow missing, giving them a very tinny sound. That and it seems Jens can only scream one note.
I can get behind your channel. You guys appreciate music for what it is. You don't have a bias and actually have an understanding of what music is. Props to yall.
6:27 He said aneurysm! Nailed it :D (Tomas Haake himself has described it like that)
Much respect that you guys are open minded enough to even review Meshuggah. The guys that requested this song weren't trying to troll you, they genuinely love the song, as do I. Thomas Haake is an incredible drummer and it took him 6 months of practice to even be able to play this song. For someone who is just starting to listen to metal, Meshuggah is like going from 0 to 100. The sound is just so chaotic that it usually turns people off on their first listen. I would recommend coming back to this song, or the band in general after a year or so of listening to metal and see if your opinions changed. Once you get past the initial shock of hearing this style the first time, you will start to recognize whats going on and be able to hear the rhythmic complexities of the song. There is so much going on that its hard to pick out individual instruments, instead its just a wall of aggressive sound. In regards to the growled vocals, i tend to think of them as transforming the voice from a melodic instrument, to a rhythm instrument. With Meshuggah, they are all about rhythm, and the vocal style fits the type of music they write. Keep doing what you do, I love seeing how open minded people react to the music we know and cherish.
Also some suggestions on bands you might actually like: Dream Theater, Mastodon, Periphery, Wintersun, Haken, and Opeth to name a few :)
Very well-said. I hope they see this comment. I also second the nominations of Mastodon and Wintersun!
Thank you
Very well put and I hope that they see this. This is an acquired taste.
Ecactly
Thomas Haake is the Drummer. and yes, you can watch him plaly this entire song live, he plays it exactly the same lol.. He's one of the best in the world. Good review guys!
tomp316 Yeah and in the interview he explain what the song was about and how it took him six months to be able to play the drums in this song. Serious dedication and it shows.
Had to make sure I found your comment before I laid down the "It took him 6 months to learn how to play this".. Cheers dude!
I have watched your reactions for a while now, and I cant tell you how happy it makes me to see you acknowledging thomas haake as one of the best drummers youve heard. He truly is one of the best in the world. Props guys.
Thank you. This is what I wanted. Thomas Haake (drummer of Meshuggah) writes the music for the band, after writing this drum part on the computer, he practiced it for six months before performing it live. This is not just chaos, this is insanity perfected over years and years of isolated focus. You guys are fucking amazing. btw, I listen to this shit while I sleep.
Sweden is a big metal exporter ;)
gonace yeah Volvos are really great they are made with great strong metal🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
gonace really that entire region of Europe.
Kiruna Iron Ore is my favorite metal band!
😄
Mesuggag are from sweden? The more you know I guews, since I only have this song saved on spotify and none of their other songs.
More classic and far less obscure metal suggestions:
Dio - Rainbow in The Dark
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
Testament - Trial By Fire
More recent music:
Dream Theater - Pull Me Under
Ghost - Cirice
Meshuggah and a lot of the other suggestions you are getting here are hard work just to listen to and are *really* acquired tastes.
Rainbows is an absolute MUST for metal! Second only to anything Sabath. Pull me under would be a great introduction to a very melodic band.
Come on guys, it's nearly a year since this! We need another Meshuggah reaction, I put forward...
-Future Breed Machine
-Corridor of Chameleons
-New Millennium Cyanide Christ
-Straws Pulled at Random
Hope you do another soon!
yes the drummer uses dubble base drums.
and yes scandinavia in general with sweden along with finnland has the largest quote of metal bands per capita.
Sanny Folkesson actually Finland has double the amount of heavymetal bands per capita then sweden
so it is higher, dont really surprise me, as there is some great bands there
You guys have to listen to Stargazer by Rainbow it has literally everything you guys enjoy in music: incredible drumming, Amazing vocals along with one of the best vocal performances ever given, and the song as a whole has an incredible groove and some amazing melodies. Not to mention an awesome phyrigian solo.
brace yes!
Hell yeah, that intro is too good!
So nice man !
This. Incredible track.
brace yess
I love the fact you guys show respect and understanding to this kind of music. It is very interesting to see your analysis and view on this :)
their drummer is actually a cyborg sent back from the future to show the people what real metal is.
The nordic countries have the highest percentage of metal bands per total population in the world. Sweden has one of the biggest collections of Death Metal bands of all countries. As a matter of fact, "Swedish Death Metal" is a separate sub-genre by itself.
Good choice djentalmen
I see what you did there! LOL
Never use a djent pun when referring to Meshuggah
Louie Sutherland you realise meshugga invented djent.
Cyrus Yousefian djent isn't a genre.
Cyrus Yousefian Chug along my friend.
Recently found this channel, and I really dig your open mindedness and ability to give credit where it's due, regardless of whether you like the song or not. If only more people acted this way.
The most interesting part for most people is the polyrhythmic aspects of this music. Mesguggah created a sound that had never been heard before as far as anyone really knows. There's a lot to meditate on here but it would take more than one listen.
Jasper Skydecker some of their songs have a heavy dose of math involved. Good stuff
Great reaction! And appropriate reaction too. Hey man y’all made it through !
Guys.
"Kingdom" Live at EMG TV by Devin Townsend.
That's an entrance to an astonishing, amazing world of a genius that made absolutely mindblowing pieces of music in a lot of different styles. You can't be prepared for this guys' level of mastery.
Haake took more time to learn this song than he did on the entire rest of Obzen. One of the most amazingly technical drummers ever.
Meshuggah's lyrics are quite complex. I believe this one is kind of existential, and it sheds light on the paradox that why is the machine that so badly wants to keep us alive (the body) by all the pain and suffering, also hardwired to break down and collapse. Check out "Straws Pulled at Random" that one is not SO heavy.. I am concerned about your sound output quality though ;) They use few frequenzies, but after a while you discover that Meshuggah is actually one of the groovier bands out there
Per Sindre Larsen Thomas once said in an interview it's about a brain aneurysm :)
Opeth - Harlequin Forest! An eye-opener with something for everyone, beautiful song!
Much love and respect!!!!
This would be a very good song to see a reaction to. Another very talented and diverse band, and this song demonstrates all they do.
Agreed and seconded
Go for it! Opeth time boys! this song or "Master's Apprentices" would be definitely appropiate
No, not Master's Apprentices. Something with more for them to dig on. Master's Apprentices is one of their heaviest songs. Be realistic.
Harlequin Forest would be perfect as an entry for them
I actually like the fact that you guys don't just love everything. It's cool to see you not totally dig something. Honesty is good.
guitaarrmateey for real. Hell, I listen to metal and I don't like this song. Can't love everything. Glad to see them once again keep it real.
Fun fact: “Meshuggah” is partly-Yiddish for the word “Crazy”. Which is how they got their name I believe. So Meshuggah literally means CRAZY. 😛😉
Sweden is the stronghold of metal
Fr their ignorance kinda triggered me xD
and refugees
Lawfy D. Ace Sweden and Finland both on top of the world in the metal game
Norway is pretty good also
especially when it comes to black metal. Love the norwegian black metal scene
Tomas Haake is considered one of the best drummers in the world. Took him 6 months to learn this song. It's total syncopation, he's hitting every note.
Butbut.... you missed about a minute of the song at the end. It climaxes after that softer part...
the music video ends at the quiet part, completely skipping the tapping solo and the rest of the song... fucking sucks
Sandbergaren yes and the drumming gets even more intense in the 2nd part Tom haake is a beast
I originally knew of this song through Headbanger's Ball back in MTV's good days. I didn't know it continued after that part until I listened to it in my car a couple weeks ago. My whole life was a lie.
Sandbergaren I've never liked the ending to the song :p music video ends it perfectly.
yeah bu sometimes they do't even play that live
You guys are hilarious and seem fun to hang with. You gotta hear the full version of the song with the epic solo - that's the best part!
Opeth - Deliverance If you like great drumming and cool breakdown at the end
Lamb of God - Grace, Omerta, Ruin, Walk with me in hell, 512, Embers, Vigil, Laid to Rest, Ghost Walking.....
Lamb of God is just one of those bands with hit after hit in your face tracks. Very distinct sound to them, the vocals while being screamed, are audible most of the time ( in my opinion ). You just cant go wrong with this band!
Yup!!!
Considering how much they liked Gojira, Lamb of God would be a good choice. Melodic, plenty heavy, and compared to Meshuggah relatively accessible. I like that Omerta track a lot too.
I agree they need to do some Lamb of God . The Faded Line is also a good track for them to do.
The genius is the 3/4 kick drum pulse of sextuplets. The whole song is built around layering complimentary time signatures over that technical difficulty, mastered by Haake.
As a drummer I can say, this is probably one of the hardest songs in terms of double-base technique and endurance. There are songs that you have to be faster for and in terms of complexity you could also do "worse", like Dance of Eternity by Dream Theater, but this is basically like a hardcore technical exercise and endurance test put into a "popular" song.
I remember the drummer saying in an interview that this song alone took him as long to learn and properly play as the entire rest of that album and he had to change/adjust his double base playing technique to even be able to do it this cleanly.
He's using double bass pedals.
Foolish Demon
Unlike any other
Also, he has 4 legs.
well I hope so!!! would be hard to play this shit with only one pedal!!! lmao
F Deems ...... no shit.
@@j_forfreedom45 it might be impossible, even if you could get it a few times doing it for the whole song would destroy your calves
Cut off right before the guitar solo?!?!? Frederick was about to go off. Ahhh damn!! Thomas Haake is the drummer and he’s probably the best drummer of my generation. Our Neal Peart (Rush). I’ve heard this dude carry 3 separate beats with the symbols, kick bass and the rest of his kit with mathematical precision. Take it from me and the other comments... Meshuggah has to grow on you a bit. By the way the band name means crazy in Hebrew lol
Timothy Brice, ..... means "crazy" in Swedish (where they're from)
killthe4string I’m sure it is but would it not have originated as the Hebrew word and just been carried over to the Swedish culture? I’ve definitely heard the word used by Jewish people in the US and I’m sure it’s used the same in other countries as well.
SirRunk yes it does tho
SirRunk en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meshuggah
Bruh right here it says it derived from Yiddish
killthe4string
Hebrew. Not Swedish, lol.
I love how this channel reacts to Metal and Hip Hop (which are two of my favorite genre of music)! Very Unique and creative!
I love your channel! I'm from the same town as most of the members of Meshuggah, and have seen and also met them several times. They are such nice people :) I can sympathize with thinking this is too much, as it was what I thought when I heard it the first time. It's crazy to see them live, considering their age and the complexity of their songs.
What I like most about your channel is that you're able to listen to songs of any genre and reacting honestly regardless. That's something I still don't think I can do even though I try to listen to all genres.
Thank you for spreading positivity!
I'd love to see a Primus song. Anything from the Antipop album would be a good choice. Something funny I found on their wiki page. "Primus is the only band with its own ID3 genre tag, 'Primus', as introduced by Winamp."
EberKain I think the guys would like Les Claypool...
EberKain antipop wasn't really a good time for the band, I think something from fizzle fry or seas of cheese would be a lot better
Tommy the Cat
Frizzle Fry would be sweat. Agreed!
EberKain Great suggestion. Or how about something, anything, from Frizzle Fry. Love Primus.
as a metal head I found this reaction funny as hell lol
Tomas , the drummer, commented this about the song's meaning : "An aneurysm in your head killing you, and how you're transformed from a living being into dying. It's written in a lot of metaphors."
Yes, Sweden. Lot of great metal coming out of the old viking countries in northern europe.
Opeth - Ghost of Perdition or Opeth - Deliverance. You need to get these sweet Swedish sound waves in you!
Band: Dimmu BorgirTrack: Progenies Of The Apocolypse Genre: Black Metal
Symphonic Black Metal
Dude yes! Thats a great fucking song.
Yes
No
I know it's an older video, but what I like about these guys is that they keep it real, they didn't hesitate to say they didn't like it and I respect that
Some of the heaviest music on the planet comes from Sweden
Joemylefttoe opeth favorite band tied with mastadon
Some of the biggest ear aches come from Sweden
Joemylefttoe amon amarth is an example
I'm proud to be from sweden and starting my own thrash metal band soon! Sweden has great music, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Meshuggah, Opeth, Ghost, Sabaton, Candlemass etc.
Norway and Sweden . Black metal all sounds the same loud fast and screaming b.s.
"It goes right in" - Ryan 2017